Now here’s a sight one doesn’t often see on the highways of the Middle West; a RHD Mini wearing native UK plates. I caught this nice example motoring up I-55 near Springfield, IL – perhaps he’s on holiday to take in some Abraham Lincoln history?
While I’m no Mini expert, it appears this car (perhaps a Mark III?) has undergone some extensive modding: in addition to the Minilites, the wheel arches don’t appear to match the ones on production cars, and the distinctive seam that normally carries down the A-pillar appears to have been shaved. One of 5,378,776 Minis produced over a 41 year production run, it was a pleasure to see (and hear its throaty growl!) this example.
Deseamed arches flared and the sill has been moulded and larger diameter rims, I see lots of minis here that does look like a later model with some useful improvements, these two are dailies for an Asian couple and their kids.
I’ve always liked this generation of Mini any day more than the current version.
Amen to that. The current Mini is anything but.
Interesting coincidence here: I saw a RHD Mini today on my way to work this morning, also with Minilite wheels. RHD cars aren’t exactly common here in Seattle.
Im surprised….we see a LOT of classic Mini’s here in Portland…RHD and LHD. Being so close to Canada means a lot of cool stuff trickles down.
Seattle just ain’t cool any more… Portland is the new Seattle. Maybe the Mini that I saw was on its way to Portland.
Anything is possible, but it’s likely that it’s a local car. If you have an antique or EA license plate in Illinois, you are permitted to display a historical “year of make” plate so long as you carry the state issued plate in the car. I’m not sure what the Illinois legislature had in mind, but plenty of people display euro or out of state plates on this basis. There is no requirement to notify the state of the historical plate you are displaying, so yes… you can drive through tolls, commit hit and run, etc. and they would not have any way to track you down.
Interesting, wasn’t aware of that rule, and may employ it on my ’62 and ’63 Beetles.
I shot the car in a 70mph speed zone (which I was doing) – he was only going about 60-65, just takin’ it easy.
60-65 in a Mini feels a hell of a lot faster you sit on the ground and with the originals on 10 inch wheels the engine is screaming at 65.
..and the lower the centre of gravity (10″ wheels) the better the handling too ! ..the original Mini handled like on rails ..the hydro ones i didn’t like so much
I like this idea. In Switzerland you can also run a number of cars on the same number plate. You can only drive one car at a time, so it’s a good idea if you have a number of cars. Obviously the Swiss aren’t greedy with their fees.
KJ
LOVE classic Mini’s!!!! The minilite wheels really set the car off too…if theres one thing I like on a small nimble car, its deep wide wheels with fatty tires. Looks like a little skateboard and Ill bet it drives like one too.
These original Minis are the opposite of everything I like in a car (size, comfort), but every time I see one I can’t help but be besotted. They’re just such likable cars! The stance of the one above, especially the arches and sill extension, reminds me very much of the ERA Turbo Minis:
A friend of mine owned a mini and he gave me a ride on the A5 Autobahn from Offenburg to Mannheim. Near Bruchsal I started complaining about the harsh ride.
I suggest it is for twisties and short distances only. The Renault R4 is much more suitable for the long runs.
I can relate to that, I went with a friend to look at a few Mk1 Cooper S’s when he was looking to buy one (non re-shelled, which is why it was necessary to look at so many), and I remember sitting in the back seat of one as it hit a pothole at 80mph – it felt like someone kicked you in the backside.
RHD in the USA. He knows how I feel driving a LHD car in Australia.
Although I’ve got a lot more metal around me the he does.
I like right-hand drive cars. I used to see lots of old Jeep XJ Cherokees with Right-Hand Drive positioned steering wheel where I live. I used to also see Right-Hand Drive Subaru Legacy wagons. For some reason, those cars have either been retired or sold.
They’re all trashed from delivering mail in rural areas. At least the ones here in Ohio are.
Given that this Mini has a W suffix registration, this would have been registered in the UK between August 1980 and July 1981. Another modification is the indicator/side repeater in the wing. These were not fitted on UK market cars until the mid-1980’s. And I’m in no way a Mini expert!
My mum used to have a couple of Mini when we lived in Freiburg: orange and red. The fondest memories were her driving Mini so fast on the twisty roads in the Black Forest outside Freiburg.
After we moved to Dallas, I realised how much disadvantage the Mini had as compared to our first American car, a 1972 Chevrolet Caprice estate. In Mini, my mum could easily put a feisty boy like me into docile submission by slapping on my leg (yes, that was early 1970s and German thing). In Chevrolet, I could easily evade her punishment by climbing all the way to the cargo hold and jeered at my mum.
A several years ago, I saw a fine 1967 example in RHD and with blazing orange paintwork for sale in Denver. The guy wanted $10.000 for this particular model. I asked him for a test drive only to be told that I would not fit in Mini at all. I insisted on finding out how well a man with height of 6’8″ could fit in. Well, it sure did so well with plenty of headroom for me. Fortunately, the Mini of this vintage had steering column going to the floor rather than dashboard, meaning the steering wheel was positioned like a lorry. This position gave my legs lot of legroom. The guy was awestruck and bewildered to see me fitting comfortably.
As I drove it, I became very conscious of how low I sat in Mini and saw only the doors rather than windows of other vehicles. Their wing mirrors lined up with the Mini’s roof.
I wanted to clean the dirty windscreen so I pulled into a filling station. A couple of rednecks with their jacked-up pick-up truck saw me and started to laugh so hard at how damn tiny the Mini was. As I proceed to exit the Mini, they stopped laughing: their chins slowly dropped, their eyes widened open, and their necks cranked forward. I was twice taller than Mini, and they couldn’t believe I could actually fit in Mini very well.
To make the long story short, I decided against purchasing this Mini due to the obvious Bondo rush-job on the underchassis body damage and due to the ridiculously high price.
Great story – love it!
It looks like it has a paper sticker in the rear window that looks like what would be called a “trip ticket” or permit here in Oregon to use the car for so many days, usually 30. If this was a guy from the UK on vacation, does the federal gov’t give similar permits/stickers for the states?
That does look suspiciously like a UK tax disc he has in the bottom left corner of the windscreen.
Just watching Paddy Hopkirk flinging a rally Cooper S around a track, awesome.