I'm new to this group and just wanted to say, hello!! I'm 52 years old and just built a 50'x36' garage!!! My dream has come alive. Really looking at rebuilding a mini with my two son's 14 and 9. Any suggestions on the best year to buy to get started? We are looking at pimping one out, so I want to pay the least amount possible for the base car.

 

Welcome to MINI Cooper Forums! What an awesome project for you and your boys. I'd suggest going for an '05-'06 MINI Cooper S. It will be a great project and we have a ton of tech articles on our site under MINI > Tech Info (tab at the top). This will help you with many replacements and even give you a good idea about common issues/repairs. Post up some prospects for us to review.