Mat's BX Blog

[Defender110]

My mate hated his wifes new mini and would drive the works van rather than drive her mini.

[MULLEY]

He shouldn't have purchased a mini One in Pink then should he If he'd had the cooper s, his wife wouldn't have even had a look in

[Matt H]

I don't see what's wrong with the MINI. The original (R56) wasn't really anything to do with BMW (development wise) either, and is a cracking car. The newer ones are still built in the UK (apart from the awful Paceman/Countryman) and are genuinely fun to drive.

Original JCW GP is on my list of cars I'd like to own...

[Des Smith]

I must admit to finding the views about the BMW Mini's quite interesting, quite a few people seem to actually have a hatred

Can't work up the enthusiasm for hatred, myself. They just leave me cold. I can't justify it either - they are fuel-efficient and the diesel's nil tax. I can't even resort to saying I don't like retro-styling, because I really loved the new Fiat 500 and the Beetle when they came out. Still, I guess BMW won't lose any sleep over it.

[TizzyD]

I've always been in the original Mini is best camp - purely because of The Italian Job, but then I've never sat in, driven or owned a classic Mini, but my friend has just bought a '13 plate MINI diesel, and she loves it to bits and I have to admit that I do like the interior with its aircraft style switches, mood lighting and multiple sunroofs.

[merlyn]

We used to have a mini clubman estate, it was brilliant.

[mds141]

My first car was a mini clubman 1100 flintstone special. Great fun!!

[Paul296]

Oh yes 'the mini'; The Beatles, swinging London, union jacks, Alec Issigonis? Wot a genius, 'You're only supposed t' blow the bladdy doors off etc. etc. I went in a mini once; what's it all about Alfie? Well, it was slow, noisy, cramped and you had to close the door with a peice of wire (ffs!). It gave the general impression that it was on the verge of giving up the ghost and dying an unseemly death - which I hope I has by now - rubbish, 0 out of ten.

I went in Mulleys Cooper S once - it went quick, very quick and 'I think I'm going to be sick in the glovebox'. Not quite sure how you'd call it a mini exactly when it's only marginally smaller than a Range Rover?

[Mickey taker]

My point exactly Paul, It is no longer a "mini" so shouldeny be called one (may e a massive would be more appropriate )
Ive had about a dozen "proper minis" and while they were slow out of the box,
Stick twin su'd or a weber on one and a lcb exhaust and your talking a different car altogether that handled like it wad on rails.
My favourite was my lhd innocenti 1300 cooper ,talk about a pocket rocket

[Defender110]

I've had four Minis and a couple of their succesor the BL Metro and loved them all apart from a Mini 1000 Automatic I bought with wide 10" wheels, Red with whiye roof.Looked great but jeese; 0-60 in 39 seconds with the most horrendous gear changes that gave you whiplash. Massive mistake buying that one

[Tim Leech]

I dont mind the new Mini although I think they are overpriced and the ride is pretty awful, they seem to get quite ratty with old age and seem to not get serviced properly....

My beef is its not a Mini, I love the original one, ok the build quality was poor and they rusted badly, the new one is just trading on the name and are twice the size and twice the price!

[mat_fenwick]

Back to BXs now (briefly? At least it's helping me towards 100 pages) as last night I reassembled the rear arm on the white one, ready to be fitted tonight hopefully.

The rest of the evening was spent fitting the heated rear window to the van - started off the with fiddly job of sticking the elements to the (cleaned and primed) window:



Then you have to bond brass bus bars onto foam strips which are themselves bonded onto the glass, and curl the elements over 180 degrees (the tape is to hold them out of the way for the next step):



Finally a covering strip is stuck on top to neaten it all up and ensure the elements are in good contact with the bus bars, although I still need to trim the excess from the elements in this last photo:



A quick test shows it's drawing about 10 amps, so all seems good in that respect. Fairly dry at the moment so can't test the demisting ability, but living in Wales I'm certain we'll get the chance!

[Mickey taker]

Wow, I didnt know they still made thr old school stylee hrw's

[mat_fenwick]

It took some tracking down, especially to find one short enough for the width needed - had to get it from the States in the end! If you used one of their standard kits the resistance would be too low and would draw too much current, so the elements on this one are arranged in a series/parallel layout.

[Dollywobbler]

I still think wipers inside and out were a better idea! More seriously, you might want to consider at least one wiper. With our minibuses, the rear windows are covered in filth in no time at all when it's wet, so a HRW isn't much use. Oddly though, one of the buses has one of those clever lenses that gives you a wide angle view - that gets less effected by the muck so you can still see what's behind you!