Barn Find Austin Pickup - Will It Run? 

I love old Minis. I learned to drive in them and help build a six wheeler. Well I helped push the two halves together!

I worked at a place in the west Midlands England in the 1960,s and they had a Mini Pick Up from around the same date as yours. I had 2 minis from new dated 1974 and 79. Loved both of them especially the yellow 74 one my fist ever new car .Both 998cc engine's. Good luck with restoration on this classic car.

The beautiful Mini estate car that you own, is called the Mini Countryman, in the UK.

As a 17 year old I always had a hankering for one of these but wanted to graft the tail end/rear window of a saloon shell onto the back of the cab just to be a bit different. Never did get around to buying one as they were pretty rare and I eventually ended up starting a 25 year run of owning Opel/Vauxhall motors starting with a Kadett C saloon followed by a C and B Coupe.

The remote looks like that fitted to the 1100s. It has a rubber mounting in between the gearchange and the diff housing. Coopers and S's remote bolted straight to the diff housing

Had three of these. One new one. Also one we grafted a 1275 Gt motor into, used them as motor cycle transporters. I had one catch fire overnight as there appears to be no kind of fuse between battery and starter motor, maybe that explains why that cable was cut. I assume the switch went short circuit, nothing left to inspect. Great little fun tool though, exceptional road holding. Later ones had normal key starter switch on dash.

Yes , please give us a chance to view this Mini Truck restoration.

I'm liking the automatic choke control, otherwise known as a clothes peg. A must for all 1960s bmc vehicles.

turn on the key and if you have dash lights push the button . even if no dash lights punch it with the key on. my mum had one of these old minis. was a saloon but with the sliding windows and pocket doors cable connected to the door latch from memory.... lol. cool collection man.. way cool.

As teenager in 60,s mini van with double mattress in the back was a great camper vehicle (passion waggon)😂

Spotted it in the background lately and hope the parts come in soon for the 63 Austin pickup!

please bring this back to life im in the uk and i had a mini van my first vehicle it had an uprated engine great for lugging all my disco gear around! only one su carb though !

It’s amazing that an example like this has still survived. I guess it’s because of the amount of barns and large garages that examples of so many classics turn up from time to time. It was also great to see the British stamps on the boxes of parts as well. It still amazes me that these were available in America due to the size of other vehicles on the road at the same time! Excellent discovery again! 👏

Wow that's a rarity even here in the UK. A remember seeing them as a kid, and seeing vans too, but loads got scrapped in the late 70s/80s.

The only mini I’ve ever craved ❤❤. My mum is 73 years old and running her 2001 cooper in yellow, she’s owned a 76 clubman and an 86 metro mg turbo in her time too.

That is a amazing old Mini ute, i don't recall ever seeing any here in Australia, i have seen Mini Mokes over the years here. 👍

I can remember seeing these on British roads as a kid in the 60s and early 70s but they weren't too common, and I never saw one with a canvas top. The full Mini vans were much more common for local tradesmen and a few fleetbuyers like the Post Office and would make very serviceable cheap transport when sold on. Happy memories of being taken to school in the early 70s in an orange one called 'Marigold', sliding around in the all metal rear van part!

Your methodical patient approach 👍

Definitely want to see more on this project. On another note, I was an industrial maintenance electrician for many years and we would have given anything for a bluetooth digital multi-meter! Too bad there were no smart phones or bluetooth at the time!

Back in the 70's when i was in the foreign parts business i had a guy with a Mini pu come in for stuff He was in the construction business and he told his brother who had a used car lot that they needed a "small pickup". When his brother showed him the Mini he thought his brother was pranking him. His brother insisted he take it for a week. The crew fell in love with it and now he was turning down offers

I remember lots of these little trucks driving about in my youth in Scotland. I look forward to seeing this one back on the road.

It is my my age..it is 1963 as my birthday..so l will watch it and thanked you for that.

More on the mini pickup please.

