My Mini

This is a 1979 1000cc Leyland Mini. It was one of the last batch of Minis shipped to Jakarta by PT. Java Motor. The president of Java Motor gave it to the first owner as a gift. The owner would drive this car everywhere with his wife, even to Bandung and back several times. In 1994, after the first owner became too old to drive it, his son decided to sell the Mini to Robby, who became the second owner. In 1997, Robby sold the car to my grandmother since Robby needed the money to move to Australia. My grandmother bought the car as a gift for Emral, my cousin. Emral never really had a chance to love the car since he was too little to appreciate a classic. The car was unloved and treated as if it was junk. Because the car broke down quite often, Emral's father, Emil, decided to store the car in a auto-repair house since no one wanted to care for it. It was placed in an empty room, which collected dust for some years and remained forgotten.
In 2004, I got back from the US and just finished my undergrad. I didnt have a car then, so I was always borrowing someone else's. It didnt felt right and it was time to look for my own car. Then, I remembered that there was a Mini my uncle Emil used to have, so I went look for it. After weeks of searching, I found the house that was thought to have stored the Mini. When I got there, everyone forgot where the Mini was. I was shocked and discouraged at the same time. I decided to go back home. I decided to go the restroom before I went. When I got to the restroom door, I saw something covered in a car cover next to the door, shaped like a very small car. Then I quickly lifted the cover. Wumph! There it was, my new car.
Initially, I had to borrow $700 from my grandmother to make it run. A quick oil change, new sparks and some new parts were good enough to revive it. Of course, the restoration process hasn't even started. It took quite an extensive work to restore it back to tip top condition, but it was all worth it.
Meet Jim.