It’s the rule. You can’t have spare storage space. Just as you can’t argue with gravity, the pull of an empty parking space is just too great. It will be filled.
Let’s take a couple of steps back here. It’s not as if I haven’t already got my hands full, and in between trying to earn a living, my project roster was already at the overload point. I’ve got three projects of the two wheeled variety, and you’ve already seen the NSU Prinz in our buyer’s guide. Add in the 1982 Mini and the Pop project, and anybody with even half an ounce of common sense could see I don’t need to own yet another rusty old car.
The plan had been to get the Mini finished and back out on the road - it was bought as an MoT’d runner and driver in need of a bit of tidy up. But once the wings and front panel came off, it was obvious that I’d need to go back and buy some more welding wire. A lot more. And a lot more panels, and enough paint to respray the lot. So a planned month off the road has turned into six. But the paint is nearly there, it just needs the last few bits polishing and then it’s reassembly time. Quite an adventure and we’ll bring you more on the rebuild in future.
The incentive was that as soon as the Mini is a car again, as opposed to a collection of parts scattered around the four corners of the Dep-O, I could really get stuck into the NSU. And before you ask, yes, I have got a small car fixation. The Prinz is going to be immobile for a while as it needs the complete braking system overhauling which means it’s going to be up on stands while I track down all the parts.
Any other car, it would be a couple of days of therapeutic spannering, but you can’t really walk into your local Halfords and get wheel cylinders for a NSU Prinz. Someone has been there before me, so I’m planning to strip it down on the premise that little or nothing is going to be salvageable, measure everything and see what can be found to get it all working again.
In the meantime, I’m scrounging round for parts for the Pop and trying to land a cheap PX engine for my VBB Vespa. So time and funds are stretched to breaking point.
So I can only blame the irresistible pull of the empty slot for the arrival of the yellow beauty you see here. That, and the persuasive powers of Simon and Mark at Southern Triumph.
The arguments for were numerous and highly creative. It’s very rare. It’s an ex-British Telecom car, adding to the rarity. It’s an estate and therefore useful. It’s bright yellow and would make a great mobile ad for the site. It’s another BL product, and as Dep-O has been confirmed as the epicentre of The Illness, we couldn’t say no. The arguments against sort of paled into insignificance. OK, we were in the grips of The Illness.
I reckon Mr Stretton gets a shudder down his spine when he gets a call from either Simon or me these days. He probably sees our number and just automatically drags out the trailer and hitches it up for another epic road trip. This time, his Alfa took us down to Joe and Jason’s place in Devon. There’s a video of the trip around here somewhere…
So back under the harsh strip lights in the shed of broken dreams, what have we got? Well, a few years off the road haven’t been kind to the estate - it needs sills, steps and the rear slam panel has turned into that crumbling, cracking rust which BL products were so prone to. The slightest pressure and six inches of panel crumbles into nothingness. Three of the four doors are rough, as is the tailgate.
In an ideal world it would have wings and a bonnet, but for Ital/Marina owners, this sadly isn’t an ideal world. The only panels which are readily available are skin sills and bizarrely, just the passenger side footwell repair panel. For the rest, it’s either going to have to be repair or get lucky on eBay. I’m sure something will turn up. I’m just hoping it’s not another project.
DEP-O JOB SHEET
1982 Mini City
Finish polishing the paint and put it all back together. It’s definitely entering the exciting, final stage.
NSU Prinz
Make some room, get it up in the air and get it stripped down. Start to find all the parts for the brakes.
Morris Ital Estate
Break out the grinder and Mig - it looks like this could be another epic.
GH’s PLEDGE: “I am not buying anything else. No. Definitely not.”
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