1980 Mini Clubman Estate - first drive of a classic British leyland Mini

[@EA-58]

Such a beautiful car

[@stephenguckel9329]

Used to drive one from Monchengladbach to Glasgow...without even a radio.😁😁😁🤗

[@goodbyerawlings]

The starter button on the floor was a novel feature.

[@mandoprince1]

I don't think the Clubman had hydrolastic suspension, think it was just the rubber cones🤔

[@jomaoliveira7949]

Very early Clubman (built to the end of 1970) had hydrolastic. They were built initially has a luxury (and more expensive) mini replacing the Elf/Hornet. Estates (and also other mini based vans) never had hydrolastic suspension.

[@stevenmanning6884]

I loved my mini, back in 76 I bought one cheap when I was 16 and spent a year doing it up. Put a fibre glass front end on mine and the tilt forward front end made it easy to work on the 998cc A series. As a kid it was all about making it different. So once the mechanicals were all sorted and the wiring I put inch and a half spacers all round wide steel wheels and a small steering wheel. It was a complete go kart. The SU carb was breathed on heavily. Some of my mates back then hit the scrap yards for A series 1300s and 1100s for either the heads or complete engine lumps. Fun times had by a lot of lads back then. Great example of the club man estate in this video it took me back thank you.

[@frankstanton4712]

I had a green one from new 1098, at the time it had Denovo run flat tyres, which I later changed sporty wide wheels, I paid £3000 for a, I loved this motor, also not being a mechanic I could mend most things basic. I would love one today.

[@Jeff44]

Used to race on Princes street in Edinburgh at weekends, great fun. I built a very fast engine for my mini. I started with a 998 motor and put a skimmed and mildly ported 12G295 Cooper head on it. An 1100 crank and 60 thou over bored pistons took it to 1150. A 285 Piper Cam, which is pretty wild for road use, but the long stroke of the 1100 pulled the power down to useable revs. An LCB and single box exhaust flowed well went on. Duplex timing gear, Howley inlet manifold and a single 1½SU with K&N filter were next, an Aldon yellow dizzy finished my traffic light screamer off. It would easily beat 1275GTs between lights and would go between first, second and third at just about as fast as you could move your arm 😀, good memories.

[@matthewsands7170]

I personally loved the driving position of the old minis. I loved the higher steering wheel

[@stevesas632]

My Dad had an orange/brown one Clubman estate late 70's through to mid 80's. We used it for our weekly UK holidays as well. Two adults in front, two kids in the back & still got the suitcases in.

[@volt8684]

My brother was a policeman in late 70s/80s these estates were pandas of the day driven 24/7 1300cc ohv. Said they did 300k before retired

[@kjh789az]

Wot!? My gf had one of these way, way back in the '70's and I couldn't believe the massive amount of stuff including furniture, it's possible to transport in one go. The original Tardis and really nippy. It is true. Everything was better in the seventies! And that includes the girl ...

[@pauljeffries]

I've had loads of classic minis, my last one was a 1380cc with a straight cut gearbox and weber 45 carb etc with almost 130bhp.....one small mistake in the video was that you said that the car that you were driving was on hydrolastic suspension, they stopped fitting that suspension to minis in 1970, that car would have had rubber cone suspension.

[@mattluxton]

Always preferred the Clubman front. This one’s a right cool looking retro motor.

[@TABRO284]

Same here.

[@troygoodacre2718]

I drove a mini Mayfair automatic from Brechin in Scotland to essex I needed a few days to recover after that journey

[@grahamclark4518]

I've got a Mayfair automatic I drove it 800 miles in one day Christ it hurt, but the fuel tanks so small you get to stop often

[@lippomclippo]

I have the exact same one, T reg, with 10" Mambas and Cooper S brakes. 1275 MG Metro engine too. Very eye catching.

[@rossanderson7553]

Loved driving these little things.i was waiting to see how long "go-cart" would be mentioned, same feel.

[@WayneSpillett]

I'm in! Always wanted a proper Mini but never got to own one. Clubman was available with 1098cc or 1275cc, except the automatic which had the 998cc unit. The company lost money for most of the 1960s because they deliberately priced it below the competition, but once it gained its runaway popularity they were able to up the prices, so it's not true that the lost on every single Mini - and there was also a large range of accessories that dealers could sell to make more on the sale.

[@simong6855]

First car was a mini , had to bump start it on frosty days. Great memories😁

[@TheKnightsShield]

At my last school we did driver's education and the Mini Clubman, one just like this, was the first car I ever drove, except it was medium dark blue.

[@johnlad1481]

Looks like the bonnet was painted back as its the colour of the car when open the bonnet. Used to have one years ago round a field!

[@gregphillips.1312]

I had a 1979 Brown 1100 Clubman estate, burnt more oil than petrol. If I still had my Pickup or Van I would be sitting on a fortune. My favourite though was the 1275gt I had with a 1340 tuned Engine, Moores Pistons and Twin Choke Webber. The Bark from the intake and the Janspeed Exhaust drown out the Transmission noise!

