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The Mini Car

My very first car was a little blue Austin Mini 850cc on a 1976 P plate.

I bought it back in the late 1980s for £150.00.  It had a top speed of 60mph going down hill and did about 50 miles to the gallon. It was rusty round the edges, the floor had been welded so many times that it was just welding and no metal, and the battery kept shorting out on the inside of the boot.

Funny place to put a battery - in the boot.  Still not as strange as one of the old Landrovers T used to have where the battery was under the front passenger seat.  Mind you, weirder still was one of them had the fuel tank under the driver's seat! Nice and secure - no one could nick the fuel out of it, which is more than can be said for the Mini! The Mini's fuel cap was a screw on lid on the rear wing.  Easy to get into, but then to be fair so was the car.


Anyway, I loved that little car, even though it only lasted about a year. It got me from A to B, sometimes via C and most of the time via somewhere I wasn't expecting to be.

When I saw this thimble on Ebay, I thought what an ideal way to remember my little blue mini. Best of all, this one is guaranteed to never rust or need welding!

This thimble commemorates the Mini's 40th Birthday which was back in 1999 which means the humble Mini has now been around for 51 years! And its still cute!

Bye for now

Olly
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