Introducing another South African MK3

Jared Mk3 wrote:She's looking good there, going to be a real stunner.

Just something I've noticed, the seat backrest, the hole that's there - it looks to be original and big like that. Mine is about half that size.

That Rotodip hole is also a different shape than the one on my Elf and the Minis I've seen, although the one in the front bulkhead appears to be the same. Yet another difference in these unique cars.

I also noticed it had a cover panel. The shop thought it wasn't original to the car, but I think it may be. Who would bother making one? I hope he didn't toss it out.

mine is the same size! what year did they stop with the rotating the body during production?

i know the clubmans we ave dont have it

That is original. Mine has the same style of fixing holes on the body. Also, the cover that goes over everything looks to be made of the same material as mine - keep it.

I just checked and we still have the cover panel. What is it made of? Pressed cardboard?

Here is another small update with more photos. Still a shell, but a rolling one at that.

She's looking stunning - will look even better when she's done.

Finally arrived in Cape Town to see the car. They stitched and installed the rooflining with the correct repro Longhorn pattern from Newton. Carpet is in, though Minispares shipped the wrong carpet. I now have a bubble for a foot switch that doesn't exist. Color looks beautiful.

Some paint issues to be worked out, but coming together. They did their best to match the original color and here it is. The interior cards were remade to match the seats (olive?). The new material with padding is thicker than the original, so they don't seem to fit the channels well. And the carpet came with a bulge for the floor starter. Not much I can do there, unless someone has a suggestion. Now looking for a fee bits... rear companion box trims/mouldings, Mini script for the boot... Can't wait to drive it.

Oooooh, she is looking good. You can't take her out the country without me having a look first  

For sure. I hope to take it on a drive along the garden route.
M

It's quite a detour up to me though . . .

good work, best of luck with the rest of it

Nothing new to report. I saw the car last July and we identified some paint concerns around the seams and some paint damage from the window installation. But the shop, thankfully, is just now getting started on the respray respray.

In the meantime I've been collecting more bits. I scored some beautiful new old stock overriders at a nice price. And I've been obsessing over the South African reflectors that the paint shop binned. While not the factory original Stimsonite branded reflectors, I found another maker that looks dimensionally correct.

And I've been toying around with the idea of modifying or changing the seats to add headrests for safety. I was really hoping to recover newer headrest seats with the original vinyl from my seats. From photos, however, it looks like my vinyl wouldn't fit the newer frames. At the very least, the headrest seats look taller and have a different seat cover shape. But maybe I should just have new seat covers made...

I might have some new photos to share after the holidays, fingers crossed.

I can't wait to see some updated pictures! Hope it's all going well.

Please do let me know about those reflectors sometime.

Oh, right. The reflectors I'm told are 1.75 inch diameter. I found Stanely red reflectors that are made in Japan and are very nicely made, probably thicker aluminum than original (STANLEY REFLECTOR 6-1920 YAMAHA ENDURO DT RT CT AT). For the front clear reflectors, I found someone on eBay who has them for a motorcycle. They are pretty similar but don't have the exact "6-pie" reflector pattern. They look more like a "cat's eye" pattern. Not a big deal of difference and these are new. I'll look to see if I can find the seller if you want me to buy you a pair.
M

1 3/4" is correct. On the three S.A. cars I've had, the rear, red reflectors had a hard rubber spacer between the reflector and the car's body. The spacer was tapered at the end that goes against the body. On the saloons (both Wolseley 1000s) the reflectors, mounted under the rear tail lights, were rotated so that the tapered spacer would let the reflectors be vertical rather than tilted a little towards the ground. The same was done for the Countryman, but because of the different body sloping the other way (forward at the top), the reflector/spacer was rotated 180 degrees to keep it vertical. I can't tell you if this was consistent with all relfector mounting (I doubt it, by Ryno might know), and I don't know how this would affect mounting on your Mk 3.
Digging through my photos from trips to South Africa, I found some of three different Mk3s. All three had the same white (no spacer) reflectors on the front mounted below the headlights. Two of the three had no rear reflectors. Never fitted or taken off, I couldn't tell you. The one that did had no-spacer red ones mounted below the tail lights.

Thanks Chuck. My rears were mounted below the bumper on angle brackets. I have photos. But the body shop misplaced them. Maybe they will turn up one day.

So, my brother-in-law stopped by the shop for me today and snapped some updated photos. Paint has been redone and looks great. You can now see the color, which was matched as closely as possible to the original paint. Anyone want to guess the color because I haven't a clue?
Final assembly should begin shortly. Thanks Kev.

Honestly can't wait to see this one done.

Looking FANTASTIC. keep up the good work!  

Thanks. I'm just paying the bills. Much as I would love to get my hands dirty on this project, I am out of the country. At least I can scrounge around for needed parts, but getting them to the car isn't so easy. Luckily, I've been in contact with a prior owner of the car to identify what is original and what may have changed over the years.

last week i was on holiday in cape town and i managed to see this car

looking nice man, i dont envy the task of making it totally original.

so far looking good though....

beautiful taillights... only really bad part i cannot replace on my car.....

also having seen about 7 or 8 mk3s seems they are made from much better metal than the later clubmans here in sa. casue every clubman ive seen has rust and the rust on mk3s is always minor at most....

This is definitely one car I wish I could see before it leaves the country.

Join the KZN Mini Forum and ask for tail lights there, they do come up every now and then - that's where I got mine from and mine are near perfect.