Faults:

Apart from the rust?

Manifold dropped off whilst on the motorway.

Cross-bearings broke.

Wheel bearings.

Gearbox.

Gasket blew at 160K.

Rear bumper fell off - rust.

General Comments:

My very first car that really makes me appreciate what I have now.

When I bought it for $300, we drove it home and discovered I could see the road through the floor. Good thing the frame is an H-frame and the seats are on a cross-beam. At home Dad welded a new piece of metal to the subframe. WOF was so easy in the old days.

Soon discovered the performance of the car was fairly nippy. The big scare were the little drum brakes front and rear, as it does not always stop when you want it to. Don't speed with this car, it takes forever to stop.

It had no power-steering. The huge steering wheel was slightly offset to the driver. Had to sit on an angle to drive the car. The 1st gear, like all early BMC models pushed to the far left whilst the rest of the gears were cropped close together. Wrong selection happened often.

At some point lost my rear bumper. The lip it was bolted on had completely rusted away. Somehow it looked a lot cooler and smoother without the old steel bumper.

To make matters worse the manifold dropped off. It sounded like an old tractor. Both problems got fixed soon.

Then at around 160K the gasket blew. Quick visit to Strong Bros in Glenfield (no longer there) had all the necessary parts available.

The car was multicolored when I got it, light blue, green doors and a red bonnet.

As with all pet projects we repainted it bright yellow. A black racing stripe from the roof along the side to the front gave a tick of approval. Had an old Morris Minor aluminium sun-visor and modified it to fit. All chrome surrounds (pitted) were painted black.

The 1300 Mk2 grille was a complete mess, so me and my brother rebuilt it to incorporate a couple of high-beam lights, and the rego plate was put between the lights.

Sadly had to part with the old rust-bucket, and sold it as is to a local copper who had even bigger plans for the little wannabe racer.