This 1988 Rover Mini was originally manufactured in England for a buyer in Japan. From Japan, it went to Vancouver, B.C. On October 18, 2019, Tom bought it and drove it here to Sacramento, from Northern Vancouver. The car, whose comfort zone is at 4,000 RPM (64 MPM), boasts 998 cc’s, 38 HP, with 4-speed on the floor, and has right hand drive. Notice the windshield wipers and the arm that connects them. However, the real story behind this little cutie is more about the man’s tenacity, and his journey from BC, than the car itself.
Tom flew up to Vancouver, bought the car, and proceeded to head home. He only made it two blocks before the Mini broke down. Chop Lui – I swear to God, that’s what it looks like I wrote down; let’s just go with it – came to rescue Tom, and got the Mini running again, and off Tom went, heading for home. Four hours later, Tom and his Mini reached Blaine, BC. Normally, that is a 45 minute drive! The Mini died again right at the border bay, so Tom had to push it off to the side, across all the border lanes. It then took another 45 minutes to get to the border patrol. At the border patrol, Tom was told to go inside to get the paperwork required for importing a car into the United States. Tom was told to leave the windows open because there were major gas fumes coming from the car; the carburetor was flooding profusely.
By the time Tom got out of Customs, it was dark and raining – GREAT, NO DASH LIGHTS. The windshield was fogging up, the car was dying every 15 minutes. This went on for the entire 600 miles to Portland, Oregon. Tom’s intent was to stop and stay over at his niece’s house in Beaverton, Oregon. At 1:45 in the morning, his GPS said he had arrived at said niece’s house, but the house was 70 feet away – WRONG HOUSE! Meanwhile, his phone battery died, the Mini’s engine dies and won’t start, it is still raining, and the street and house numbers don’t match the GPS. So, while the phone is being charged on his battery pack, Tom decides to go looking at all the house numbers; nothing matches. Once his phone was charged, Tom tried to call his niece, but her phone was turned off. Soaking wet, tired and hungry, fed up, Tom ends up sleeping in the car. Finally, at 6:30 in the morning his family wakes up and finds Tom sleeping in his car, a block away from their house. He was so cold, it took two people to get him out of the car.
Later that day, Tom takes the carburetor apart, but can’t find anything wrong, so he re-assembles the thing and stays in Beaverton one more night, leaving at 0-dark thirty the next morning. He gets to the I-5 on ramp heading south when what should happen, but the car dies again, so he has to pull over to the bike lane. Oregon DOT rescues him by calling AAA and waiting with Tom the 45 minutes it takes AAA to arrive. The AAA took him to Salem, Oregon, to a Denny’s parking lot. One of the bus boys there tells him to go next door to the Dodge dealership, where they have car shows, because somebody there might know someone who knows something about Minis. The Dodge parts manager knew a small car mechanic, who came out, got the car going, and then drove it to his shop. The mechanic discovered that the problem was not the carburetor at all, but two wires on the coil! After that, the car ran the remaining 600 miles to Sacramento perfectly. A mere four days later, Tom brought the Mini out to our World Famous Cars and Coffee Folsom, for the first time, and he’s been out every Saturday since (barring our current social lockdown). His second time out he brought enough delicious donuts to feed an entire third world village! Thank you Tom for that.
I have one pieced of advice for you, Tom, if you’re reading this – 45 must be a constant number for you, so if you play Lotto or Keno, perhaps you should make sure you always play number 45.😂
Photos and story by Carol Marcopulos
