Victoria Minis Car Club

Bob's Page - The mini saga….

Let me start by saying that the Victoria Minis club is a great group of enthusiasts who are willing to assist and share their experiences which makes our hobby/passion a delightful and fulfilling experience.  To that end, I would like to share my gained knowledge and tools with the club members as this is what makes a club work for everyone.   Whether it is an afternoon with extra hands, an engine hoist, welding equipment, sand blast unit or just some books and wrenches, we all gain when we work together.

I first fell in love with Minis as a teenager when my brother bought his first car, a used 1970 ugly orange sedan.   Before I knew it I also owned a 1968 Traveller in bright blue over bondo.  That car had amazing cargo space and I courted Susan in it around the northern Toronto area.

Having driven that Mini until the brakes failed in an intersection (thank goodness for a handbrake) I parted with it and was out of the Mini scene for many years.   Then an opportunity to import a car from England while living in Maine came along and I was back on the right path.   Now living in Victoria, I had to replace not only the 76 Mk 3 but the 2002 MINI that Susan owned.  Both were left behind in New England.   Both my sons cut their clutch lessons on these two minis and are both keen Mini enthusiast, now able to assist with the wrenching and paint prep.

 The choice of a 93 fuel injected Cooper seemed a logical compromise to satisfy the reliability of the MINI and the nostalgic character of the early cars. 

 We soon joined the Victoria club and realized that there were not 1 but several black minis with white hood stripes, affectionately labeled by some club member as the ‘Orca Pod’ .

Then the desire to get back into a full restoration of an early car sent me on a search for an earlier project.   Along came a long stored and neglected B.C. Tel van in relatively solid shape.  It needed parts and was disassembled.  That led to the purchase of another early car for something not only to drive right away but to use as patterns and evaluation in how to get the van back together.  Enter ‘Kiwi.   An Australian Mk 1 with original hydrolastic suspension.  Still missing parts for the van then sent my sons and I on searches and we were able to purchase another van and a Mk 2 that had many of the missing bits and yet another project for the future.

Other cars passed on were far to rusted to be practical restorations but I an sure we have all seen some of those (or owned them).

In summary….be careful….it is a sickness…this mini passion.

Find below some pictures as the cars arrived and develop over time…..

1.      BC Tel’s fleet of Mini Vans in the 1960’s.

 

2.      The Minis we left behind in Maine

 

3.      The arrival of the Van project…in a landscaping truck complete with a pile of mulch in front!

 

4.      Removing some previous owners rather crude attempt at body mods

 

5.      Getting the original BCTel windows back.

 

6.      Van is prepped for front end work

 

7.      Mike and I test fit the new front end

 

8.      ‘I love the smell of welding in the morning…’…

 

9.      Looking more complete

 

10.  And the paint prep begins…

 

11.  Son Colin tries his hand at spray painting

 

12.  Colin is good with the detail work.

 

13.  Not much horsepower in that engine bay yet!

 

14.  Blood red roof going on

 

15.  Van gets a new sombrero!

 

16.  Interior decorating…

 

17.  Van, Kiwi and Chauncy

 

18.  Results of a ‘rainy day’ project….miniature of ‘Kiwi’ for his back window

 

19.  Van getting closer to completion with some test fitting of doors and hood

 

20.  The ‘Barn Find’ 68 Automatic

 

21.  Mk 2 coming out after years in a barn

 

22.  ‘Otto’ partially assembled and after some rinsing off compliments of my son.

 

23.  Extra van purchased for some parts for the BCTel van

 

24.  Three toys…

 

25. Mini Van w/ paint nearing completion

 

26. Engine going in

 

27. The finished product

 

28.  Was it worth the effort?  Definitely!

 

 

 

 

Rally Car Project...

 

Watch this space !