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When did Mini’s get so expensive

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Jim_Gruber

Jim_Gruber

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I thought our BE’s were seeing a nice appreciation. A very nice ‘64 Cooper S Mini just sold for $50 large on Bring a Trailer yesterday.
 
I did not follow the BAT listing but I suspect it was the 1071-S. That's a fairly rare car. 1071s will sell for much more than most 1275-S cars like mine. Regular Minis (primarily 998s) will sell for between $10k and $15k depending on the year and condition. Cruddy, rusty heaps will sell for anywhere between $2k and $8k depending on what they are and how complete they are.

The prices of all Minis jumped quite a bit during the first 5 years after the BMW MINI was introduced. Prices have risen slowly since then.
 
Always wanted one since watching them take turn 6 on three wheels at RA back in the sixties. Don't think the condition of our roads would agree with 10 inch wheels now.

Kurt
 
They are fun to drive. I drive mine at least 4 days a week. I think the 1380 in mine is more fun that a 1071. People talk to you all the time about your car. Many don't believe I fit in the car. Starts some good discussions.

Jerry
 
Jerry, I've never driven a mini but have sat in one. Couldn't believe how roomy it was.

Kurt.
 
When did they get expensive
same time I got old and nostalgic
which was closely followed by the time in life when my walllet got a little fatter.
funny how that worked out
 
AngliaGT said:
On the other hand,prices on used BMW MINI's are dropping fast.
Click to expand...

As they should.

While arguably a fun car to drive when new, repairs on them as they age become more frequent and expensive. While I do all the work on my old British cars, I would not be able to do as much of my own work on a BWM MINI... too electronic, too cramped under the hood, too many special tools. Unfortunately, BMW MINIs can be quite expensive to repair.
 
Anything BMW can get expensive. A few years ago I wanted to buy a used Z3. A friend who had a later Z4 said, "Don't buy one unless you get a warranty with it."
 
I came across a car club of BMW Minis on the back roads in my Sprite. You could see each driver's jaw drop as they came across a genuine British car.
 
Forgive my anal semantics....
Mini = BMC = classic car designed in the late 1950s
MINI (all caps) = BMW = modern car designed largely by Germans and built in the U.K.

MINI and Mini are used interchangeably but they really denote two different cars.
 
Thanks Doug. I never noticed the spelling distinction. Here is a real Mini then. You can be sure by the lettering in the back glass.
 

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I can fondly recall the '62 23 Window Bus my parents owned to tote all 9 of us around. As the oldest of the brood, Age 14, My parents plus 7 of the 9 leave from Cincinnati headed down I-75 through KY with camping provisions, food, and luggage for 9 people heading for a Camping Outing on Myrtle Beach. And did I mention the Coleman Pop Top Camper being towed behind us. Down I-75 there were times we could not get above 25-30 mph and then we got to the Smokies. 36 HP Engine in this puppy remember. WE pulled into Smokey Mountain National Park Campsite at 9:30 PM in the pouring rain, Mom tyring to defrost frozen Spaghetti Sauce on a Coleman Grille and then needing to boil water for Pasta. And then there were the Bears that Mom's cooking attracted.Had a great time camping on the beach when that was still allowed. We made it home safely and within 2 weeks the Gruber's Microbus was traded in on a '65 Ford Country Squire 11 Passenger Wagon, with a 390 under the hood. Later stolen in Boston 3 years later during another family vacation trip to Cape Cod that I missed. That Wagon on a good day with a 2 bbl Carb would get 6 mpg.
 
Bears? At Myrtle Beach? Thankfully I never saw any!

My sister and her Ex used to have a early 1970s VW bus. It didn't have the camper top or the many windows of the Samba. However, it was the cargo carrier. My parents borrowed it to bring me home from college in 1982. Like Jim's experience, we had a heck of a time climbing the mountains. Somehow we managed to maintain 40 MPH in 3rd gear (floored).
 
Bears at Smokey Mountain National Park. The National Forest Service has since relocate Bears from where Humans are. At least that's what I've heard. I encountered about a 250 lb Bear behind our tent that night when I went to empty garbage. My self preservation instincts took over and I slept curled up in the back of the VW last night. I was willing to sacrifice my younger siblings in the interest of saving my own skin. Lets just say that Bear was 2 1/2 times my weight at 14. And she had 2 cubs with her. I was waiting for the Bear to show up and remove the pot of spaghetti sauce right off of the Coleman Stove.
 
It was a memorable trip back in ‘64 for sure. I left out the part about setting up the tent in the pouring rain. I walked around back of the tent to try and dig some sort of diversion for the water that had now started seeping into the tent and that’s when I walked around to the back of tent to discover Mama Bear 10’ away trying to get into the 5O gallon garbage can anchored on posts again 10’ from the back wall of the tent. Later that night one of the cubs got stuck heads down in the garbage can and could not get out. Mana eventually helped out Junior Bear to get unstuck but Junior put up quite a racket and was quite ****** off for several hours.
 
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