What you need now Steve is a Mini Marcos which were entered in the Le Mans 24 hour race and won its class. Those are very tough fiberglass bodied cars with all Mini running gear and a good one will keep up with and race with a Lotus Elan. As with all Minis, the Mini Marcos body (or Mini Jem) was originally 120 pounds UK (GBP) price but now the body price for a new one is so expensive as to make them a supressed market. The engine in that pickup looks like it could be a 1275cc Cooper unit with the twin carburettors if you are really lucky.

Thanks for sharing your work and problem solving. -old man shut in.

Those Cosmic wheels bring back memories

I’m excited to see more of this one.

Excited about this new project. Definitely wanna see more of that truck. Wanna see it running and driving down the street

I wanna be just like you when I grow up. 😁 Always enjoy your vids for their no nonsense delivery and content.

We need more on this one, even though I'm English, and don't like minis (had a van in 1972). Always like your style, we all learn off of you. Peace be unto you.

Good find! Those were rare here in the UK when they were NEW!! There were Mini Vans everywhere in the 60s and 70s but I've not seen a pickup outside of a museum in 50 years!!

I have one that has been in storage for close to 40 years, bought as a basket case. It had been stripped down to the body shell, rusted sills replaced (badly), painted, and then project was given up and sold (twice! Last time to me!). I had been saving it as a retirement project, and now that I am retired a young friend has badgered and convinced me to drag it out and help him put it back together... so he can own it!. I have a '64 Cooper and a '67 Moke, so I was halfway there to having all the variants.

Yes, "excited!" Looking forward to following your next steps with this car... also learned something about "misleading" readings from multimeters.

Congratulations on finding this last vehicle for your collection! In Canada I have never seen one before.

Excellent pickup that looks in fairly good condition. So good that you have a top for the bed they are often missing or partly destroyed. I am looking forward to more on this little truck. They are not so common here in the UK now either so great that you have it Steve, well done. 👍👍

As an owner of a fully restored and still driven 1970 Austin America, since 1983, I'm stoked to see your pickup, and really enjoyed watching you work. Your collection of Mini's is killer!! Subbed and can't wait for the next update on this. I wouldn't be surprised if that's an America engine/trans, especially since it looks like the owner was fairly into having the truck be upgraded, and powerful for whatever he was towing. Extremely common for Mini owners to harvest the eng/trans from the Americas, and then twin carb them like how the MG1100's were set up. This allowed a nice header for the exhaust, along with the separate intake manifold (the Americas used a one piece cast manifold, that was both a single carb intake, and an exhaust). That big "tropical" fan is another indication that the owner meant business about producing some power, and towing. Man are those fans noisy!! There's a wider version of the 11 blade fan available and it robs less power, is less noisy, and moves nearly as much air. If you haven't tried it, I'd recommend removing the large banjo bolt where the external oil pipe attaches, and filling the block with engine oil. This will directly feed the oil pump, and prevent cranking the engine for a long time without any oil flow to the crank bearings. It's a much safer way to start spinning them up, prior to starting them. And if it has a spin-on oil filter, the VW Rabbit oil filter (Bosch 72150, and equivalents from Wix at NAPA) will just sneak past the reverse light switch on the transmission, and give you a quite a bit more oil capacity and filtration. My website: www.austinamerciausa.com

Aw, happy memories of my '73 998cc pickup back in '80 - '83. The pickup body is actually not just a cut-down van / estate.

Congrats on the complete set, looks as tho you may not know which one to take for a drive, lol... This one looks like fun. Thanx !

Looking forward to this Steve, I had a 59 Morris mini minor as a first car and followed it up with mini van. Had to smile at the clothes peg lock on the choke control, I had the same option on my MGB Gt.😂

Great presentation. Sorry the switch failed. Yes I would love to see this truck restored to it earlier beauty. I am anxious for more videos.

Nice project. I wasn’t even aware of the Mini pickup, somehow. Congratulations on completing the collection.

What a beauty. You are going to enjoy every step on the way of making this mini pickup run again. I'm with you every step of the way by watching the posts you document of bringing her back to her former Marque standards.

have NEVER seen a minicoopewr pickup - good show.

