1998 Mini COOPER

‘You could describe it as garage family owned,’ says the vendor, himself one of the small group of guys (and spanner men) in the family who have a collection of classics. (Their 996 Carrera 4 is also up for sale). ‘We bought it in 2013 off only its second owner who had had the car since 1998. He’d only done about 2000 miles in it in the last seven years.’

But in many ways the Mini has been the vendor’s baby and he has carried out the work on it.

‘I put in a new rear sub-frame and suspension,’ he points out. ‘It’s had new brakes all round as well.’ He stresses that the car has had no welding.

The Mini was also treated to new wheels and tyres - and a new stainless steel exhaust.

‘I also had a new interior put in; proper leather,’ he says. The work was carried out by a firm in Leeds at a cost of some £1600.

Another entertaining feature of the Mini is its keyless electronic ignition, which he also installed (the start button shines in the dark). Other than that, the electrics and engine are original, though he stresses that it has had regular oil changes and new (oil) filter not long ago.

The number plate is NOT included, the car will revert to its original S-plate.

The bold metallic colours of the ‘Rover’ years really suit the Mini, and this example is very eye-catching in this striking shade of red. The overall finish is excellent, with a shine that is consistent, panel to panel, across the car. The plastic wheel arches too blend nicely with the rest of the coachwork (there is no piping between them and the main structure). Although only visible from close up, the only real let down is the passenger door which is showing bubbling behind the door mirror and in the outer skin at the bottom. There are one or two very small grazes to edges and a tiny dent in the near-side rear window pillar, but the car remains very presentable.

What is also very reassuring is the condition of the seams - there are quite a few on a Mini - and these all look very clean and neatly joined - no over-painted corrosion bubbling through. Similarly, the roof gutter/seam is very clean and rust-free all the way around. Sticking with those joins (always worth inspecting), this Mini also retains the chromed strips running down over the panel joins - very old school - and the bright metal here is very good. Notably, the angles and junctions of all these structural features are also clean with no signs of weakening.

The brightwork in general is of a very good order. You will see pitting close up, but bumpers, badges, grill and light surrounds all maintain a good shine and are well-mounted with clean screws. The headlight inner rings are rusty in places. Talking of mounting, the front grill can look a little lop-sided and might benefit from a bit of gentle coaxing to sit slightly differently. The gap between bonnet trim and grill is a little wide, but this goes for a lot of Minis. Panel fit across the car is generally good and the doors shut without scraping over their sills.

Opening the doors, you notice two things - one, that the cabin could do with a brush up - it will get that before it goes out, and the other is those new seats. The cream leather is in excellent condition, the diamond pattern quilting very smart and the nicely contrasting red stitching very tidy. There is no wear to the leather. The matching door cards are similarly tidy, their original door furniture showing no cracks and all firmly mounted. The dash board shares the same colour as the leather but is original. It is clean with a few scuffs to the black plastic below and in the glove shelf.

The gear knob looks rather shabby (probably because of the clean new leather nearby). Its leather is quite worn. By contrast, the chunky late-style steering wheel is in good shape showing no rubbing or fading.

Up above, the headlining is quite clean and not sagging and, below, the carpets look better the further back you go. They show no holes or any great wear and really just need a good clean. The original rubber mat is intact and the rubber door seals on both sides are in very good condition all round.

The minimal instrumentation and switches look fine, while the under-dash heating paraphernalia looks as good as it ever did - they were never a pretty sight - the pipes look in good order and the plastic housing isn’t loose or lop-sided (a near factory feature).

The underbelly of the Mini is that of a solid on-the-road classic. As stated, the rear subframe is new and looks to be in great condition. The floor pan in general looks sturdy, with a little corrosion along seams, but certainly nothing of any significance. There is a little more corrosion on the front sub-frame and a hole in the outer skin in the floor behind front near-side wheel suspension components. As the vendor said, there is no sign of any welding having been done. The sills look strong and the door bottoms are intact.

Running underneath, the fuel and brake lines/hoses look good and the brake assemblies appear very ready to do the driver’s bidding. The underside looks better the further back you go and is in general very good. The bracket holding the gear linkage is sound and the linkage free-moving. Looking into the wheel wells, the damper mounting brackets look equally sturdy and the inner wings very sound.

The suspension in general looks very healthy; all struts and arms very serviceable and rubber gaiters supple - no cracks or tears. Bolts may have a light coating of surface rust, but they look like they’ve been worked on and function properly.

All the key structural elements look very sound and serviceable (I keep using that word)

The engine bay has a similar feel - yes, it’s pretty dusty under there with a tiny bit of surface rust on the odd bracket, but there’s a general soundness. Nothing looks like it’s been ignored for years. Bolts and clips look like they’ve all seen a wrench (and not had an argument with it), hoses are supple, wiring tidy.

Plastics, like the distributor look in great nick (as do the HT leads) - nothing’s been baked or rattled loose. The engine block and head do look rather oily though.

Edges around the engine bay look clean, and the hinges and brackets holding up the bonnet look sound - and don’t creak. The lid itself is clean underneath and its cross-bracing strong .

Hmmmmm…like so many enthusiast/mechanic-owned cars you can see that work has been done but there isn’t paperwork to show for it. (Why would a mechanic invoice itself they might say). However, the car can easily be brought to the garage and put on a ramp for any potential bidder to inspect. The vendor is also available to point out the work that has been done.

This is a very solid and usable Mini. It’s not the absolute tidiest in its presentation, but much of that can be sorted with a Karcher vac, detailing spray and some microfibre cloths. There are some small areas of corrosion, but nothing in any scary places. Okay, the passenger door could do with a repaint.

What we really like is that new rear sub-frame - a labour of love or a fairly large bill if you’d needed to do it yourself. And the keyless ignition is quite fun too.

So what we have is a solid, ‘drive it now and have fun for the Summer’ classic that you can work on next Winter and get really smart. With that in mind, we think it worth between £8250 and £9500.