Past saving? Probably, but that didn’t stop Daniel Rooney reviving it to as-new condition
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It’s almost impossible to believe just how bad this Mini was when Daniel Rooney first took delivery of its rotten, collapsing hulk. But that was 804 hours of hard graft ago and, although the car – a super-early 1960 Austin Seven Mini that had been off the road for 48 years and was probably past saving by any sane person – it now shines in the winter sun, resplendent in Speedwell Blue amid a pungent and distinctive haze of Autoglym. It looks just as good, if not better, than the day it rolled out of the showroom.
It's a spectacular transformation for a car that fell out of use following MOT failure at just 14 years-old, and was rescued from a Scottish field where it had lain for nearly half a century. Says Daniel: ‘It certainly wouldn’t have been worth saving if it had been anything but an early car.’ ‘I saw it on a Facebook group advertised for sale. It caused quite a stir, with 50 comments in the first 20 minutes and among the usual ‘it’ll buff out’ remarks, there were actually a few of us interested in buying it – even at the asking price of £5000 – so I had to be quick and bought it sight unseen. When it turned up on the back of a low loader I must confess I had a ‘what have I done?’ moment. It was really bad; I mean, really terrible’.
Having taken delivery of the wreck in March 2021, Daniel spent a few months collating parts and forming a plan. ‘Everyone thinks that Minis are an easy car to restore because you can get everything for them, but that’s not necessarily the case for these early cars because of the number of production changes that happened in the first months of production.’ The rear panel is one such example where Daniel’s attention to detail was required to orchestrate a period-correct repair. ‘On early cars the rear window is smaller and fitted flush with the panel, whereas later cars were recessed, so I had to modify a slightly later panel using a hammer and dolly to remove
