Carolynn and Dave’s Mini Challenges.

Rosie was purchased in 2002 as a replacement for my mum’s Mini sidewalk whose life was cruelly cut short by a nasty road traffic accident. A chance conversation with a friend of my dad’s who happened to mention that he’d got a little white mini with a pink roof and was I interested, so off we went one weekend to go and have a look. I was surprised to find that this Mini was actually a Rose special edition and so the deal was done.

Although the car seemed in reasonable condition there was some rust in the usual places which didn’t look too bad but spread over the first year. It was then decided to give it a ‘quick’ touch up which would inevitably as Minis do turn into a full restoration job.......

As more rust was found more panels had to be replaced and soon a complete new front end was required.

The front end was removed with the aid of an angle grinder, some new panels sourced from a Mini show and within a couple of weekends the new panels were welded in place, this was my first attempt at Mini restoring.

With the new panels fitted, the body was rubbed flat and all stickers removed before priming ready for the top coat. The pink roof was not too bad and just needed a bit of t-cut and some elbow grease. The top coat was a ford diamond white colour which was not a bad match and cheap enough paint.

When all the masking was removed the Mini was looking fine, the intention was always to keep it original as there aren’t many left in original spec so some new stickers were ordered to finish it off.

She has been to many shows since and always gets lots of attention because she is original. Always brings a smile to your face driving Rosie.