by AMCO72 » Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:02 am
Steve........the car is in far too good a shape to have spent much time in the UK. I suspect that Denny bought it back to NZ when he returned after that season racing. Minis are notoriously bad at rotting in the UK, you only have to look at the 'Mini Forum' to see what piles of junk/rust that the UK restorers take on.
I havent got the full story on the car.....memories fade pretty quickly over the years, especially when family matters intervene, but I think Denny sold/gave the car to his brother in law fairly soon after bringing it back, and moved into more 'sporting' machinery. Murray then sold/gave it to his son Paul in 1984, at which stage it was re-registered with the current rego....LL7676, which is a 1984 plate. It could well have been sitting for a while with a dead rego until Paul,then 16, took it over, and the modifications began.
The engine replacement happened sometime during Murrays ownership. The engine was removed from a Mini that had crashed, fatally outside the farm gate. It had apparantly been been reconditioned. It certainly runs very sweetly today, although the gearbox is very noisy. When I first started it up after 25 years of idleness, I expected there would be clouds of smoke and ominous noises issuing from the engine, but no. I had freed up the valves and filled the bores with WD40, then just turned the engine over with the starter motor to free things up. Amazingly, after stripping and cleaning the distributor, and carburettor, and with new plugs, it fired up quite rapidly, and showed 65lbs oil pressure.
As I said in a previous post, Greeta had said that Denny wanted the car buried, so there was not too much sentiment involved.
The family isnt really interested in the car now, and that is why I suggested to Anita that they consider selling it, otherwise I can see a trip back to TePuke, for the car to be parked up for the duration. A bit sad really now that it is running again. There again what price do you put on a vehicle that Denni Hulme owned. If it had been a Cooper or a Cooper S for instance, and Denny had competed in it, the situation would be quite different. I think Greeta was quite surprised that we wanted it for the festival......'What do you want that old heap of junk for'????
It needs to go to a genuine enthusiast/collector. Maybe left in its current barnfind condition, or sympathetically restored. It is hard to put a realistic figure on such a car, but I would have thought $3000 would be plenty, but I could be miles away. The other problem is that there is no docmentary evidence that the car was once Dennys. I know it is, and of course so does the family. It is a one family owned car. However down the track a bit, whos to say this is correct.....wheres the proof. I have contacted the registration dept and have been told that all records prior ot 1996 have been destroyed, so thats it.......bloody vandals!!!!!
Steve........the car is in far too good a shape to have spent much time in the UK. I suspect that Denny bought it back to NZ when he returned after that season racing. Minis are notoriously bad at rotting in the UK, you only have to look at the 'Mini Forum' to see what piles of junk/rust that the UK restorers take on.
I havent got the full story on the car.....memories fade pretty quickly over the years, especially when family matters intervene, but I think Denny sold/gave the car to his brother in law fairly soon after bringing it back, and moved into more 'sporting' machinery. Murray then sold/gave it to his son Paul in 1984, at which stage it was re-registered with the current rego....LL7676, which is a 1984 plate. It could well have been sitting for a while with a dead rego until Paul,then 16, took it over, and the modifications began.
The engine replacement happened sometime during Murrays ownership. The engine was removed from a Mini that had crashed, fatally outside the farm gate. It had apparantly been been reconditioned. It certainly runs very sweetly today, although the gearbox is very noisy. When I first started it up after 25 years of idleness, I expected there would be clouds of smoke and ominous noises issuing from the engine, but no. I had freed up the valves and filled the bores with WD40, then just turned the engine over with the starter motor to free things up. Amazingly, after stripping and cleaning the distributor, and carburettor, and with new plugs, it fired up quite rapidly, and showed 65lbs oil pressure.
As I said in a previous post, Greeta had said that Denny wanted the car buried, so there was not too much sentiment involved.
The family isnt really interested in the car now, and that is why I suggested to Anita that they consider selling it, otherwise I can see a trip back to TePuke, for the car to be parked up for the duration. A bit sad really now that it is running again. There again what price do you put on a vehicle that Denni Hulme owned. If it had been a Cooper or a Cooper S for instance, and Denny had competed in it, the situation would be quite different. I think Greeta was quite surprised that we wanted it for the festival......'What do you want that old heap of junk for'????
It needs to go to a genuine enthusiast/collector. Maybe left in its current barnfind condition, or sympathetically restored. It is hard to put a realistic figure on such a car, but I would have thought $3000 would be plenty, but I could be miles away. The other problem is that there is no docmentary evidence that the car was once Dennys. I know it is, and of course so does the family. It is a one family owned car. However down the track a bit, whos to say this is correct.....wheres the proof. I have contacted the registration dept and have been told that all records prior ot 1996 have been destroyed, so thats it.......bloody vandals!!!!!