Steve, I know you (seem) generally to get them running and then leave them at that, but this car is surely rare enough (in the US, at least) to do a full restoration?? I remember seeing these on the roads here in Australia, by the way; it and the Moke was very popular here, both on farms and in the country, and the Moke with surfers....

Hi Steve, such a nice find here. while underneath I noticed It had the remote gearbox type rather than the long standard gear shifter. The better performace versions used the type you have fitted so this makes me think the engine is a more powerful version from a better mini saloon car. If you take the "rocker cover" off/ (valve tappet cover) and look for a cast head number then look online It may guide you to tell you what engine It may be. A popular engine swap would be a 998 cc but going into "COOPER" variants could be 997cc or 1275cc but also a bigger car (Austin/Morris 1100) engine of 1100cc. all will fit with mini gearboxes geared for their 10-inch wheels. It all sounds so small compared to modern-day vehicles but as you know, race-prepped minis can go very well on tracks beating much bigger race-prepped cars. Have fun Steve and thank you for the video. Ian - UK.

Love this, I had an 850 countryman without the wood and I would have given anything for a 1k engine with twin carbs

There are 2 more body styles you may not be aware of the Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet. Great work and Good luck!

That was worth the click...The simplicity is wonderful...Your easy flow of describing what you were doing was superb...I'm clicked in now....What a wonderful find...I'm a Brit who owned a Mini 1000 back in the early 70's...A brilliant little car...compared the BMW version of today.

I think you’ll find that it fitted with a BMC 1100 engine and box. The remote gear lever housing has a rubber adapter plate fitted, unlike the Cooper or Cooper S which were solidly bolted to gearbox. The brakes are cooper ones.

I worked with someone in the 80s who had a mini pickup, he used it to transport his dirt bike to competitions. It just fitted if put diagonally across the bed.

I am absolutely excited about this project! Looking forward to seeing much more on this Mini!

A great video. I had a Mini Van in 1972. It was a great first vehicle. So long as you didn't put side windows on it, it remained purchase tax free. A restored pick-up would be about £15000 in today's auction market, here in the UK. Will look forward to the next episode. Thank you.

Your taste in cars is immaculate! Thanks for sharing.

Great project and quite a rare vehicle. Just for future reference in the middle of your starter solenoid there is a button. If you push that in with a screw driver or similar it should operate the starter motor. Or just short the terminals with will do the same job for initial testing/starting. Good luck with it.

Great find... have fun putting it back on the road!

there's also the Austin Mini Ice Cream Van, used to see those when I was a kid. They come up for sale now and again but they tend to be quite expensive these days.

A Mini Lorry. Not much you can say about it except cool,very cool. Hope to see it running soon. Unique.

Congratulations Steve. You're the right guy for this Mini!!🏁🇬🇧🇺🇸🏁🇬🇧🇺🇸🏁

Are you planning to keep the patina or eventually restore it to "new?" Now that you have all the body styles, a full set of restored Minis would looks like a dealership display!

The rear cover is called a TILT in the UK 😊

Funny, I have a pile of Mini parts...transmission cases from her to tomorrow. There is one full car and two shells. I was asking myself " Where will the time come from to get a Mini going?" I answered myself saying.."Well, if I could find an old barn find.....that would be the head start I need. A 63' would be the cat's meow. tHanks for a great video!

Absolutely LOVE this kind of video! And this car is so cool!

YES! want to see every single thing you do to this mini-pickup.

Please show more would be nice to see it running once again. You seem to have a good setup for repairing cars etc.

Congratulations On MINI Series vechiles Steve :) and glad found ones to super proud you did too ! I know want do this on previous videos talk about ! Also not sure much these vechiles till you explain them about too and way to go also!

