1968 Austin Other

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nige999 Store This is a 1968 genuine and original Austin/Morris/BMC mini pickup truck shell that has been fully restored with NO EXPENSE SPARED ! When I bought this shell I thought it was a good solid pickup shell, except the inner wings were very thin at the front edges. I decided to have it done properly so entrusted it to a well respected restorer who does things properly, this guy took it back to bare metal. It needed a lot more than I thought but it has all been done professionally, rusty or damaged metal cut out and replaced by correct panels, if available, and formed by hand if not available. All of the shell and the doors have been fully rebuilt where necessary using "old school" bodywork skills to result in a very solid and rust free mini pickup shell. The only part of it that has not received all this attention is the rear drop down load bed "tail gate" which is a new and genuine British Motor Heritage part, not something beaten out of poor quality metal in a hut in Asia. I have seen some of the junk mini pickup trucks that have gone to unsuspecting buyers in the USA, hardly any metal left in them and acres of varnished wood in the load space to cover up the holes left by many years of abuse. This truck shell is solid metal. If you have one of these wood and bondo pickups this is an ideal opportunity to make a "factory new" mini pickup or to reshell a saloon or whatever. This shell deserves the best of parts and the attention necessary to make a lovely little mini. Incidentally the pickup was one of the rarer classic mini variants, there were many made but due to their intended usage most did not survive up to today, and those that have will most likely conceal serious structural problems hidden under thick paint, varnished wood and vast amounts of bondo. Building a classic mini from a shell is not a weekend job but its a "bare canvas" - you can do it as you want it, electrical wiring, added extras, more comfort than the standard utility minis - you are building onto a solid base and you know there are no hidden horrors. Its your creation and something to be proud of, a show mini or a fantastic advertisement for your business, or a fun truck to drive ! Shell is professionally finished in Mitsubishi "Electric Blue" with a brilliant white roof and has correct doors - the sliding window type - and a new front subframe which was fitted to act as an alignment aid to ensure the shell was reassembled completely straight. I had this shell fully rebuilt about six years ago and since then it has been stored in my dry garage. It has become dusty and also provided a home for many spiders who have left cobwebs on parts of the shell. When I sold my house in January this year it was moved to a newly built secure dry storage location where it has been up until it was moved out into the uncertain Welsh sunlight for the pictures attached to this listing. You may notice some speckling on the paintwork on the photos - when we moved it the roads were wet and some light mud splatter has hit the shell. It has dried out in storage and would wash away easily with a hose but there are no facilities to wash it where it is stored. But its only traces of dried mud which will wash off with good clean water. This shell represents a very rare opportunity to build a unique classic mini pickup truck which would attract attention wherever it goes, The hard work has been done (by experts at considerable cost) and represents a relatively easy and reasonably priced way of creating a very special mini pickup truck without the pain and huge expense of getting the usual poor quality mini pickup truck up to a reasonable standard. The shell is located in North Wales in the UK and winning bidder must arrange transport. Nearest deep water port is Liverpool, about 30 miles away, with regular sailings to the Eastern Seaboard of the USA. There are specialist companies who can do all this. Personally I would recommend Phoenix Cargo, who have many years experience of transporting classic cars all over the world. Phoenix will do a great job with no hassles at a reasonable price - call them ! I will help wherever I can with transport but the logistics are best left to professionals like Phoenix. http://www.phoenix-cargo.com BTW - when I talk about an expensive rebuild of this shell,it cost me well over 10,000 British Pounds and that does not include the cost of the original shell. This an extremely rare opportunity to build a unique mini, based on a very rare mini variant where someone else (me) has spent the big money.. Payment terms 20% deposit to be made within 48 hours of auction end with balance to be paid by SWIFT transfer before shell is collected by forwarding agent. Shell has clear title, and is a genuine 1968 mini pickup. On Aug-21-12 at 00:52:31 PDT, seller added the following information: Sorry I forgot to mention, also includes the hood (bonnet) which is completely solid, straight and rust free just like the rest of the shell. Also four new wheel arch extensions and a new Rover cooper front grille which I prefer to the pressed out style of mini pickup truck grille which I think is ugly. The hood and arch extensions were sprayed at the same time as the rest of the shell so the color is an exact match to the rest of the shell. Please note shell does not come with the wheeled platform it is shown mounted on in the pictures.