LUCKY...lucky to have survived a big crash in NY in the 60s or early 70s, lucky to have been scooped up as a parts car by Mike K. of Seven, lucky to survive the haul up the I5 to Canada with a wheel falling off after crossing the border.

Bright different and cool. So what's the name for this one Rick, Kermit maybe ?

Bottom is in 'Lime Squeeze Metallic' - 2 coats & 3 clear coats.

Boy is it green!

Fuel tank is in epoxy primer as are rear trunions.

'Lime Squeeze Metallic' day today.  Will post photos later.  More than a little curious about how it will look.

Funny thing though...

The background, wifey would like to have a Green car but every time she goes to the Honda dealer for a new car, the Blue ones are cheaper, so...she comes home with a Blue Honda.

I've bought the Lime Squeeze Metallic (its brilliant GREEN) for the bottom, reducer, hardener, clear etc. and phone home because we are longer away than I had estimated.

I tell wifey that I have the Lime Squeeze and the paint bill was almost $500.  Wait for it...

Wifey asks, "Would another colour have been cheaper?"

Picked up fuel tank after hi-heat boil out & paint removal.  Ready for epoxy primer & paint.

Also got new wiring loom in the post...will get new pin kits in the exterior hinges tonight...maybe chat about building the A+ tranny to go under the built 1293.

Lots more to do....

5 good hours on LUCKY today.  John & I got at the seam sealing, masked off the bottom & got the undercoat on.

Lime Squeeze Metallic & clear coat on the bottom Thursday!

Right! (except my doors were green!) I was going from memory on the number of pegs on the Austin script. (Chemo-brain may be worse that anticipated!)

Like this Dan?  Austin script has 2 pegs (both old & new) and same for 850, 2 pegs.

The "Austin" script from my 1968 Countryman (all I have left of her) has 3 pegs. Though, if I recall correctly, it was mounted on the right hand door with the badge on an incline and "850" in an upright font horizontally below it.

Got the shell into Epoxy Primer today...and got 'lucky' when a club member brought 1979 front & rear subbies for primer.

1979 front subbie had bracket for lower power unit steady...off to Metropolis for some heavier gauge steel...home to get front subbie.

Soon had a lower engine steady bracket in my front subbie. 

Possibly Spitz, especially if script had 3 locating pegs.

The lower part of the left hand door would be where "Morris 850" script would have been.  Could this have been a Morris door?

Got the glass bead out, checked all the welds, removed all the old seam sealer...ready for epoxy primer tomorrow.

Also drilled out the 3 holes for the new Austin badge on the reverted to MK I bonnet...welded up 3 drilled holes in the left hand barn door revealed by bead blasting (no idea why they were there), welded up two holes in the driver's (LH) door, probably from a mirror mount.

Moving right along....

Good day today...External Fuel Tank into shop for hi-heat wash & test.  After visual inspection, Pro at Port Moody Auto said the innards looked very good...would not need coating for 20 years.  I should live that long!  Seriously though the Countryman is being built to last.

Also got the Rear Subframe into Gloss Black paint (2nd coat within the next 30 minutes.

Back to LUCKY...picked up the new rear subbie from U Blast today and got it into epoxy primer...also doors & bonnet.  Doors will need some TLC from body man 55 years on.

I didn't start naming Minis until as I was getting what became Pooh ready to cross Canada to MME in 2000, my wife walked in the driveway reading Winnie The Pooh stories as I worked on prep (she had always said when my older son Tyler owned the Russet Brown Mini that it needed a little bear).  Since Russet Brown was often referred to as S..T Brown...so Pooh it became.

The joke on that trip in 2000 was when we pulled into White River, Ontario where the little Black Bear cub was bought from a trapper and went to England during WWI with the Winnipeg Rifles as its mascot.  When the unit was shipped to France, the Black Bear went to the London Zoo where Milne and his son Christopher saw the bear and the 'Winnie the Pooh' stories were inspired.  We had no idea that White River was where the little Bear cub was taken on.

Pooh later went to MMW 2001 in Florence, Ore., MMW 2002 in Irvine, Calif. and MMW 2003in Victoria, B.C. before going off the road

After a major restore/rebuild, including a custom Mini trailer, we set out in 2006 for MMW in Prescott, Arizona, cross continent to MME in Frederick, Maryland and home across the USA.  Later to MMW 2007 in Hood River, Ore.,  MMW 2008 in Irvine, Calif., MMEMW in Winona, Mn., MMW 2010 in Penticton, MMW 2011 at Lake Tahoe, MMW 2012 in Prescott Valley, Arizona, MMW 2013 in Bend, Oregon...before sale.

Roo naturally enough is the Australian Mini Window Van, we drove around Australia over 10 weeks in 2011 (after a week of Mini 50 which followed the Brisbane/Sydney return test drive).  We returned to Australia in 2013 to head for Tasmania and Minifest in Hobart because we had missed Tasmania and the biennial event in 2011.  Then I shipped the Mini to Canada and promptly drove it across Canada to Ohio & Wisconsin for the Can Am Challenge & MMEMW in 2014...and home across the USA.

Lucky has an entirely different story...the VIN says it was built in July 1961 and shipped that month to a Dealer in New York - Tartan Red, Whitewall tyres & Heater.  Not only is there no evidence of any red paint ever, the front end predated November 1960 and the rear no earlier than late summer 1961 (the external tank LWB were announced in Fall 1961).  So the VIN likely survived a bad crash and a good front & good back were spliced together likely in the 1960s or early 1970s as a REVIN.

Later Mike K. of Seven rescued the Mini from scrap when the US Army serviceman owner was reposted and his wife was getting rid of extra stuff including the Mini behind a shed.  Mike sold the bits on to the late Kent S. of Carmichael, Calif. who sold the rolling shell on to Chris H. of Vancouver.  On crossing into Canada and stopping at Customs a wheel fell off.  The Mini could have been a high speed wreck on the Interstate.

After the shell sat for 12 years on a rack in my garage I decided to build it....and Chas. P. owner who sold the Mini to the US Army serviceman in August 1981 is very pleased that is happening.  Maybe I can show the countryman to Chas. at MME in 2017.

U Blast does have booths with different media and you can do your own smaller bits there...paying for time.

Something as big as the shell goes into a large tent with the baster (or blasters) in a pressurized suit (like divers).

Short YouTube video...

https://youtu.be/ekWEPtKiLW8

The wheel treatment worked, they still look good and seem correct for the car. Kinda makes we wonder about Thanksgiving dinner that year did the stuffing have a odd aftertaste?? So your current project is "Lucky" there's a "Pooh" and a "Roo" did this one have a name?? Getting back to the context of this thread I found the U-Blast link interesting, a 'coin operated' self media blasting business wish I'd thought of it. Will be interested to see the final product in the days to come.

You haven't met Bruno. He sprays with one hand and holds the shell in the other.

Rick…..how does the paint shop handle the shell to get underneath