Hi Steve. Well l haven't had the beach car or moke but had all the others including a Riley Elf. ( you have the Hornet) My goodness , this brought back memories ! My pickup also had a 1300 that l pulled from a wrecked Austin 1300 and with the smaller 10" wheels went like a scolded cat ! On one occasion l overtook a friend , didn't give it a thought . He told me later he was doing 100mph and l passed him like he was standing still !!! The motor only lasted a few months bit the fun l had !!!! Thanks Steve .....I sadly scrapped it , worth £20 k today !

I had a 79, I hope you are putting the steelies back on later!

Absolutely Steve! Keep the videos rolling, great save for sure! Love when you do videos on the old British iron! Keep up the great work!

WOW great find Steve .I have had lot of minis over the years but the prices in UK have gone stupid my last one was a 1100 special in Rose a rust bucket ,, but moved on now to Morris Minor ,MGBgt and a Fiat 500

Great to see old minis being restored in the USA, the engine sizes are cast into the block on most A series engines as you probably know, it can be seen with the motor in the car those COSMIC wheels are the best ones for a vintage mini.

Cool, pickups are probably the rarest in the UK too; even when I had my 3 saloons (in the 80s), the pick up were sought after! My 850 had a similar aftermarket wood dash, the vans and pickups were always the most Spartan interiors. The twin carbs and servo and alloy rocker cover on the engine suggest a bigger or tuned engine, the commercials always had the most basic motors. I love those Cosmic Mk2 alloys but watch out - I had them on a Spitfire and always suffered mysterious slow punctures, after dunking them in a bucket of water the tyre shop found the air was leaking through the spokes! These old alloys were cheaply sand cast, the solution was old1fashioned tubes!

Nice find! That is certainly an Austin America 1275 engine and gearbox. You can tell by the head with no extra stud and bolt, the heater valve on an angle and the way the gearbox extension is mounted(bolts are horizontal, they would be vertical on a proper mini unit). It was a quick and economical way to up power basic minis in North America as the S units were expensive and a bit thin on the ground. It appears to be equipped with S brakes including the servo which is great to have. The uj's are Quiton Hazell aftermarket pieces, also a nice mod. Do you know it's history? Pick-ups are very rare in Canada where I am and I don't know if they were ever officially imported to North America in any great numbers. Thanks for the video. Cheers!

I’d definitely like to see more of this lil truck

That’s so cool. I could watch videos of this trucklette for hours.

Back in the 70s I was working at a sports car shop and one of the mechanics had one of these trucks in bright yellow. He drove it like a race car. I got an Austin 1100 rebuilt the engine and drove that pretty much the same way. I had dual carbs and a header on the engine and it made some speed on those little 12 inch wheels. I had it up to 80 on the PA turnpike and thought I was doing something until a Pantera went by me like I was standing still! Looks like yours used to be a postal vehicle judging by the colors.

Amazing! I never knew there was such a thing.

Congratulations on completing your Mini collection!

Fantastic. Always Loved Minis

I had a chance to buy a Mini pickup when I was stationed in Scotland, but passed on it. And I've kicked myself for not getting it since. The one I looked at also had dual carbs and I was told it was out of a Mini Cooper.

What about the Wolsey Hornet/Riley Elf variation? The Mini with a boot. This was also available in an open beach versión. Maybe the set isnt quite complete yet!!

Can’t wait for you to get this running.

Great find. Those tended to rust heavily. Hopefully, being stored has saved it. You're forgetting the Woolsely Hornet and Riley Elf versions of the Mini... COSMIC wheels not Cosmo. 🤦‍♂️

Nice find, it looks like someone was trying to create a custom "hot rod" mini pickup with the Corbeau seats, wood dashboard, alloy rocker cover and the tuned engine, has it got an LCB (long centre branch) exhaust manifold fitted?

I think you have a Austin America transmission, and probably engine. That's a 1275cc engine. The remote shifter housing on the Austin America bolts on to the transmission with a two piece bracket that the pieces are bonded together with rubber for isolation. The Mini remote shifter housing bolts directly to the transmission with 4 bolts.

