Restoring Classic Minis For Over 15 Years

Derek’s Classic Mini Center is represents over 15 years of experience restoring Classic cars.
MD Vintage Auto Center, our garage partner in this joint venture, has experience gained its experience with the the Classic Mini (1959-2000) , Mercedes, Volkswagen and Porsche.
The owner-managers Mourad and Derek have the same philosophy and use strict standards about the performance, the mechanic state , the level of the body work and quality of the finish of a restored classic car, and they don´t compromise on that aspect of the work.

Contact us with your project

You have a Mini from the period 1959-2000, sitting in your garage that is rarely used, that looks a bit tattered or that is an empty shell and boxes of spare parts, and you want restored to its former shining glory and become a reliable regular driving car again, or you want to make your Mini shine on the club events again ...

Working Hours

In person visits

We don´t have a physical shop or showroom where our customers can visit, we apologize for not allowing in person visits

How we work

We have 3 ways that we work with project cars : OUR project, YOUR project, a project 4 YOU

OUR project

We buy project Minis, from the period 1959-2000, for restoration which are resold on the market.

Selling us your car/project : Contact us with a car that you want to sell with pictures of the current state, and the available paperwork. We'll make an appointment for a visit for appraisal, during which we'll make an estimate of the parts required and the work involved to restore your Mini. We base our offer for your car on that estimate.
We buy cars that are in a driving state or dismantled projects on wheels with a full complement of parts.
We'll make you an offer and purchase your Mini if we come to an agreement.

Buying one of our projects : look on this site for finished projects with the for sale label. Judge our work by our finished projects.

YOUR Project

You have a Mini from the period 1959-2000 in your garage, that is in a driving condition, or might be partially dismantled with parts in boxes.
Contact us with with pictures of the current state, and paperwork. Tell us what you want done in terms of restoration work, modifications and technical updates and what budget you want to spend. We'll make an appointment for a visit for appraisal, during which we'll make an estimate of the parts required and the work involved to restore and update your Mini, and we'll make you an offer.
You are the architect of your project, there are only 2 rules you should be aware of :
* we don´t do half jobs, and we don't compromise on the quality and level of the finish (paint job, refurbishment) or the quality of the work for financial reasons (like using cheaper parts);
* and if more parts or work (manhours) are needed to complete the project than were foreseen in the estimate/offer, we will notify you with the extra cost and the options you can chose from if there are any.
You will pay in advance for the purchase of parts and transport to our workshop and the balance (mostly manhours and fabrication or subcontractor work) at delivery.

A project 4 YOU

You would like to drive a Classic Mini ( form the period 1959-2000) but you don´t own one and you don´t feel comfortable to buy used car with the mileage that is usual on Classic Minis or you don´t have the skills to restore a car to the condition you want.
We offer you the chance to step into a project with us to restore a Classic Mini to mint road-ready condition. we buy a project-car together and you get to decide all kinds of features about the finished product. For starters the colourscheme and luxury of the finish. We are there to help.
We'll purchase a project car for you, that we have appraised, and we'll provide you with an offer for the car, and an offer for the parts and work of the restoration.
You pay for the purchase of the Mini and the restoration is done like "YOUR project"
If you are a customer living in Morocco and you want us to find a project car for you, special conditions apply both with regards to the initial purchase of the project vehicle, the purchase of parts, the export from the EU and import in Morocco, please request info via our email.

Our Garage

We have a well equipped modern garage to work with project cars, and we have very good and qualified subcontractors to take some of the work off our hands, that work to our quality standards.

Our Body and Paint shop

Classic Mini's were prone to rusting and keeping a Mini in working condition was a constant battle against the rust bubbles. For the first 25 years BMC(later BMLC and British Leyland) used untreated steel, that was often stored in conditions that favoured rust forming, before it was used to assemble cars. Only the first layers of undercoating and the post assembly Waxonyl treatment were holding the frontline against rust.
When a car comes to our workshop the old paint layers are removed, also filler form old repairs are taken off the car. Any old repairs and rust is cut away and new steel welded in, if needed whole new panels are welded in place.
A rust remover absorbs surface rust and a rust preventing basecoat of paint is applied in the hidden spaces inside the body work.
The old solvent based paint is removed, because the modern paints cannot be applied to the old paints. Also old filler is removed. The car's body is prepped, some modern filler might be applied in the process to smooth the surface, sanded and smoothed all over again, then painted with several layers of modern basecoat and colour paint, and with a clearcoat if required. We can also apply transparant (or opaque) wrapping that protects your paint from deteriorating from UV light and salt during winter.

Our Mechanics workshop

Our mechanics take care of your suspension, steering, brake-system and engine.
We have a wide experience with the highly mechanical and nifty integrated design of the A- and A+ series engines, and even with the K-series that has been used to mod Minis, we are well versed with the carburetor , SPI and MPI fuel systems and their electronics.
Most of the times we get engine that turn around., so we revise the engine thoroughly and rebuild it , but sometimes we get engines that are sold to us as "revised", unless we know who revised the engine we will check all parts for wear and stress fractures. if need be we take it apart and rebuild it. When the Mini leaves our workshop you may need to run it in again and have a check up after 5000 km.
With the help of our subcontractors we can upgrade your engine to fast road performance and stage I, II or III.
Minis that leave our work shop come with electronic ignition which is much more reliable, and requires a lot less maintenance afterwards.
We modernize your suspension and brake systems with well tested and performant parts, or with better performing hydrolic systems and servo's, or replace front drum brakes with disc brakes as they were used by the manufacturer in later generations of the Mini.

Our Subcontractors

A garage can only do certain things, some jobs have to be outsourced, especially if you want to deliver a high quality product; because we cannot maintain a fully equipped unit with staff on a full-time basis in our garage.
Engine : we don´t need the highly specialized equipment necessary to equalize the surface of the cylinder block or the cylinder head, or to re-drill or hone cylinders, neither do we harden or balance crankshafts. Upholstery : our upholsterers will perfectly restore or make new, floor-covering, door cards, and roof covering. If your seats are old, all worn and dirty, or the foam inside has crumbled, our upholsterer can make new seats from the frame inside, they can modify seats to have headrests or make more comfy seats or seats that enhance your driving experience. they can also make dashboards and central consoles to harbour your modern sound system.