# My Mini Won a Prize !!



## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Yep, me and my little Min have won a prize !! :thumb:

After coming second on numerous occasions at the annual Southern Mini Owners Club Show & Shine, I finally got 1st in Class at this years show on Sunday.

Also came 5th overall. So well chuffed !!!

I only enter this one event as it means taking the car off the road for 2 or 3 weeks to get it ready. I attend other shows in the summer, but want to enjoy driving it for the rest of the summer months, so this is my one shot at fame a year.

I really went the extra mile this year and decided to give the engine bay a bit of a refresh. Last time I did this was about 5 years ago, so bits were looking a bit tired.

As it was, not too bad but needed some added zing....










I'm no mechanic, but took off various bits and bobs to clean, polish or paint.










With all the bits removed...










Refurb included painting the engine block, head, thermostat assembly, expansion tank bracket, oil breather, rocker cover, alternator cover and brackets. I also took apart the alternator and gave the alloy body a good going over with a wire brush drill attachment.

New bits in the engine bay included polybushes for the engine steady and some lovely stuff from "Smiffy's Bits".

I've already bought numerous bits from him and it's superb quality. Can't recommend him enough.

I got a new expansion tank as mine was looking pooh brown, added a stainless steel blanking plate for the bulkhead and replacement OEM stickers/labels for the ECU, Alternator and Expansion tank.

The engine bay got a good clean before everything was put back together with new nuts and bolts here and there. All plastics and rubber were treated with Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber Care.










Also took off the Koni shock absorbers and gave them a re-spray as they had taken a bit of a bashing over my nine years of ownership.



















All the wheels came off for a thorough clean and Poorboys Wheet sealant applied. Shocks put back on and the calipers repainted.










I replaced the front number plate (Craigs Plates) as this had some small cracks around the bolt holes and I took off the chrome air horns to respray the inside of the trumpets as bits of the chrome plating had come off.










Up on the ramps, I gave the exhaust system a good clean up with wirewool and Megs NXT Metal Polish. I re-sprayed the exhaust/CAT flanges as they looked a bit ropey.










The LCB still looked a bit tired, but no amount of brushing would bling this up. I can't really justify replacing it just for this event so that stayed as it was.










The grille came off and I repainted the black edge. All the fins were polished with Megs NXT metal polish (missus freaked when she found me doing this in the front room whilst watching the TV !!)

Once all the refurbed bits had been put back on, it was time to give the outside a good going over. It was snowfoamed, washed, clayed and polished with Autoglym SRP using my Megs G220 DA before laying on two layers of Vic Concours Wax. At the show, I used Vic Wax Quick Detail to add abit more sparkle !



















Interior was then dressed with Poorboys Natural Look Dressing and leather treated with Gliptone Conditioner.










At the show, the car was raised up and all the tyres dressed with Autoglym Tyre Dressing.

The underside was dressed with AG Vinyl and Rubber Care to give the underseal a satin rather matt finish !!!

Can't do much with is, no shiney bits here, just rust protection, which I'm not taking off for anyone !!










Here's a few from the show.





































In very good company….










The judges swarm over the car….3 weeks work and it's all over in minutes….










A few hours later I found this….










and then this……1st Yippee !!!










The class winners wait for their prizes…..some seriously nice cars here today…










My prizes !!!



















Back home now and time for a rest after all the excitement of the day !!!










So chuffed that me and my little Min came first in Class at a show


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## Finerdetails (Apr 30, 2006)

well done mate, nothing like a class win to reward your many hours of work.


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Well done! Looks fantastic anyway, no surprise you won


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## Herefordquattro (May 31, 2010)

congratulations. All that extra work has finaly paid off, well done! Car looks immaculate i'll have to show my sister this thread as she's a mini freak too (even got her kit off for a mini charity calendar this year!)


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## cotter (Aug 31, 2008)

Fantastic looking wee mini, well done! :thumb:


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## Phil23 (Nov 29, 2008)

Congats :thumb:. Car looked great.


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Brilliant mate - Well done :thumb:

Nice plate


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## Owensy (Jul 27, 2010)

Congratulations!

And what a lovley Mini - a perfect Mini in my eyes! :argie:

Stephen


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## Bratwurst (Jan 23, 2009)

Absolutely outstanding!!! :argie:

Well done on the first - well deserved I'm sure!!! :thumb:

Here's a link for a thing of beauty (and great value!) to help with your manifold issue....

http://www.specialist-components.co.uk/cnb/shop/sconline?productID=62&op=catalogue-product_info-null&prodCategoryID=17


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## killash (May 3, 2010)

well deserved! congrats!