[@nygelmiller5293]

The 4" extra length on saloon and estate Clubman "square front" models , is ALL extra length for the BONNET. But the estates and vans ARE about a foot longer at the BACK , and more upright at the back than the saloons. So you really CAN put suitcases in. Altogether better than the saloons. (I had one!) Amazingly, the estate/ van/pickup versions DIDN'T have the liquid filled Hydrolastic suspension. They had rubber cones suspension. (The theory was that, just as a rubber ball is soft and spongy - if you SQUEEZE it, it becomes HARDER) And so, that meant the suspension "hardening up", to cope with a heavier load. Quite an interesting theory, from those interesting times!

[@androo4519]

My first car was a 1975 998cc Clubman saloon. Red with a white roof. Only early Minis up to maybe the very early 1970s had hydrolastic suspension. My '75 one had rubber cones. Either way the ride is what it is, i.e. bouncy.

[@Roger.Coleman1949]

You're right, only the very early Mk111s had Hydrolastic suspension, including very early Clubman saloons , deleted mainly through cost , introduced in 1964 .This car does not have Hydrolastic suspension , just the original rubber cone set-up and not used on any ' estate ' version .

[@a_random_jonny6424]

I'm currently looking to get a Clubman Estate just like that as my first classic car

[@davidhall7744]

My school pal’s first car was a Clubman, i can recall many a hairy trip to 5 a sides in it 😂

[@goodbyerawlings]

The one I had was painted mustard with a turquoise interior. It had the cord door openers on a door with the hinges on the outside. This combination resulted, when stopped by the police, in the door fell off leaving me holding the cord. Embarrassing. The police weren’t pleased.

[@dannymcintosh3186]

My grandparents had one of these and I have fond memories of it, the whining noise and bouncy ride. I remember sitting behind the wheel and pretending to drive it. Would love to own one but I've not been in an original mini since i was a kid. You said you struggled with the driving position with knees nearly touching the wheel but a long reach. Don't know how tall you are but do you think one would accommodate a larger person? I'm 6'4 26st

[@JamieSmith-ct7sg]

Got a 1960 buick for you to review in fife , sure i seen you around at some of the the carshows

[@SimonGreenway-ih8lh]

To the best of my knowledge the travellers/ vans/ pick-ups DID NOT have Hydrolastic suspension

[@clintshearer9131]

I'm pretty sure it was only the mk1 mini that had hyro suspension

[@ethelmini]

Early Clubman's were hydrolastic, expect the estates were too, but couldn't say for certain. That one certainly isn't.

[@neilbucknell9564]

No Mini did after 1970 - it was back to rubber cones.

[@angusielts7.00]

Yep, only from 1964-71. So this 1980 Clubman estate definitely was bouncing on rubber cones.

[@adebrade172]

First car I bought back in1987 russet brown

[@michaeljohnson9421]

The story that every Mini was sold at a loss is a bit of a myth. When the Mini first came out, Ford - who were still offering a reheated 1930s design, the Popular, as their entry-level model - bought a Mini and took it to bits to see how BMC had done it. They couldn't work out how BMC was making money on the car. But that was just what Ford thought - and just because Ford couldn't figure out how to make a Mini at a profit didn't mean that BMC couldn't do it! One factor Ford never considered was that the cost of developing and manufacturing innovative features such as the transverse A-Series engine were shared with other models such as the ADO16, which lowered costs across the board. Certainly, by the time Rover re-positioned the Mini as an upmarket fun car, and shamelessly priced it at the same level as a VW Golf, it was making a stonking profit.

[@nygelmiller5293]

To Michael Johnson It's my opinion that the management had their hand in the till! That's why they complained a bout not making money!

[@Decrepit_biker]

The black bonnet is on purpose! The 1275 GT had a black bonnet in some trims.....

[@D4VE26]

Naaa

[@jomaoliveira7949]

No, it had not. Black matte bonnet was a period race mod (supposely) done to prevent the driver being hit by the sun glare on the shiny paint. 😂 Eventually, a lot of boy racers copied that look.

[@davidhayes4814]

Depends on the year. Those made in the “bad days” of 74 to 77 had a habit of corroding very badly indeed.

[@mandoprince1]

It's a myth that they made a loss on the Mini, but the profit margin was extremely small!

[@benc8386]

Are you sure it has hydrolastic? I thought they all had the independent rubber springs from about 1971. These were put on to save cost but most people also prefer the handling you get with them. To this day there is no better car on a single track C road.

[@KidThomsonMediaProductions]

Entered Want so much lol

[@mrsauce13]

They made these until 1982.

[@D4VE26]

Not hydrolastic...

[@mtamin1]

Definitely not hydrolastic suspension on any mini estate variant.

[@CarlosAlberto-ii1li]

I do not know.

[@davidgentz1731]

First thing I do when I buy a foreign car is full of guts for the wiring and then put American motor and do my own wiring and guess what I just had an mg 24 years with a V8 motor never broke wiring never went bad you people never figured it out did you

[@safetysam6118]

stop all that annoying fade in and out, just film it mate, great vid otherwise

[@marketmalc]

Had a 1275 s reg from new. Same as that one but in white. In the end we ran it into the ground but it did a lot of work and miles. The gear change remote kept breaking at the mount so the gear stick wobbled a lot. All the engine mounts were not good. What oil it didn't burn it dropped. It shifted though.