Project Cliff - The Cherry Red Thirty by stretch tech

4 minute(s) of a 220 minute read

just got a call from the paint shop, Cliff is going in the spray booth friday the bloke there also said that he has just taken delivery of a mini moke that the owner has found in a barn and he wants restoring...two minis in one place at opposite ends of the restoration cycle

6-12-2012

other small updates

- i'm having difficulty finding insurance for Cliff-Nigel as he is classed as an import on the interwebs as he was exported from production and re imported in 1998 so my cheapest quote so far is £4,300 any ideas ? i've tried third party, changing vehicle value, vehicle usage, tracker etc. only on comparison sites so far but if i search for the vehicle manually, my cheapest quote is £3,200 which is better but still more than i was quoted when i first got the car £2,100

- i've finally got a steady income for the mini fund as a grounds keeper

Rhys

i've just had a look through the insurance area and found that Graham Skyes does good deals on young drives and mods actually decrease the price i think i know who i'll ring first

my mom has just got home from work and gave me a late birthday present, it's an ultimate PC DVD rom driving test which includes a driving simulator, unlimited theory tests (apparently has a guaranteed 100% pass rate ? ) learn your road signs, hazard perception, practical driving lessons and car maintenance guide. as well as two sets of L plates and a driving licence application form so i'm all set to start learning next week

6-15-2012

hi all, i thought it was about time i uploaded some photos of the parts i got for my birthday, my room is like a mini suppliers



new carpet set and front/rear screen seals





nice new shiny stainless steel bumpers



along with some other small miscellaneous parts that aren't really worth taking photos of

whilst i was on holiday in Ireland, i spotted this from a small country lane we were walking along...talk about sixth sense, i don't know how i spotted this



can anyone spot it ? it's a very rusty abandoned mini this was the best photo i could get, you can just see the passengers roof corner protruding out of the bushes. it is so rusty, the scuttle has rotten away and the window screen has fallen out...i think it is past the point of return

6-16-2012

noah - photos speak a thousand words so on that note, BEHOLD sir Cliff-Nigel





















this turned out waaay better then i ever imagined we're bringing him home monday/tuesday depending on the weather so i'll use my proper camera to take some better photos as i took these with my Iphone after a surprise call this morning to say he's finished

my uncle knows a guy who owns a graphics company so i got him to reproduce the thirty decals but i need to get some new pinstripes now, probably ebay

comments welcome and feedback appreciated as always

6-18-2012

i know, but there is just soo many nice things to buy for the mini and the more repair work we did, the more we found needed fixing and me and my dad hate doing things half-heartedly so the result is a full restoration and at a much greater cost

small update, brought some cherry red spray paint to touch up all the visible areas inside the car (i.e. A and B posts, rear window frames, rear bins, cross-member, etc) so i'll do that at the weekend. i know i should have done this before he went off to paint but we didn't get time so i'll just have to be EXTRA careful of the over spray lol. we'll probably just re-mask off the window and door frames...better to be safe then sorry

we've also borrowed my dads mate's truck again (again) ready to collect Cliff from the paint shop tomorrow after school so i'll post up some proper high resolution pics of the paint job and maybe even a video of a small test drive

6-19-2012

hi all, we pick cn up from the paint shop today.

i have noticed that the pearlescent cherry red changes colour slightly with changing light conditions so when he was inside the paint shop under the bright lights, the car was a lot stronger red but when we drove him out side into the over cast weather, the colour becomes less bold and more like a mulberry red...but i love it

out side the paint shop all strapped down for the final journey



going down the single carriage way at 50 mph



arrived back home



un strapping





a video of us unloading him...please excuse my camera women (mother) for wandering away from filming the car you can see what i mean about how the car changes errrmm redness as the light changes whilst i walk around the car



as promised, some better resolution pics of Cliff-Nigel back in his pride of place (the drive)







and pushed back into the garage, again the body colour has changed when under artificial lights in the garage. we also removed the remaining masking tape









my last exam is Thursday so you can expect to see updates most nights from then until CN is all finished

comments welcome

hi andrew, on the ground you can't see many imperfections but when it was up on the back of the truck you could see all sorts of blemishes

some of the paint has split along the arch to body joins

there is a run on the rear valance

the A panels are a bit of a funny shape but that is mainly from where we decided to spot weld the a panels to the door hinge panel

other than that, there isn't much else wrong with the job that a good polish won't remove

next up is to touch up the inside areas with some paint matched spray paint, we'll do that saturday. Sunday i will start bolting all the lights and exterior chrome work back on