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Mum & Dad used to take my sister and I on holiday - in a mini. With a roof rack on! Now, THAT was cosy.
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We had a few mini’s, some old shape and some of the newer shape. In the older shape, I had a Mini Cooper S, a 1275GT, an 850 and a Clubman Traveller. I was given the Traveller as the clutch was knackered. I was also given a 1300GT engine so I nicked the clutch off that to fix the Traveller. The Traveller was a right shed so it became the sacrificial thrash-mobile that you could take anywhere. It smoked when you coasted as the valve stem rubbers were riding up and down on the stems, instead of staying put.

The 850 had wolfrace wheels with flared arches, two up/two down Cibie Super Oscar’s, a Peco big bore twin exit exhaust system and Wood and Picket nudge bars. I didn’t do that to it, I bought it like that.

It was funny just how many other lads wanted to race it, not realising that it was just a bog standard 850 that would do around 75mph flat out downhill.

The biggest mistake I made was selling the 1300GT engine, which was a longer stroke version of my 1275GT. The lad that bought it lived just around the corner from us, and when he’d fitted the engine he came and thanked me. He said that it was the best £25 he’d spent on it, as he now had one of the fastest minis in the area. I couldn’t believe that I’d been upgrading the 1275GT and the Cooper S for extra speed, when the best engine had been sat on my garage floor for over two years.
