geordiedave66
MYSTERY CAR
Its an Innocenti Mini, which I think came along round about 1985. It was basically a BLMC Mini upon which the Italian Innocenti company placed their own body designed by Bertone (or was it Bert and Tony!). It comprised front and rear mini subframes, floorpan, but the mechanicals were all mini. It also came with two sizes of engine 998cc or 1275cc Leyland "A" series. Although I bought mine already converted to RHD, they were fairly easy to do. You needed a RHD Mini Mk2 steering rack and had to move the pedal box and brake master cylinder to the RHS of the car. This was fairly easy also as the body had identical holes on both sides of the front bulkheadb to facilitate this The fascia was symetrical, so you could swap instrument pod and glove box to either side of it.
I bought mine from a dealer who specialised importing RHD Metros from mainland Europe to the UK, which was quite popular at the time. They had seen these Innocenti Mini's running round in Belgium, brought three back to the UK and converted them to RHD to see how they sold.
Mine had the 1275cc engine with the biggest SU carbuerettor I have ever seen. I had assumed it was a Mini 1275GT engine, but was actually told later by an expert, that it was a Mini Cooper engine. Be that as it may, I took it onto the A64 bypass and floored the throttle. It got up to about 102mph, which is a bit disconcerting when your backside is only about six inches off the road.
The door locks were surprisingly of Alfa Romeo manufacture, phew, that was a surprise, but a relief when I eventually realised this, after losing my keys. It only had one niggling fault and that was the fact that the engine would run on after switching off. I fiddled around with ignition timing and fuel mixture, to little avail, so in the end I decided to live with it. Rather than switch the engine off, I used to stall it on the clutch.
With the birt of our third child in 1988, it was obviously too small, so I sold it to a Mini Cooper enthusiast, who lived in Malton.
MYSTERY CAR
Its an Innocenti Mini, which I think came along round about 1985. It was basically a BLMC Mini upon which the Italian Innocenti company placed their own body designed by Bertone (or was it Bert and Tony!). It comprised front and rear mini subframes, floorpan, but the mechanicals were all mini. It also came with two sizes of engine 998cc or 1275cc Leyland "A" series. Although I bought mine already converted to RHD, they were fairly easy to do. You needed a RHD Mini Mk2 steering rack and had to move the pedal box and brake master cylinder to the RHS of the car. This was fairly easy also as the body had identical holes on both sides of the front bulkheadb to facilitate this The fascia was symetrical, so you could swap instrument pod and glove box to either side of it.
I bought mine from a dealer who specialised importing RHD Metros from mainland Europe to the UK, which was quite popular at the time. They had seen these Innocenti Mini's running round in Belgium, brought three back to the UK and converted them to RHD to see how they sold.
Mine had the 1275cc engine with the biggest SU carbuerettor I have ever seen. I had assumed it was a Mini 1275GT engine, but was actually told later by an expert, that it was a Mini Cooper engine. Be that as it may, I took it onto the A64 bypass and floored the throttle. It got up to about 102mph, which is a bit disconcerting when your backside is only about six inches off the road.
The door locks were surprisingly of Alfa Romeo manufacture, phew, that was a surprise, but a relief when I eventually realised this, after losing my keys. It only had one niggling fault and that was the fact that the engine would run on after switching off. I fiddled around with ignition timing and fuel mixture, to little avail, so in the end I decided to live with it. Rather than switch the engine off, I used to stall it on the clutch.
With the birt of our third child in 1988, it was obviously too small, so I sold it to a Mini Cooper enthusiast, who lived in Malton.