Paul Wiginton Classic Vehicles

Paul Wiginton Classic Vehicles Based in Milton Keynes we are specialists in the restoration of Classic Aston Martin & Classic Mini

1071 Cooper S Project.I had an early finish today, after spotwelding the drip rails in place.There was also a hole in th...
08/09/2026

1071 Cooper S Project.

I had an early finish today, after spotwelding the drip rails in place.
There was also a hole in the side of the roof above the passenger side door, which had a piece of steel brazed on behind it. I used a 1.5" holesaw to remove the area and welded in a new piece of steel.
I also filled in the aerial hole at the front of the roof.
Believe it or not, with all the work done on the roof skin, it was still more cost effective than fitting a new skin, plus the added bonus of keeping the original panel




1071 Cooper S Project.I didnt get a chance to post on Friday as we went see our favourite local band, Hazard:Band , bu...
07/09/2026

1071 Cooper S Project.

I didnt get a chance to post on Friday as we went see our favourite local band, Hazard:Band , but I finished off the roof repair, which set me up to repair the roof gutter this morning.
There was a dodgy bit above the driver's door aperture where some aluminium had been rivetted behind the rust holes, and filled over.
I cut out a section and welded in some new steel.
You can see in pic 7, that the new drip rails for the roof gutter need a little bit of shrinking on the ends to follow the shape of the roof, the driver's side is ready for spotwelding the morning




1071 Cooper S Project.I wasn't sure how well today was going to work out. I tried something I've never done before.I hav...
03/09/2026

1071 Cooper S Project.

I wasn't sure how well today was going to work out. I tried something I've never done before.
I have made some small repair patches for roof skins and fitted them, but not this big.
The rear panel had been replaced previously. As you can see, the joint between the original gutter and new section was not good, as in pics 2&3.
Inside the gutter wasn't any better. The roof skin had been bodged about, then plug welded to the new rear panel. There were remnants of the original rear panel in there still, as in pics 7,8,9&10.
It was plug welded in place, and each plug weld popped off with a little twist of my wallpaper scraper.
As you can see, I had cut the bad corners of the gutter away so I can weld in new metal, inbetween those areas I flattened out the gutter for access and I will reform it after welding.
Because I have converted so many new roof skins into Pickup roof, I have some of the offcuts still, which I used for the roof repair.
I cut away the poor section of roof, cut a nice butt joint, and tacked it all in place, then seam welded it.
I chose my cut line to give me access inside to tap up any undercuts, and also clean up the pe*******on.
I'm half way through now, so will finish it off in the morning.
I decided to try this with the mindset that it would save the owner a load of money on a roof panel and labour to fit it, but if it did not work out, I still had the option to fit a new panel and not charge him for my experiment.
I am pretty happy with it so far




02/09/2026

Before and after of a commercial Mini fuel bowl.

See the restoration process over at Wiginton Independent Genuine Iconic Spares Ltd

1071 Cooper S Project.Lots of little bits today, the engine steady bracket needed reinstating, there were some unwanted ...
01/09/2026

1071 Cooper S Project.

Lots of little bits today, the engine steady bracket needed reinstating, there were some unwanted holes in the front bulkhead which needed filling in, the washer jet locations needed correcting in the scuttle and the left hand end of the bulkhead crossmember need repairing, for which I made a new top section. I'll finish off plug welding it in the morning.
Also, I finished off welding the toe panel to the floor and bulkhead.




I woke up at my usual time for work on B/H Monday, so I sat on the sofa with my coffee and built my DeLorean.Are you doi...
31/08/2026

I woke up at my usual time for work on B/H Monday, so I sat on the sofa with my coffee and built my DeLorean.

Are you doing anything exciting on your day off?




A bit of bank holiday fun.For me, and Hemi Cuda, Superbird and 55 Nomad, what about you?
29/08/2026

A bit of bank holiday fun.

For me, and Hemi Cuda, Superbird and 55 Nomad, what about you?

1071 Cooper S Project.Pic 1, shows a couple of features on the inner wing, marked X, which should not be there.Pic 2, sh...
28/08/2026

1071 Cooper S Project.

Pic 1, shows a couple of features on the inner wing, marked X, which should not be there.
Pic 2, shows the same area, on the next project, of how it should look.
Pic 3, shows the detail of the stiffener panel inside the inner wing. This is how they are supplied by Heritage.
Pic 4, shows how that same stiffener should look.
The inner wings have been removed, the body has now retaken its correct shape, supported by the jig.
I've welded the repositioned toe panel to the bulkhead and floor.
You can see that there are some unwanted holes to fill in on the front bulkhead, some nasty dents from bad use of a cone compressor tool, and the last picture shows the screen washer jet hole position, and just to the left of it, where it should be.
I will be addressing all those issues next week before I fit the new inner wings.

Have a fantastic bank holiday weekend.
Do you have plans with your Mini?




28/08/2026

I found it interesting




As I said yesterday, I am replacing these inner wings.Just for giggles, can you see the problem here?
28/08/2026

As I said yesterday, I am replacing these inner wings.

Just for giggles, can you see the problem here?




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