New Ride!!

I bought a 62 Austin Mini 850 a year ago. It is a fixer upper for my wife. I have been enjoying working on it so much, I just decided I couldn't wait until I finished it. So I bought this!!
I think this is the most fun I have ever had driving a car. I'm going to start charging people 50 cents to answer the question "What is it?" It should more than pay for gas.
Most of you will know the answer is: 1966 Riley Elf.
Bruce

Driving it almost ruined the MG for me. Now I want one of these =/

It looks good. So where were the Spitfire lights taped on?

I had no lens on the left tail light. I had a spitfire lens taped over this light. Looked bad, but was yellow where it need to be and red where it needed to be.
Bruce

Ten inch tires /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif That car looks in pretty good shape. You gonna restore of just drive it? I would love to get my hands on a real mini here in the states to use as a daily driver, or a Morris van. Hmmmn, 850. Some of the Morris 850s had hand cranks to start in emergency. I worked and played with a whole bunch of minis in the UK, let me know If I can help.

Looks like the Elf is from NZ.

What makes the Elf look like a NZ car?

I'll bet that the biggest clue about it being a Kiwimobile is the fact that I still have the NZ front number tag, as well as the RHD.
Plans for the car are as follows: Convert to dry suspension.
Hydrolastic is saggy on the right side and I have a good set of dry subframes. It needs a little work on the seat covers. Then a little bodywork and a fresh coat of paint. Being a NZ car, there is virtually no rust, sort of like the cars from here in Colorado. Those nice 10" tires are brand new, so no change there. Drive train seems good, the 998 gives plenty of power.
This is my daily driver.
The next project, currently underway is a '62 Austin 850 Mini. It is destined to be my wife's daily driver. Based on her reaction to the Elf, I think she will really enjoy it.
Having just replaced a Morris Minor Traveller with the Elf, I have to say I like driving the Elf quite a bit more than the Morris. If I had a choice between a Mini and a Morris van, I'd go with the Mini.
So now the fleet looks like this:
1934 Ford Model Y (english, of course)
1962 Austin Mini 850
1965 Triumph Herald Convertible (future project)
1966 Riley Elf
1973 Triumph Stag
Coming soon---1969 MGB Roadster- will be son's daily driver
Bruce

Congrats - I wouldn't mind getting an Elf or a hornet, Great find!

dklawson said:

What makes the Elf look like a NZ car?

Click to expand...

The license plate, perhaps?

There's something you don't see every day!

Ok, I'll admit it.....I have a warped mind.....how can I graft those tailights/quarter panel ends to my 64 Traveller....??? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Gotta go, here comes Nurse Ratchet with my meds.....

Peter

And speaking of warped....has anyone ever grafted a grill from a Silver Shadow to a Mini..... I REALLY need a life..... LOL

Peter

nice car mate. Elfs and Hornets are so cool IMO /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif