Driving a Mini from Victoria to Calgary

[QuasarCav]

Well the girlfriend went a little crazy and fell in love with a 1979 Mini 1000 while we were on vacation. The car is in great shape mechanically and does not really provide me with mush reason to worry but the age of the car and fear of braking down does.

Is it too much to expect this car to last the drive back?

[Tik-Tok]

I would never drive a used car out of town until I got a feel for it's mechanical condition. Even when I bought my `03 Audi, I didn't leave town for 2 weeks, just in case.

(but I'm always on the catious side of whatever I do)

[spikerS]

AMA gold membership FTW!

[DC2]

AMA PLUS Membership FTW!!!

160km of free towing. I think the membership is around 100 bucks or so.

[Arthur Dent]

Just make sure you aren't in a rust. Shame I just sold off a bunch of Mini 1000 parts for dirt cheap.

[QuasarCav]

Originally posted by Arthur Dent
Just make sure you aren't in a rust. Shame I just sold off a bunch of Mini 1000 parts for dirt cheap.


Did you mean rush or rust?

I'm prepared to take it slow but some of the mountain passes can really test a small engine. Is the Mini going to be allright?

[maximus]

I think he meant rush.

I wouldn't risk it unless you know how to tinker with those engines and go slooooow. I used to have a 65 bug. I would never trust it on the highway as cars passing at 140 when you're trying desperately to do 90 is scary. I don't know if the mini is air cooled or water cooled but the air cooled bugs would get hurt by that drive. A lot of guys caravan their bugs and vans to Van for huge car show every summer. Many have blown engines even when they take their time. But they always have someone that knows their stuff and they pull over take rests and tune the engines. They also bring tools and spare parts. Not trying to discurage you just some advice; take it for what it's worth.

My brother got a bug in Edmonton and although it may have made it back we renetd a dolly. The cost is worth it as no risk of breaking down, faster, and you save money on refreshing the engine when you get back.

[QuasarCav]

I am worried that 12hrs or more of continuous driving would not be good for the engine. It is a water cooler motor so overheating should be less of a problem though.

The shipping quotes were around 700 - 900 dollars because of the island and a dolly is not an option. To fly and drive should cost only 400.

[CelicaST-162]

If you go ahead with the drive, avoid taking the #5 Coquilhala Toll booth Highway when it's warm out, stuff gets hot fast and it's a long stretch uphill.

[Team_Mclaren]

Get it shipped. <-- period

Its NOT worth the risk

[doublepostwhore]

My dad had a mini 1000 in england... he used to commute 4hrs a week from his residence to my [now] mom's house (that is 4hrs a way) and back on the sunday/saturday... it held for 12 years with NO mechanical failure whatsoever. However he did regularly maintain it. Later when it DID have a serious engine failure... timming chain snapped... blew holes through the pistons he replaced it with a 1600CC engine... which from his accounts was beastly unreliable.

maybe rent a car and drive behind her/she you, incase of failure?
That would be an expensive rental though.

After having ask my dad, he said generally the 1600CC mini's were more notorious for mechanical failure as they had fairly aggressive carb/valve timming / tunes.
The 1000CC was a communting car.

Good luck!!

[QuasarCav]

For anyone that was interested...

After 16hrs of driving the Mini arrived home tonight. We left my Aunts place in Victoria at 5:30am to catch the 7am ferry. From Vancouver to Hope than up the #5 highway to Kamloops there was not so much as a shudder. We took turns driving and I was impressed by how drivable the car was and how much interior space we had. The car started to get hot around the Shuswap but we kept the speed down to around 80 and stopped frequently.

The car averaged better than 5L/100KMS with 2 people and 4 rims/tires.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by QuasarCav
we kept the speed down to around 80 and stopped frequently.


Good to hear you made it :thumbsup: , what did you guys do when you stopped for breaks? :D

[pardip_johal]

good to hear you had no problems on the way back

[Supa Dexta]

Originally posted by QuasarCav
The car averaged better than 5L/100KMS with 2 people and 4 rims/tires.

Wow.. I wonder how good it would do if you could balance on 3..?























jk... good you made it, did you piss many ppl off having to drive slow?

[QuasarCav]

Thanks for the kind words!

The Mini is so small that I could easily drive in the shoulder and let people by, most of the smart people waved and drove on by while some of the idiots (Albertans) would honk and stay behind me like I was holding them up. We actually had to pass a few people on the way home and that made the Mini happy.

[2BLUE]

where's pics!!!!.... what did she pay for it?

[QuasarCav]

I think she paid around 5,000 for it.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/Lewie5/P1010724.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/Lewie5/P1010713.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r183/Lewie5/P1010705.jpg

[TomcoPDR]

haha that thing is cute!

[mekeni]

nice !!! I like it !! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Destinova403]

the old minis are such dope little cars... 5 grand isnt bad too... milage?

[rage2]

Funny... I can tell you that I've had experience in a Mini from Calgary --> Vancouver --> Calgary. Back when I was literally fresh off the boat (ok plane), all my family could afford was a Mini, the exact same one in the pic, except blue. Well, we had family in Vancouver, and my parents decided to take the entire family of 4 on a roadtrip.

The car kept crapping out over hills, overheated, and the drive out there took about 16 hours (this was before the coquahalla). Lots of time to cool the car down. The car was almost new at the time, and couldn't stand the # of hills to and from.

My advice is to ship it.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by rage2


My advice is to ship it.

Haha late response, all that SPAM ur eatin'

[mekeni]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR


Haha late response, all that SPAM ur eatin'


:werd:

:rofl: :rofl: