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Post by sirromnel on Jan 11, 2011 0:11:21 GMT
Hi Everybody,
I wonder if anybody knows how many automatic minis were made and would like to estimate how many are left? If I look in my garage, I know the answer is at least 'one'!
Best Regards
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Post by Holly on Jan 11, 2011 12:36:38 GMT
Not sure how many were built or how many left but I know of 2 still on the road that I own, and as I have 2 spare auto engines in the garage thats unfortunatly at least 2 less autos on the road than were originally produced. The shame of it is that I have heard of several people who have dumper perfectly good auto engines as they said they dont like autos , one was a fully working spi auto engine and the other an old 80's one with only 20,000 on the clock and they were just scrapped. I told them if in future they get any they dont want give them to me rather than just scrapping them Too many seem to have been converted to manuals for my liking too
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Post by asahartz on Jan 11, 2011 17:27:21 GMT
Got to confess I've converted one to manual, as it's intended for my youngest daughter to learn to drive in, and the forward clutch had gone. That was done before this forum was born, and had I known what I know now because of the AMR both that engine and Elfie's original engine would still be functional.
Most people who say they don't like autos have never driven them long enough to learn how to get the best out of them; Elfie is over 40 now and can still leave modern cars standing (up to about 40mph anyway!) and I'd usually choose a modern auto car over its manual equivalent.
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Post by shoutforjoy on Jan 11, 2011 18:45:57 GMT
I've tried to find this out before without any success. I know there were about 5.5m minis produced in total, but how many of those were auto is a mystery.
The older ones (Mk I, II, III , IV and Clubman - pre 1983), including derivitives are now getting quite rare. Ones from 1984-1989 (Mk V) are also disappearing fast. Later ones (Mk VI - 1989 onwards) are more plentiful but do seem to rust more than older ones and thus end up being "projects" when the dreaded conversion happens!
The other day I came across my first auto clubman, sadly I did have have a spare £4k to buy it!
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Post by niceboy1275 on Jan 12, 2011 23:27:51 GMT
According to a book i own "how to get more from you car, mini minor", there were 2161 australian mini matics made. I have two, and have two engine/boxes as spares.
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Post by sirromnel on Jan 13, 2011 0:31:12 GMT
Hi Everybody. Thanks for the responses so far. I'm keeping a running tally! Seems that after Holly's, Asahartz's and Shout for Joys replys there are definitely four left and five scrapped. So we're up to nine with only 5.5 million to go!
Seriously though there might be some good ways at guessing. NiceBoy1275 quotes 2161 minimatics in Australia. How many std minis were made in Australia and would the same ratio apply to our 5.5 million? Also I,m going to try the AP route to see if auto box production figures exist.
Best Regards
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Post by niceboy1275 on Jan 13, 2011 2:21:13 GMT
In australia there is no exact amount for all minis (lots of hypotheticals though) but the mini matic was a stand alone model (all the autos only) and we only made them here between late 67 to early 70 and they were a very slow seller. They also only came in 998cc and the only variations was a mark 1 and mark 2 with mini K/Cooper S dash. otherwise identical to the standard mini.
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Post by tony105 on Jan 13, 2011 19:35:38 GMT
This is a very interesting point. I wonder if the Heritage Motor Centre has a definitive production figure for all forms of Minis with automatic transmission? Has anyone gone down this route previously?
Sadly the issue of converting autos to manuals has probably been going on for many years - I love my automatic particularly in traffic and in town.
I have applied to the Heritage Centre (many years ago) for a Heritage certificate for a Clubman Estate I used to own, and was amazed at the detail recorded on it for example optional extras specified on the car when new.
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Post by station31 on May 26, 2011 16:30:23 GMT
Mines a 89 Mayfair adore the wee fella, despite the fact it cost a fortune when a first got it, first lesson I learned gearbox repairs are pricey, a year on hes sweeeeeet
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Post by joakwin on Jun 7, 2011 17:35:36 GMT
2 998 scraped from me, car now has metro 1275, a buddy scraped a 998 also All those 998's the boxes were done
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Post by notamini on Jun 11, 2011 1:52:41 GMT
Sirromnel, Trouble with the AP production route. You may not get a distinction between the Mini (ADO15) and the 1100/1300 (ADO16) Not to mention all the others from Metros and such.
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Post by sartine on Jun 11, 2011 17:39:14 GMT
Also Innocenti in Italy made about 5000 of them in Italy, near Milano, called " Minimatic" between mid - 1969 and early 1972. I will be more precise with numbers soon, just checking production numbers. There were 3 series trough these years, the mechanical part was almost identical, only minor changes in the selector cable which was inside the car at the beginning and then changed with the external one running under the central tunnel. Innocentis manual trans cars were equpped with a 998 "special tuned" engine, derivated from the Cooper (same 12g295 head and pistons, but normal cam & one HS4), but automatics retained the standard "english" auto 998, so the gap in performance between the two was really big and hard to accept here in Italy, a place where also automatic transmissions, expecially in those years, were totally hated. In addition, first two series were equipped with the Hydrolastic suspension system, and only the last (approx 1200-1300 cars)were dry. I believe that the automatic is very rare here in Italy, mainly because of the low production numbers, scarce interest in auto trans from Italian customers, and also a little ignorance, because italians likes only the 1300 Cooper version, and other mini models are totally ignored. from the beginning of my research, not too long ago, i was in contact with maximum 10 owners and the majority of the cars seen were not in driveable condition. That's the main reason of my project, to demonstrate that also the automatic is a real and one of the most funny minis, and probably also (remember Hydro + Auto trans) the most advanced technical version of this magic car!
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Post by kalkat on Jun 26, 2011 22:49:51 GMT
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Post by asahartz on Jun 27, 2011 17:34:39 GMT
Interesting figures... not sure how accurate though. I looked into "Riley Elf Auto" and there are apparently just 11. I'm sure there are more, but I could be wrong. If the figures are accurate, mine is the one SORNed in the 3rd quarter!
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