CHRIS - 1988 AUSTIN MINI CITY E
My name is Chris, and I own a 1988 Austin Mini City E. The car was bought unseen off ebay as a rust free rolling shell in 2010, and luckily it was mostly as solid as the add stated. At this point I was young and didn’t know much about building cars, so with the help of my Dad I then spent 3 years building it in my garage, undertaking every task myself, from bodywork, to wiring, to mechanics.
After the build I then daily drove it for a year, which took it’s toll, especially as I had filled all the seams and bonded the arches in with filler. Inevitably cracks started appearing all over the place, and there were various other things that I wanted to do, such as tubbing the arches and tidying the engine bay. So I stripped the car back to a bare shell and started all over again, completely repeating the process but with more knowledge this time round. After another 3 year rebuild, the car was back on the road by the end of summer 2017, and I’ve been enjoying it as a weekend car ever since. I try to make it to as many shows as I can all over the country, and it never sees a trailer.
I have a lot of big plans for this car, and I'm working on a few big changes over the winter already, but it’s all dependent on time and money, so for now I will keep them a secret!
For anyone who wan't to follow along on Instagram, hit me up at Chris_RD92
Now to go into a little more detail regarding what I've actually done to this big hunk of tin, here is the full spec list in all it's glory
Specs List:
- Fully restored from a bare shell (twice!), including rust repair, welding, and tubbed arches.
- Full respray in 2k gloss black, with the underside fully stone-chipped and waxoiled for good measure.
- Complete wire tuck and smoothed bay (new bulkhead panel welded in), including hidden wiper motor and fuse box.
- Custom washer bottle made from a Coca Cola drinking straw tin.
- Custom Batman dipstick
- It's also worth mentioning that a lot of the stickers I created myself on Photoshop and sent off to be made.
Engine/Performance:
- 1275 Metro engine fully rebuilt by KAD (Kent Auto Developments) with KAD 100 camshaft, and lightened flywheel. Every ancillary was perfectly refurbished before fitting.
- HIF44 Carb with custom paint and stickers to imitate a Lego head.
- Fletcher alloy radiator with hand painted lettering.
- Maniflow 3-1 downpipe with straight through pipe to RC40 center exit backbox,
- Purple silicone hoses bespoke made to order.
Exterior/Tyres/Alloys:
- The front wheels are 13x7 Force Racing Turbo TF billet 3 piece split rims, with polished lips and anodized centers.
- The rear wheels are rare vented Austin Healey Sprite steelies, which have been banded to 7j and powder-coated black, They are finished off with MG Midget stainless steel trim rings, and original 1959 Austin Healey Sprite hubcaps. I have never seen another set, let alone on a Mini.
- McClean Bros wide arches with the lips painstakingly removed and reprofiled.
- MK1 Golf front splitter adapted to fit with custom brackets.
- ABS Motorsport rear lip spoiler.
- Jap style external oil cooler, made from a Nissan 240sx differential cooler, with braided hoses.
- The grille is a steel 'weld-in' type usually found on Mini variants (pickup/estate/van), but I have adapted it to fit with screw on grille buttons for ease of access.
- Spax adjustable shock absorbers.
- Hi-Lo adjustable suspension all round.
- Full underglow LED neon
- Full LED rear light/indicator conversion
- Lucas P700 headlights
- Tinted rear lights/side repeaters/indicators.
- Subtle window tint on all rear windows.
- Custom sunstrip.
Interior/Seats/Trim:
- Full Safety Devices roll cage from 1981.
- Corbeau Classic bucket seats
- One-off Kingfab steering wheel in midnight purple.
- Full JBL speaker setup, including 6" woofers in the dash, 6x9's in the rear parcel shelf, and an 1800w sub custom mounted into the rear seat.
- Sony head unit.
- Homemade dash and parcel shelf, made from 70's pub coasters all carefully cut and collaged together. before being given 2 coats of PVA, and 4 coats of varnish.
- Homemade center console wrapped in leatherette with real alloy diamondplate.
- Full WiredByWilson LED toggle switch kit.