Welcome to Project Sasha.

Project Sasha all started in November 2013.

My daughter Abi always said she would like a Classic Mini as her first car and me being the petrol head that I am and knowing a fair amount about Minis I had been looking for one ready for her 17th birthday in January 2015.

I know November 2013 and January 2015 are quite a long way apart but when you are dealing with Minis there is always plenty to be done. I thought I would be able to find a Mini that needed a little bit of work and that Abi and I could take our time over fixing it up, so a Mini would be ready for her 17th birthday.

Finding Sasha.

On a Saturday evening in November I was sat on my sofa surfing the net and watching a little TV, as you do.

I was looking to see what Minis were for sale on a number of different web sites, I came across a Rover Mini British Open Classic on eBay. Looking at the pictures it didn't look that bad. From the pictures it looked like it needed wings and a bit of tidying up round the edges.

After looking at my finances and thinking that my Nana left me a little bit of money that I had been saving to put towards Abi's first Car. I place a bid only £50 more that the current bid. Looking at the time, I place my order with the local Chinese takeaway then a few minutes later go and pick it up.

I didn't give a second thought to the bid I placed until I get an email from eBay saying my bid was successful.

As requested by the terms of this particular auction I make the required part payment via PayPal, and leave a message for the seller.

So here I am, I have broken the three most important rules:-

1. Don't buy cars on eBay

2. Don't buy cars without going to look at them first.

3. Don't buy cars without finding out where they are.

Well at least it has 5 months M.O.T. so I can sort out some insurance and go and fetch it.

Collecting Sasha.

So I make the arrangements to collect the British Open Classic that will be named Sasha from Norwich.

My wife Frances and I set off for Norfolk on a grey Friday morning and arrive in Norwich in good time.

First look at the Mini and it is exactly as it looks like in the pictures you can see at the top of the page, there is some more rust visible than can be seen in the pictures, but on the whole she looks like a twenty year old Mini should, shiny with rust round the edges.

I pay the man and thank him for selling me his Mini, he assists me in finding the local Post Office to sort out the TAX, and then we are on our way home after a quick stop for fuel at the first petrol station we find.

Abi meets Sasha for the first time.

We make it back to Market Harborough with very few problems, the Mini seems to run quite well. There are a few minor electrical issues, the indicators only work intermittently, the headlights don’t flash, the horn doesn’t work and you can open the full length roof but it won’t close again without assistance.

Once home I have a quick look at some of the issues, the indicators are fixed by missing with the hazard light switch, the headlight flash and horn seem to have fixed themselves on the drive home. Satisfied that everything is working well enough, I leave in the Mini to pick Abi and her boyfriend up from school.

The look on Abi’s face is priceless, she is beaming from ear to ear, I guess she is pleased with the look of the Mini. The Mini also gets a lot of appreciative looks from all the students coming out of school and walking past.

5 months of fun.

We spend the next 5 months, while Sasha has a valid M.O.T., going places and teaching Abi to drive in Sasha (on private roads of course).

We find a few a few issues along the way. The indicators pack up again, this is resolved this time by swapping out the hazard light switch. The lights and heater fan stop working intermittently, after this happening a number of times we eventually track it down to a bad fuse box and dirty connections, we clean all the connections in the fuse box and add a new fuse box to the list of jobs to do when we take the car off the road when the M.O.T. runs out.

Abi and Sasha manage to go driving most weekends and we even manage to get to a Mini show at Stafford.

Finally on the Sunday 13^th of April 2014, Sasha takes her last trip for a while over to Sweethedges Farm, Stockerston and into the workshop to start her restoration.

The story continues, follow the timeline above…….