When Schmoo was finally uncovered things were not as bad as they could have been. The shell was completely rot free, but had been in the wars. Off-side wing, A-panel and door had collision damage, as did the scuttle, but that was due to an engine being dropped on it ! there were also a few small surface dents from time it had spent in a garage.

The inside was loaded up with everything light and loose, and winched onto a flatbed. A short journey down the M1, and Schmoo had arrived at it's new home.

July 2001 and the slow and laborious processes of stripping and identifying the menagerie of parts stored within the shell commenced. The main aim of this was to find out what we actually had, and more importantly, what we didn't.

Fortunately we were not missing much but a lot of it was aged and beyond redemption, rubber seals, mounts, bushes had all perished and the interior trim had seen better days.

First major job was to extract the engine & gearbox. Having the hoist in the garage makes this a lot easier than it could, almost a one handed operation.

Knowing that the engine was a 1275 variant, a little investigation actually showed its source was an Austin 1300 GT, and was of Cooper 'S' pedigree with an 11 stud 12G940 big valve head. It needed a little attention, so was taken off to MED in Leicester for some remedial work.