At this point, there was a major decision to be made. We evaluated the current shell to cost over $2,000 in replacement panels. We looked around and found another 1976 Mini that was in better shape than the current one. We estimated that the replacement panels would only be about $700. So the decision was made to sell the original shell and purchase the other one. It was in the agreement for us to strip it down to just the shell, and return all the parts stripped off to the owner. This took us 3 days. We found the shell had been undercoated, so most of the floor was in good shape. So from this point on, it is a different shell, but we still have all the original parts of the first Mini. Now on with the Saga.

Well, after some soul searching, we decided to abandon the previous shell and search for another in better shape. Here is the result of our search, another 1976 Mini 1000. Instead of needing $1500 worth of sheet metal, this one needs about $700 worth of sheet metal. We picked this one up for $500 with the condition that we strip it and keep only the shell. PERFECT! We stripped it in 3 days and returned the parts.