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

well done mate, great mini too


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## coopersworks (Dec 8, 2009)

Well done mate, well worth all the effort. I had a S works myself and regretted selling it ever since ( even though i did make nearly 3K in profit form its sale )

Never forget the feeling of winning "best standard car" at brands hatch mini racing festival.

All the best


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## 47p2 (Jun 17, 2007)

Congratulations, a worthy winner indeed :thumb:


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## herbie147 (May 30, 2010)

Looks brilliant! You deserved that award after all the effort you put in


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## Bungleaio (Jul 18, 2010)

Car looks fantastic mate, definately better than when it was new.

I was lucky enough to have a cooper sport brand new back in 2000 and that had rust on it when I picked it up. I sold it in 2003 with about 30,000 miles on it and I still miss it. X849 0DA where are you!


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## mk2jon (Mar 10, 2009)

Well done to you,fantastic looking mini :thumb:


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## Delboy_Trotter (Jun 7, 2007)

Congrats mate. I saw the car at Bewl on the Sunday (i was at southern mini days with bournemouth mini club) and was certainly impressed.


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Showshine said:


> Brilliant mate - Well done :thumb:
> 
> Nice plate


Cheers, the missus got it for me about 8 years ago, only 350 quid. I used to have the letters spaced out so the P was on it's own, until I got a tug from plod and now too scared to use the 'show plates'.



wee_green_mini said:


> Absolutely outstanding!!! :argie:
> 
> Well done on the first - well deserved I'm sure!!! :thumb:
> 
> ...


That's not as expensive as I thought......very tempting.....hhhhmmmm.....



coopersworks said:


> Well done mate, well worth all the effort. I had a S works myself and regretted selling it ever since ( even though i did make nearly 3K in profit form its sale )
> 
> Never forget the feeling of winning "best standard car" at brands hatch mini racing festival.
> 
> All the best


Now I know how you must have felt....really satisfying, but I suspect you were up against more cars than me.....nice one !!



Delboy_Trotter said:


> Congrats mate. I saw the car at Bewl on the Sunday (i was at southern mini days with bournemouth mini club) and was certainly impressed.


Thanks....the sweaty bloke with the rag, I mean micro fibre cloth, was indeed me !!


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## Simo182 (Apr 15, 2010)

Top work!!

Well done :thumb:


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## Has390 (May 21, 2010)

Well done dude!


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## Baker21 (Aug 7, 2007)

Wow that looks like it's in great condition............:doublesho

Fair play to you for all your hard efforts and it's great to read that you actually use the car, as I always find some of the 'show' cars really don't get used which is such a shame..........:thumb:


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## flamingoman (Aug 11, 2008)

well done buddy, your wee car is stunning!!!


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## pete5570 (Jun 11, 2010)

That's stunning! A proper mini (before BMW screwed em up)


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Congratulations mate, a well deserved winner


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## fozzy (Oct 22, 2009)

Fantastic car, nice to see all the hard working paying off. Will you be at Santa Pod this weekend for MITP ?


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## fozzy (Oct 22, 2009)

pete5570 said:


> That's stunning! A proper mini (before BMW screwed em up)


Take that back!


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## Mars Red Mike (May 28, 2007)

Excellent work there mate. I know from past experience how hard it is to detail an MPi engine bay and keep it looking sharp. Top marks to you though mate you have done a fantastic job.

Mike


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## Dizzle77 (Mar 27, 2010)

congratulations on the win.
Well deserved for all the effort you put in. :thumb:


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## declanswan (Feb 27, 2008)

Well done


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## Ben H (Jan 17, 2006)

enjoyed that one. Lovely little motor you got there!


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

fozzy said:


> Fantastic car, nice to see all the hard working paying off. Will you be at Santa Pod this weekend for MITP ?


I'm hoping to go as I've not missed one since the event started. Won't be entering the car into the show and shine. Had enough for one year !!! That competition also has what I would call proper show cars, but as Baker 21 says, shame they don't ever get driven and enjoyed. Life size Corgi Models in most cases, but stunning all the same.


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## ksm1985 (Dec 27, 2008)

nice work, good to see you paying attention to the small things which i'd love to do, but pointless on my car as it's a daily driver :thumb:


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## puntomatt (Aug 8, 2008)

Well Done,

This gold thing is terrible though!


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

Each to his own I guess. I'm not a big fan of these and the colour is certainly a bit different, but the guy had clearly spent a lot of time and effort on it

He got quite a rough reception from a few people when we pulled into the arena, but he took it all in good spirits 

He's won quite a few prizes with this car and will no doubt be adding a few more to his collection during the summer.

