Faults:

Body completely rotten, gearbox total failure, radiator knackered, brakes rubbish, basically a wolf in sheep's clothing.

General Comments:

The car was purchased as a fully MOT'd excellent example of a sought after classic. On the surface it looked good, but soon turned out to be a piece of rubbish. Why in the preceding 30 years of production Rover under its various names from Austin to BL had never sorted the basic problems that showed up on these cars I will never know. The body was rotten in all the usual places, and structurally unsound, and in my opinion dangerous. I should point out that I restore Mini's as a hobby.

A complete strip down and restoration revealed unprotected areas that were rust traps back in 1959 and have never been treated. I sourced a replacement body, gearbox and after £6500 returned the car to its former glory. What is more annoying is that as a Mini fanatic I purchased a German spec. model in 2000 new. Yes it was more comfy, but sadly all the same areas found during the above restoration were still left dry and untreated. £5 worth of Waxoyl and the car remains structurally sound with no rust whatsoever, so why could Rover not have learnt or were they just out to rip us all off? No wonder they no longer exist, unable to compete regardless of what name they used or abused.