Another new member

[stokiesam]

Hi, new club member here. I've been lurking on the board for quite a while now, looking for any useful hints and just generally soaking up the atmosphere, so I thought I'd dip my toe in at last.

My reason for joining the club is that I am intending to buy a moggy early next year in a spirit of experiment. I want to see if I can cope with it as a daily driver. I'm currently driving a Honda Civic 2.2 diesel, so the performance hit will be immense and I'm a bit of a hurry-up merchant by inclination. You might say I'm a bit daft thinking of changing to a moggy, but I retire in just over 3 years, so won't be driving as much, will need to economise somewhat and modern cars are all very boring. Both my wife and I had moggies as first cars and she's really keen. The car will be used for a 6 mile each way city commute in average traffic with the odd run up to 150 miles at weekends. It will be kept on my drive as I have no garage, and none within walking distance where I could use it daily.

I have absolutely no interest in restoration, but I'm perfectly happy to get my hands dirty with servicing and day-to-day repairs. I also have no intention of showing the car, it's just going to be a car for driving about in. So, here's where I start making a nuisance of myself. I'm probably very far from being a typical moggie owner or club member, but I could do with any advice you might care to give. I'm looking to spend under £5000 on a saloon, no earlier than a 1098 hopefully, ideally with nothing to do but tax, insure and put petrol in. I'm particularly keen to make sure the underside is in tip-top condition, as I won't be spending any time under there, so any repairs will be costly. Bearing that in mind, I'm thinking of approaching Millenium Minors in Chorlton, as I probably couldn't afford a Charles Ware jobby with his chassis guarantee.

Does anyone have any experience of Millenium? I realise most people on here have done their own restorations, but someone may have a car that has been through their hands.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for your patience.

[LouiseM]

Welcome to the club and the messageboard

If you use the search facility at the top right of the board and enter 'Millenium' you'll find a few references to the company. It might also be worth contacting the Stoke on Trent branch of the MMOC: http://www.potteries.mmoc.org.uk/ They're a friendly bunch.

I'm probably very far from being a typical moggie owner or club member

Well some people like to stereotype but I don't think there's such a thing as typical owner or club member as everyone I've met have been different

[chickenjohn]

Hi Sam, welcome to the club forum!

It would be a great idea to join your local branch, you will find advice and cars for sale there!

£5000 will buy a very very nice saloon indeed! But not a Minor Million these fetch quite a bit more being a rare historic version of the Minor.

cheers

John

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Welcome, your budget will buy you a real nice car as John has said, the thing to do is be patient until the right one comes up.

Familiarise yourself with Minor rust areas before going to see any car, as they are all over 40 years old now and there's bound to be some corrosion. You say you are not wanting to do any body repairs but are keen to do the servicing - very good, but I would strongly suggest you get under the car once a year with the Waxoyl and give everything a coating.

[stokiesam]

Hi again and thanks for all the useful comments. Fortunately, I have a brother-in-law who is a mechanic and has restored his own Scimitar SE4, so I can rely on his beady eyes to help me in the search for a good 'un! Hopefully, if I give Millenium a call and let them know I'm in the market, they'll come up with the goods. I think I'd rather go that way, even if it costs more, as it seems they offer a decent guarantee and I have not found any criticisms of them at all.

My basic idea is to invest the savings on tax, servicing and insurance over my current car ( which amounts to over £500 a year all in), in annual full waxoyling and maybe gradual improvement ( disk brakes/bigger drums, servo, better carb/manifold, better seats, heated screen etc.). I would then hope to keep the car for a long time and eventually pass it on to someone else who would also get the benefit of all the improvements/modifications.