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The Italian Job Comes to Classic Motorsports Feb 24, 2008

The latest addition to the family, a 1971 Innocenti Mini Cooper. Yeah, we don’t think that’s the right grille, either. This photo was taken this afternoon; the car is now on four matching wheels and tires. We fetched the car from Charlotte, not too far from our editor’s parents. The tow rig didn’t fit up their driveway. We picked up the car over Mother’s Day weekend, so we got to surprise Mom. That’s Matt, our editor’s brother, with Mom. We stopped for gas a few times. Here’s how the car looks with matching wheels. By the way, the Nissan Titan truck made for a very nice tow vehicle. The aluminum two-axle trailer came from Trailer World. Nice piece. And no road trip is complete without mascots. B.J. had that monkey, but we have Paige and Aimee. Paige is the one with the ears.

After spending way, way, way too much time debating what classic to get, David, our editor, finally made a purchase: a 1971 Innocenti Mini Cooper. It’s a twin-SU, 998cc-powered car. It’s also left-hand drive, which he figured would be better in the real world.

This was originally a hydrolastic suspension car, although it has been converted to a dry suspension. The engine was recently rebuilt, the brakes are fresh, the interior is new, and the car is in pretty decent condition. It drives nicely, too, once it’s warmed-up.

The car came on its spare, hence the one mismatched wheel. It did come with two new Yokohama A008 tires, and Orlando & Sons here in Ormond Beach, Florida, was able to mount it no problem. The wheel wouldn’t fit on their balancing machine, so we might be upgrading to alloys soon. We’ll keep you guys posted on our progress. 

The Innocenti Gets Authenticated Feb 24, 2008

A week and a half ago, we again took the Mini to one of our local cruise nights. It was dwarfed by many of the other cars there. We did not have the smallest engine there. A Honda Beat probably took that title. Sorry that this photo doesn’t have much to do with the license plate.
We’ve spent more on stupider stuff.

Today we received our authenticated plate from the Florida DMV. We can now legally bolt our 1970-71 Florida tag to the back of the Mini. The authentication process, including our 2007 registration fees, cost us $36.85. We bought the plate itself via eBay for $4.99 plus $5.00 shipping. We’ve spent more on stupider stuff. 

New Tires for Our Mini Feb 24, 2008

They might fit a golf cart.

New tires arrived today for our Mini. Although they look like golf cart tires, they are the size we need to fit over our new wheels. Check back soon as we’ll have the new wheels and tires mounted up and we’ll be ready to go cruisin’. 

Skating Around Feb 24, 2008

The Gojaks make parking a breeze. Sliding the Mini into place is a one-person, five-minute operation. Yes, everything looks better on eight-spoke wheels. And last weekend the Mini participated in the New Smyrna Beach cruise-in. The only parking spot we could find was near the other classic Mini—what are the odds?

It's been a while since we’ve mentioned our Gojaks, but we're still in love with them. They essentially turned our two-car garage into a three-car garage, and we can park the Mini without moving all of the other cars out into the driveway. The whole parking process can be done in about five minutes.

We got our Gojaks from Moss Motors, where they retail for $369.95 per pair. We figured that was less expensive than expanding the garage, and they're easier to use than a floor jack and those el cheapo car skates. 

Mini Gets Around Apr 13, 2008

While technically it's not British, the All British Car Club of Volusia County welcomed our Innocenti Mini. Two big advantages of driving a Mini: You don't need much parking room, and you're pretty much welcome at any cool car event. New Smyrna Beach's cruise-in attracts nearly all manner of cool cars. Of course, there are some traditional hotrods, too. And imports are just as welcome. With all those cars comes some people--lots of them. We didn't have the only classic Mini, either. The Lincoln provides some scale. Look for a Tiger once owned by Kirk White in our next issue. He's a regular at these gathering and always brings something cool. This is his, too.
We're still amazed at how much attention the little Mini gets. First thing everyone asks about? The fuel mileage.

The Mini got a nice workout yesterday. First, it got a much-needed bath. Then we cruised over to the All British Car Club of Volusia County's Golden Oldies Car Show at the Riviera ALF. We showed up about half an hour before the show's end, but they still welcomed us with an info sign and a place to park.

Afterward, we drove down to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, for their cruise-in. Once a month, the town's main drag is packed with hundreds of cool cars, from traditional hotrods and muscle cars to British sports cars, Italian exotics, kit cars, lowriders, woodies, American classics, rat rods, street machines and just about everything else. There's even a section reserved for bikes.

We're still amazed at how much attention the little Mini gets. First thing everyone asks about? The fuel mileage.

The Mini didn't miss a beat during its entire adventure, although we need to install the proper shift boot. The ill-fitting one we currently have lets all manner of engine funk and heat into the passenger compartment.  

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