1961 Austin Mini Van

Portfolio

Johns 1961 Austin Mini Van

Initially we were approached by John with a view to making a sympathetic restoration of the Van. That is, John wanted his van to be restored back to factory standards.

Original Images

STRIP DOWN VEHICLE

Upon closer inspection of the van, we found that there had been quite an amount of work undertaken in the past and to a standard that would not allow us to carry out an original restoration. We therefore decided to strip down the Van to a bare shell in order to reveal the previous repairs in more detail.

There had been sections of floor and sills replaced and which had not been welded together very well and there was a vast amount of body filler covering up plates in the sides of the van and to the front windscreen scuttle panel.

BODY WORK & PAINTING

We stripped out all of the old body filler, cut out all of the old repaired and corroded metal and had the engine bay area media blasted to provide us with a better base for working with. A full new floor assembly was fitted along with new Inner and Outer Wings, Scuttle Panel, plus Inner and Outer Apex Panels. The side Doors were extensively repaired and re-skinned whilst new doors were fitted to the rear. A number of new sections were spliced into the lower edges of the side panels and were leveled off. A full repaint inside and out was undertaken returning the Van back to its original Willow Green colour scheme.

MECHANICAL WORK & REBUILD

The sub-frames were media blasted and powder coated and all new components were fitted to the sub-frames whilst the Engine benefited from an overhaul. We undertook fabrication of new internal door panels and new trim for the dash panels whilst we also provided new bespoke made rubber floor mats.