The car and restoration strategy

The car is a 1966 Mini 850. It has hydrolastic suspension and was originally white.

Although I was able to get the tires to hold air long enough to get the car home, it stayed on the little dollies so I could move it around.

I learned some things from the first Mini’s restoration, and plan to apply them to this one. One of the first lessons is that I wanted the car to be mobile. The garage is used for other things than mini work, and the Mini can’t take up all the space. Second, sandblasting is clearly the way to go in getting paint and rust off things. On Mini 1 I used a ton of paint remover and grinding and sanding on many of the body panels. Some things I had blasted, like the rear subframe and a door. This time, the whole car gets blasted. Ed loaned me a blasting cabinet, and I’ve been cleaning up some of the parts I’ve taken off. Last time, I was on my back on the floor, scraping, sanding, and welding on the floor. This time, the Mini goes on a rotisserie. Last time, I primed the car. This time, who knows. I’d love to prime it, or even paint it. But the guy that painted Mini 1 did such a good job, and did it so easily, that it’s probably  not really worth it.