Mini Story - Part 1

After many months of persistent nagging & promptings by Bala, I've finally got round to sending the Mini off to the body & paint shop to give it a total makeover last week. We've had the Mini for about 4 years now & used it for over a year mainly for short trips to the neighbourhood shop. It was in good running condition when we got it save for the inconsistent air-conditioning - sekejap ada sekjap takda. However we've neglected the car for at least a year & a half now due to a combination of preference for modern conveniences such as a cool a/c & auto transmission. Eh...damn tiring to drive on stick if you're caught in city traffic. It's not as if I have so much spare cash lying around but if I don't have it done now, there'll be more problems later not to mention the escalating bills for repairs too.

In the time that it was in semi-retirement, the Mini was not totally abandoned as it became an abode for the friendly neighbourhood rodents. These fellas obviosly had a good time pissing & crapping all over the place and leaving remnants of their wild parties all over. We even got a note stuck on it from DBKL asking "pemunya kereta buruk" to remove it failing which they'll have it towed away for being an eyesore. What did I do at that time? Have it pushed across the road so that it sit right in front of the house so that there's no notion at all of it being an abandoned vehicle! There were also quite a few offers to purchase notes stuck to the windscreen but we never really entertained the idea of selling it.

Finally a few months ago, I had the car towed over to Bala's mechanic & after some cleaning up & minor wiring repairs, the car was back in running condition. Had to replace all four tyres as the 1 1/2 year of neglect had taken a toll on the condition of the rubber. Of course once it was back home, apathy & procrastination took over once again & guess what? The former tenants moved back in!! This time, their stay was not for too long as the BBQ we had last week & Bala's naggings prompted me to have the car sent, finally, to the paint & body shop owned by a family friend.

Wong, the body shop guy managed to get the engine running & told me, when I paid him a visit this morning, that it was purring like a dream. There'll be a few major things to be done but for a start, Wong will be sending the car off to the upholstery fellow to remove all the seats & carpets before they send it back to him. The car will be checked for any rust damage especially to the undercarriage. Once all that is taken care of, the body will be sprayed to a shade of red called 'Tornado Red' which is the same as that used on the current model of the VW Golf (see colour swatch above). Check out the VW website for a pix of the Golf & you'll get a better idea. The pearl white roof will be maintained, perhaps maybe needing just a minor touch up. The white stripes running down the front of the bonnet will be sprayed on as opposed to bunging on a sticker like what it is now. Matching white stripes will be sprayed on to the back too.

In the meantime, decisions have to be made as to the interior, ie. seats, carpets, inside of door etc. Fabric or leather? Or a combo? What about colour scheme? The dash board will also have to be fixed up as it is falling apart & with a matching colour to boot. This 'kepala pusing' decision will be left to the Boss, ie the wife, to decide. Various parts of the engine has been corroded no thanks to rat piss I suspect & I'm told needs some kind of a clean up & paint job. However, I'm not entertaining any ideas of chroming the engine as I'll be fooked to have to spend my weekends with toothbrush in hand cleaning the damn thing.

I'm sure there'll be various other issues, both major & minor, which will crop up as and when the repairs & makeover move along. But this time, I'm determined to bring the shine back to this British icon & have it restored to a "Pimp My Ride" kinda condition, albeit on a tight budget of course! Will post updates with pix as and when this project progresses.