10k: Mini Burn; 1960 Austin Mini Minor

Most of the cars featured on the Daily Turismo are chosen because they are good deals or visually striking…never have we featured a car because the seller has made a particularly biting comment towards a potential bidder, until now.  This 1960 Morris Mini Minor Saloon French garage find is for sale in Crystal Lake, IL, currently bidding on ebay for $5,699 reserve-not-met with 3 days to go.

The seller, haha11 pictured here in his ebay profile wearing an “I love hot moms” t-shirt, recieved the following question, answered it, and posted the entire affair for all to see on the auction page…

Q: 
    Do you have a buy it now price? I live locally and we used to sell
them new. Love it. Thank you, Richard Buxbaum.   

A: 
    Richard, with all due respect you jacked me around and low balled me
on a BMW R69S a few years ago. Then you did the same with my pal in
Holland Michigan. You obviously ignored my terms to this auction. I have
no interest in doing business with you. Word gets around in this small
community. Haig Haleblian

Mr. Buxbaum is going to need a serious tube of burn ointment to soothe the USB keyboard cord whipping he received from Mr. Haleblian.  The car itself is one of those rare quite common  “barn finds,” a class of vintage car that has low miles and hasn’t been driven for many years.  Several years ago the barn find was a good way to pick up a cheap unloved classic and shovel a bunch of hard earned cash into making it road worthy.  Today, a barn find with interesting history will often fetch more than a clean well loved example.

This particular Mini has some kind of Franco-Illinois connection and the seller is generously allowing the next owner to uncover its providence.  The next owner will also be allowed the pleasure of replacing every seal, gasket, rubber piece, tire, etc that has rotted to oblivion while this car was waiting to be reclaimed.

This author really wishes he could get into the whole “oh goody, a barn find” mentality, but would only get excited if the barn finds offered some serious cash discount.  As is, it really makes sense to buy a decently restored or nice original survivor Mini and save your time for driving it, such as this 1968 Mini Automatic for $12,995 obo. The featured car looks very original and complete – both great pluses – but it needs a wash!

See a well used classic that doesn’t require a full restoration at a reasonable price?  email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com