Always amazes me at how big these things are when compared to the original.


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## puntomatt (Aug 8, 2008)

With it next to the others it looks terrible. Just not very tasteful thats all.


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## willskoda (Jun 7, 2010)

Congratulations! You must have been very happy. Nice looking car there and a lovely shine on it too :thumb:


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## yetizone (Jun 25, 2008)

Wonderful! A nice read through and great to see all the hard work rewarded. Lovely car by the way :argie:


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## Kenny6 (Dec 6, 2007)

Very nice mini dude! :thumb: Great prizes as well bet your chuffed 

I go to a lot of the mini shows and regulary see that gold mess :lol: but hey like you said he has spent a lot of time and effort getting it clean, so fair play :thumb:


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## Dunkwho (Jan 23, 2009)

Well done on your win - car looks great and you've clearly put mountains of effort into it. Top work.


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## woodybeefcake (Oct 12, 2008)

Well done dude!! Awesome Mini...


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Excellent!! Very well done mate, and well deserved :thumb:


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## PTAV (Nov 10, 2007)

looks amazing - 10 years ago used to be in to the scene in a bit way with my Tahiti mini (that i shouldnt have sold) but hey.. i love the work you have done! did you have to underseal it all  shame it wasnt left factory! id have to put it back to mini colour underneath if it was mine!  (not practical i know!  

great work mate!!!!!!!

let me know if you ever sell


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## Alex_225 (Feb 7, 2008)

Looking at that mate, it was hugely deserving of that prize. Looks absolutely spot on. 

Not only is it probably cleaner than when it left the factory, it's a fecking cool car. You can't help but smile at the original Minis.


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## srmtor (Jul 12, 2008)

well done mate, looks like a alot of hardwork has goone into that!


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## Jai (Mar 16, 2010)

Absolutely love your mini! I'm looking to get one myself, to restore as a second car for weekends and shows. If it looks half as good as yours, I'll be chuffed! Great pics!


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## Phil1971 (Sep 3, 2007)

PTAV said:


> looks amazing - 10 years ago used to be in to the scene in a bit way with my Tahiti mini (that i shouldnt have sold) but hey.. i love the work you have done! did you have to underseal it all  shame it wasnt left factory! id have to put it back to mini colour underneath if it was mine!  (not practical i know!
> 
> great work mate!!!!!!!
> 
> let me know if you ever sell


I do recall seeing some nice Tahiti Minis around that sort of time. I think one was featured in the Mini magazines as well if I remember ? Was that yours ?

My car was going to be a daily driver when I bought it new from the dealer and so the underseal and all the waxoyl etc I pumped into it was essential.

Now it's become more of a pampered pet, I suppose I could take it all off, but I think that'll be the slippery slope to it becoming a trailer queen and then I'll be too scared to drive it, :driver:which is a big no no !!

If I do ever sell, I'll know where to come. Cheers.


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Very well done mate, looks fantastic!!! :thumb:


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## WR1 Shane (Mar 22, 2010)

Congratulations, nice to see your hard work appreciated!


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## CliveP (Feb 1, 2009)

Fantastic Phil!
Congratulations and well deserved!

Regards,
Clive.


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## Guest (Aug 14, 2010)

well done mate,it's a good feeling to win :thumb:


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## GeeBee (Apr 21, 2008)

Very nice ! well worth the effort,


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## pooma (Apr 12, 2008)

Stunning little car, I love minis and desperately miss mine.
Cracking write up, was a good read with some good photos.


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## CliveP (Feb 1, 2009)

ps Phil I had a 1973 M Reg Mini 1000 in Red, so wish I'd have kept it!


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## PTAV (Nov 10, 2007)

Phil1971 said:


> I do recall seeing some nice Tahiti Minis around that sort of time. I think one was featured in the Mini magazines as well if I remember ? Was that yours ?
> 
> My car was going to be a daily driver when I bought it new from the dealer and so the underseal and all the waxoyl etc I pumped into it was essential.
> 
> ...


i totally understand phil! 

mine was in mini world iirc (still have the magazine) ...(in the all your own work section) nice write up - had webasto sunroof and play mini exhaust/painted engine..underneath... based on one that was on the front cover! (l reg obviously)


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## 123quackers (Jan 29, 2009)

Great Looks real nice in the red!!:thumb:

Sawlots of mini's sunday on way back from coventry to Cambridge area... You lot at Stamford Hall for the day???


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## james. (Mar 1, 2010)

Stunning mate, not at all suprised that you won!


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