The pick-up version of the Mini is getting difficult to find here in the UK let alone over the pond in the USA. This'll be an interesting restoration on this rare vehicle which might get challenging as you can't obtain all of the panels etc theses day's. The motor looks like a 997 0r 998 Mini Cooper unit with remote gear linkage. Looking forward to following the resto Steve..

I am so looking forward to seeing more on this pickup! Thanks!

I'd love to own 1 of those, love those old school mini's

Not a critism in any way, just some advice from my ancient memory banks of running (and modifying) minis in the late sixties and the seventies. If my fading memory serves I owned something like eleven Minis in that time. culminating in a works spec 1340 S with a single 40 Weber dcoe carb and jack knight straight cut close ratio box and transfer gears running on 205 x 10 Minilites, back in the day boy was that car rapid it could go round roundabouts at insane speeds like it was on rails. The A series motor this car left Longbridge with SHOULD be a single carb 750 or 850 with the Hockey stick gear lever, you can see on yours where the location point under the dash has been covered over, also all 750's and only very early 850's had the floor solenoid button, thereafter it was a more usual key startex firstly in the dash center then later on the steering column and incorporating a steering lock, the central mounted remote gearlever currently installed, ONLY came standard on Cooper's, Cooper S's and 1000's, and 1275 GT's and above, an obvious engine swap it could be a later 1000, 1098 or 1275 engine. That wooden dashboard is also out of period being a sixties after market thing and a poor copy of the somewhat more exclusive Wood and Picket design, originally the car would have had the central round binacle, which only contained the speedo, the fuel gauge, charging light and high beam light the rest was just one big parcel shelf until the late sixties when the black oval three dial binacle was released. the indicator repeater is the green neon on the end of the indicator stalk and is a dead givaway. I dont know if it is an American rebranding ploy or something, but those actual wheels which were all the rage for the boy racers in the budget end of the market in the sixties/seventies were called Cosmic alloys, the REAL Mini head turning wheels from back in the day are original Minilites, but they are like rocking horse crap to come by today especially in the original ten inch rims and as they were made of pure Magnesium go for an absolute fortune if you can even find any, there are however plenty of after market aluminium alloy minilite copies on sale in all kinds of sizes....especially on later 80's/90's model Minis which were factory fitted with 12 inch versions as opposed to the original 10's.

Very cool indeed. I haven't seen one of those till now.

I’m getting the popcorn watching this get running again.

Interesting to see that the floor mount starter button remained in the same spot for both right hand and left hand drive. I went to school with a girl whose mum drove an early/mid 60s 4 speed automatic 850cc Mini pickup, or ute as they are called here in New Zealand.

I think the truck is my favorite configuration of the mini!

Looking forward to more videos on this project.

I used to race minis in the 80s here in the uk. Always fitted the cooper engines. i see you dont have the mini clubman. will you be getting one for your collection ? Steve

Great little pick up. Minis are the best!

Fabulous video Steve I believe the mini had a floor starter switch which seemed to have disappeard and adopted a direct key switch around 1967 also a mini pick up and mini van here in the UK were very standard with an engine size probably around 850cc the one you have was probably built for export with left hand drive and the engine and dashboard may have come from a luxury elf or rily version Identified by the extended boot . I did own a 1967 mini about 46 years ago and enjoyed the noise & nostalgia for about 5 years until the red rustic stuff got th better of it 😢😢

I knew a guy in Scotland that had a mini van. I thought it was a cool vehicle, although I always got stuck riding in the rear sitting on the floor.

Definitely subscribed hopefully I will see this 1 get finished that thing is cool

you need a Wolseley Hornet and a Riley Elf ... the bed had to be 2/3 length of vehicle to qualify as a commercial vehicle in the UK ....your lucky when I got a pickup in the late 80's there was nothing in front of the windscreen scuttle...that took 4 years to fully rebuild..then I was too tall to drive the blooming thing...so I got a van .. good luck! os thats a big bore exhaust so you are not going to have an 850! have a look behind the voltage regulator in the inner wing the metal strips there can corrode away ...you wont charge your battery and the car wont start...

Lovely pick-up and great Projekt!