Mini Memories. What are yours?

[mercrocker]

The front ashtrays in the Cowley are similar to the dashtop Mk1 Mini but set in the lower rail. I don't think they are actually interchangeable but are very similar. Rear seat passengers use the one set in the back of the bench seat like a Corporation bus....

[christine]

Knee breaker ashtray

[Warren t claim]

Knee breaker ashtray

That depends on what you're doing.

[christine]

Oral

[Warren t claim]

Oral

Getting or giving?

[christine]

Oh, giving

[Guest]

One of mine had Dunlop alloys but knackered rubber. I swapped them for a set of standard rims with Esso radials, Clubman trims and something else which I've forgotten - probably an LP or 20 Guards or summat.

We used to sell Esso tyres with the "no quibble guarantee" my dad and uncle decided it was worth the investment in the tyre changer and balancing thing (an on car one).
I remember a lot of quibbles where the destruction of the tyre was due to totally knackered alignment.
Quite often there would be a big pile of tyres waiting to be assessed by the tyre rep.

[59Impala]

Nothing wrong with using one of Issigonis' finest to get to the dance.....

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EDIT - Last time we saw the Stray Cats I took my 260E. I did see Chuck Berry in one of my Minis, though. (Think it was No.2)

I want to know what Chuck Berry was doing in your Mini, was he nicking it? Arf arf. I'll raise the bar, saw him in concert in that there London in the 70s and the mode of transport was a Consul Capri GT.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

First Mini memory was a green coloured Austin Seven with a floor starter my Dad picked up for scrap but kept to teach my Mum how to drive, it didn’t last long , must have been about 1967/8 .
Next was a 1968 Mk2 1000 in beige with red seats in 1978 , my Dad started a window cleaning round in the summer , we lived in a seaside village and he didn’t want to put a roof rack on his Granada GXL taxi. I was about 14 and remember standing in the boot holding th ladders on the roof as we drove from one business to the next. I also remember me and my brother standing in the bott jumping up and down making the front wheels spin and the engine scream driving up the hill to our house when my Dad had collected his money on a Friday from all the pubs and hotels, well it’d be rude not have a quick one in each place, wouldn’t it?
Next was a brand new X reg pickup, my mate Huw had crashed his Sunbeam Ti and his Dad made him drive the Site Mini, he owned a massive holiday park. His Dad also wouldn’t let him have a bike..
By then I wasCouriering in London and when I went back to Wales on my Honda 250RS, we’d swap for the weekend, it was OK I hadn’t passed my car test and he hadn’t got a bike licence, thrashing round the lanes with 4 mates in the back was great fun in the winter, well for me anyway.
That’s it until 2 years ago when I bought a modern BMW one- million times better! That was a 1.6d and I must admit the foot on the floor, never back off experience reminded me a bit of that Pickup.

[mercrocker]

I want to know what Chuck Berry was doing in your Mini, was he nicking it? Arf arf. I'll raise the bar, saw him in concert in that there London in the 70s and the mode of transport was a Consul Capri GT.

Nice choice of motah....I had to endure the firm's Renner 4 when I took my then bird to see Chuck in '79, my first experience of the great man live. Wherever that Zephyr 6 of mine lives now it should still have a CB ticket that fell from its perch on the dashtop airvents....
The photo of me with the Cowley was taken at a Marty Wilde and Charlie Gracie gig.....Charlie is sadly no longer with us but we have MW tickets for December.

It's all getting a bit off topic but it is not generally known that Gene Vincent bought and drove an A40 Farina whilst he was living and working over here. Not quite a Mini but no less surprising....