Introduction / New to the forum

[Spud75]

Hey everyone!

I went to Thanksgiving in San Antonio TX this year and like to make the habit of meeting up with anyone that owns a mini when I travel since there are almost zero in Lubbock where I am from. I asked the guys on the Classic Mini DIY Discord and someone introduced me to Michael Playle who told me about this forum!

I am currently on my lunch break so I don't have time to make a proper post in Restoration to introduce you to my mini but in the mean time I figured I would introduce myself. My name is Haydn Moyers and I own a 1982 Austin Rover Mini that I managed to find in Brownwood Texas around 4 years ago.

When I was a kid I decided that I wanted a mini more than any other car, I have no earthly idea where I saw one or why I liked them so much but I just had to have one. My first car was a 2012 mini Cooper S and I loved it BUT when I moved to Lubbock, where there isn't a Mini specific dealership, it just wasn't viable to own it anymore unfortunately. I had tons of maintenance issues and it costs as much as a BMW to fix (I wonder why). While I owned that car though I learned what a true mini was and told myself that one day I had to get one. Finally in October of 2021 I found my Mini only 3 or so hours away on Facebook Marketplace.

I drove out there with my Dad while watching videos on "how to drive a manual" the whole way and bought it on the spot. I did absolutely no research into what the engine was or what I should want and just happened to stumble on a 1275 with an HIF44. Somehow I managed to test drive it and drive it all the way home without ever stalling it once. I will get more into the stories and dumb mistakes I have made on another post but over the last 4 years I have learned everything from doing my first oil change to pulling the engine out and splitting the transmission and just about everything in between. I love working on it and every time I get it running and driving well I am just itching to tear it apart again and improve it more.


This specific mini is my forever car, if I could choose now I'm sure that I would have chosen a more rare model or a Mark 1 or an estate or anything else but this mini is mine and it feels like it was meant to be mine. I love the community and I love the cars and I am so excited to learn more and more about these amazing machines.

[94touring]

Nice looking car!  Welcome to the forum!

[Willie_B]

Welcome aboard. That was me that sent you Michaels way. Glad you made it over here too.