Highlights 

• Rebuilt from ground-up with new Heritage panels
• 13-inch Cooper Sport alloys with wide arches
• Marine ply load bay
• 1,275cc engine with LCB exhaust system

The Appeal

 
Here’s a car nerd pub quiz fact for you – the Mini Pick-up, built until 1983, was the last of the iconic model’s variants to sport the external door hinges from the original 1959 model.
 
Why? Because in chopping the roof off a Mini Van, the British Motor Corporation’s engineers had to compensate for lost strength by adding extra strength to the A-pillars, meaning that the pick-up could never have the more modern internal closures.

It was a cleverly engineered truck – designed by BMC Engineer John Sheppard to be as light as possible while maintaining the same dimensions as the Mini Van, thus offering a useful payload as a result.
 
At 3.4 metres long, the Pick-up weighed just 680kg and was frugal and practical, making it popular with farmers and small business users, especially with its fold-down rear tailgate. That utilitarian nature means they’re much rarer than Mini Saloons, though, and the last-of-the-line examples are rarer still.

This one was comprehensively restored to concours standard between 2006 and 2011, as certified by the British Mini Club, and has been with its present owner since 2017 , used only as a show car and covering fewer than 2,000 miles. A change in circumstances during the Covid pandemic means that the Mini has barely been used since, having covered just 10 miles since 2019.

It’s now tax and MOT exempt, as well as being allowed to use the London ULEZ and similar emissions schemes with impunity, making it idea for the small business that wants to get noticed.

The History and Paperwork

• UK V5C
• MOT, tax and ULEZ exempt
• Comprehensive restoration from 2006 to 2011, fully documented with bills and invoices presented in a lever-arch file
• Used as a show vehicle only for the past 10 years and kept in a dry garage
• Over five litres of Waxoyl used during restoration 

The Condition

• Restored to near concourse standard, all metalwork and panels repaired, renewed and comprehensively rust-proofed
• Genuine Heritage panels consisting of A-panels, inner/ outer wings, front panel, scuttle panel, tailgate, rear quarters, and inner and outer lower valences used during restoration
• Repainted in Ford Moondust Silver
• 13-inch Cooper Sport alloys
• Wide arches
• Excellent chrome and trim
• Some very minor rust bubbles under paint around fuel filler and door bottoms that would benefit from localised attention
• The usual mini rust hot spots (front panel to wing joint, scuttle to wing joints) are rust-free and bear testimony to the rustproofing application.
• Excellent underneath with no signs of any required welding
• Modernised interior with seats from a late 1990s Mini Sprite
• Three-spoke steering wheel and modernised dash
• Excellent door cards, carpets and aftermarket headliner panel
• Dynamat soundproofing
• Sony CD stereo
• Discreet 6x9 speakers behind seats 
• Marine-ply lined load bay with Hexagrip flooring and oak runner strips
• Subframes stripped and painted in black gloss

The Mechanics

• 1,275cc A-Series engine
• Four-speed manual transmission
• Starts instantly, idles smoothly and holds a steady temperature
• LCB manifold and Maniflow 1¾ -inch exhaust 
• HIF carburettor and free flow fuel filter. 
• Four-core radiator
• Billeted thermostat housing. 
• The vendor reports that the engine would benefit from a tune-up, but pulls fine in all gears once warmed through.
• New copper brake lines throughout, Goodrige hosing and Cooper S discs. 
• Sports Spax dampers
• Quick steering rack 
• New track rod ends and suspension overhaul

BEFORE YOU BUY