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This page is all about my mini.Her past,
present,and future.She`s my third mini
in 19 years,and has been a constant mix
of excitement,annoyance,absolute bloody
irritation...but above all......fun!!!!.
Yes.....owning a mini just never changes!!.
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Early days
Born in Longbridge in 1996,she spent her
first few years in Aldershot,where she was
frequently kicked,hit,scratched,and generally
abused by children, who had a grievance with
her previous owners. |
Oh,i don`t like to be beside the seaside!!
After moving to Saltburn,on the north-east coast,
she was put up for sale.We saw the advert in the
Evening Gazette,and bought her the next day!.
The first change i made to the car`s appearance,
was to replace her horrible pink stickers,with
twin pin-stripes.
Some dent straightening and scratch removal
also worked wonders too!!.
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"Easy......you call that easy?"!!!
These roof sticker kits are supposedly easy to fit!.
I actually found it extremely time-consuming,
spraying the roof white,measuring each piece,and
lining it all up to fit the roof properly.Still,the finished
job does look good, and definately turns heads!.Fitting
it also filled in a few spare hours at work!!. |
Shiny boots!
The main way to make any car look better,is to
fit a decent set of wheels and boots(i should
know,i used to own a Viva!!).These Superlite`s
and Falken`s were bought as a package.They
came fitted,balanced,and ready to clag on the
car.They stick out past the wheel-arches by an
inch,and look really cool and meaty!.
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Are you sure they`re legal?!!
I`ve fitted clear indicator lenses front and back.
They look better than the originals and are easy
to fit.
You can see from this photo how much the wheels
stick out from the arches.They`re probably illegal,
but i`ve been driving the car around since February
2001 and never been stopped yet.
Famous last words!!!. |
Bonnet stripes came from the Mini Shop in London.
They cost about nine quid,and were easy to fit using
a `plastic scraping utensil`.....otherwise known as an
expired credit card!!.
The original bonnet and boot badges have been replaced,with winged union jack badges.
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Torpedo mirrors were bought from the Mini
Shop.Visibility isn`t brilliant....but who cares
about what`s behind,anyway!!. |
The door scoops are cheap and easy to fit,and
i bought the union jack door protectors from
Halfords.
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Ooh...you thieving little b****rs!
These union jack valve caps are no longer on the mini.They were just too attractive to thieving little fingers!!.The`Gadget Shop`sell a set of lockable
caps for about a tenner.
I`m currently using blue neon caps that light up in the dark.I bought them off the Internet for 30 pounds and they look excellent!.
To get my tyres as shiny as this,i use blue metallic
`Tyre Magic`.It`s made by Turtle Wax,and contains
specks of metal that glisten in the sun.With a few
coats of`Tyre Slik`over it,you can see your face in
your tyres!!. |
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What about the future?
With a persistant electrical problem on the car,even after several visits to an auto-electrics firm in Middlesbrough,the mini`s finally been given a new lease of life!.After four hours in the hands of Ian Johnson from Billingham,she`s now running like new.He found that the car had the wrong battery,wasn`t earthed properly,and was running an alternator from a Ford Fiesta!!.
Ian is currently on course to running the fastest mini in history,so good luck Ian.
I`ve recently fitted a halogen headlight conversion to the car,complete with blue xenon bulbs.It`s now like the difference between having two torches sellotaped to the wings.....and replacing them with floodlights!!.
In the near future,i`m fitting a neon underbody kit....to go with the lights i`ve fitted inside the car,and on the wheels!.
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