subtitled 'Why I've owned it for 3 years and it's still not registered'
Having lurked long enough, I thought I'd contribute my share of
LBC sagas.
The 1962 Mini Cooper that I've slowly been working on for, oh, 3 years
and a few odd months, is finally ready to be registered. A long
slow rebuild, a long slow paint job and bingo - a cute little Mini.
However. Brakes don't like sitting for 36 months and they need to
be replaced. Although the early Coopers were notorious for bad brakes
I cannot believe they were this bad from the factory.
That can be done this weekend, so that's OK.
I've already put on a set of discs - the originals were about 3mm think!
These are ~5mm think, so that's OK (5mm - who am I kidding? This car
gets Cooper S discs Real Soon Now).
Then the electrics. Not that there's anything that's really Lucas's
fault. It's just that the wiring loom has NONE of the colours left, and
as electrons hate me, anything that I do with the electrics is bound to
end in smoke. And it did. Nevermind, nothing serious happened, although
the +ve earth still takes getting used to.
So, with new window tracks and rubbers, a paint job (grey body, cherry
roof) and you-beaut little Yokohama A008s (so small) it looks OK. But
the indicators only work when the headlights are off, and the parking
lights are brighter than the headlights anyway.
One of the taillight screws that holds on the taillight lens has stripped
the thread, but that's a minor problem. The less said about the horn,
the better.
However, it's much closer to rego than it was. Y'see, to get registered
in Australia (specifically, New South Wales), you need a 'Green slip'
which is your third party insurance, covering anybody you may run over
(except it is impossible to run _over_ people in a mini. I'm obviously
limited to running _into_ people. (I wonder if I should get a discount?))
and 'pink slip' from an accredited examiner (just about anyone) to say
your car is roadworthy. Then you pays your monies, stick the plates
on and drive around.
Green slips are available by phone, all they ask you is how old you
are, how old your car is, and where you live.
Pink slips are easily available if your mechanic has the time. My mechanic
(who does things that I don't have time for) didn't have time for this.
He had a bunch of Lancias in (he's a Lancia expert as well as a Mini
expert) and couldn't even look at it. Maybe I can get one over the weekend.
After the Cooper's registered I'm taking it to a trimmer to get some
sound-proofing and carpets, then I can drive it.
Then I try to restore/rebuild the Clubman GT that's my daily car.
Then I try and do one of the three others.
still, I could blow my money on a boat or something.
regards,
thos cohen |Softway Pty Ltd
"If you don't make mistakes you don't learn |ACSnet: thos@softway.oz
anything, and BRM could never be accused of |UUCP: ...!uunet!softway.oz!thos
that" paraphrased from Doug Nye |Internet: thos@softway.oz.au
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