I had sent a customer's Vintage Race Mini, a MkII, off to the media blaster last week, the blaster uses non-silica crushed glass. It is tucked away in the trailer, covered in blankets at the moment. The rain has been unrelenting since I picked it up, so I will wait until I get a break in the weather to transfer it to the shop!

I though m-machine bought mini shells. I have a mini shells full loadbay for my future van restoration.  Decent quality.
The advice i received from a reputable mini restoration shop was to purchase as many heritage panels as possible. Anything i couldn't, purchase m-machine. 
Stay away from others. 
-Shawn

Was not happy with MM doorsteps...the panels I got were poorly shaped/defined...we had to carefully lay weld across the bottom of the door to close up the gap.

M-machine would be, and is my choice for panels.  They seem to use thicker gauge metal for starters.

Small one man operation called Mini Shells in Cambridge used to have a local Engineering Shop press out complete Rear Floor panels for Pickups, and I bought 2 when restoring a couple of projects.  M-machine apparently bought up as many panels as the small company could have made.  Price also went up. Jim

dogscarf

3M makes a file belt sander tool that when loaded with a 40 grit belt will sand down spot welds quickly, neatly, and allow the old school spot weld bits a great chance to drill part, or all the way thru for a nice removal of old sheet metal. Without screwing up the OE metal you want to save for the new panels.

I was going to paste the url here, but I wasn't able to figure out how to do that.

Go to 3M, automotive, collision tools, abrasives.

Good luck with all the sheet metal work.

minibitz.. thanks for the correction I was WRONG.. imagine that ????? I have NOT got mini world or mini mag for years..   my local newsstand quit carrying both .. later bc

Correct.

I've got a magazine where the MD at Heritage explains that many of the original press tools got modified rather than replaced as the mini progressed through the MK's. This was the reason reproduction of the MK1 was not possible. As an example you can get a Heritage MK1 rear panel but it's not MK1 correct. It has pressings for MK1 tail lamps but the rear window aperture is for the larger rear screen as the MK1 tooling was trashed. If you watch this video you can see how BMH have to use a filler panel to correct this on the report MK1 shells. Look closely and you will also see between shots that a filler panel has been welded in to correct the height of the rear quarter windows. 
https://youtu.be/ffm4s3MmC7E

Subsequently others have taken up the slack, i.e. M-Machine, and figured out ways to replicate obsolete panels. Plenty of the panels sold through the big guys such as Minispares etc are from M-Machine. All their panels are finished with grey primer, so if you see a picture showing a panel in that colour that's the source.

dogscarf, that sounds like pretty reasonable prices! I'd like to do the car up all proper with a Heritage shell, but $14k plus shipping to Minnesota doesn't make $ense!

Heritage doesn't have tooling for a lot of the panels that are unique to the Mk.1, and M-Machine has tooled up to make them.

Rotacut sheet metal hole cutter sets work well, they are like mini hole saws. Speed kills, run them on the slow side to make them last. It’s even possible to remove the spot welds on one panel without making holes in the panel behind.

dogscarf.. I just got quote from emma travlers at www.mapcargo.co.uk to ship pallet  4 feet by  4 feet is only 125 quid..   and gearheadgirl.. why would BMHT use m-machine panels?/ BMHT has .their own jigs. for panel. in house..later bc

Indeed, a new shell is cost prohibitive.  My panels are up to about $2000 now for everything I need.  I figure $400-500 shipping tops! I don't need an entire floor, just the front.  There are a lot of pinholes that I can fill with my MIG welder, and if that isn't feasible in all cases I can put a piece of steel behind the pinholes and tack weld that in.  I think that I will get new front wings and front nose panel to save time on bodywork.  Not sure how I will drill out the spotwelds though.  I tried drilling out spotwelds on another Mini years ago with a special pointed bit and it didn't work for a damn.  I plan on spot welding panels in and using stitch welds as well.

Dogscarf

Email MiniSpares with a parts list and they will happily send you a quote including shipping.

dogscarf, my '66 Cooper S is similarly rusted out if not worse- Last time I totaled it up it needs over $3000 in M-Machine panels! That makes a new shell attractive, but at $14k plus shipping that's way over priced. I get the feeling given that the Heritage MK1 shell is built with a lot of M-Machine's panels that much of that $14k goes for Heritage's labor and overhead, the U.S. dealer's overhead, and transporting a whole shell halfway around the world. Thus I wonder how much shipping a floor and the rest of the panels to the U.S. is costing?

Not that hard!! With all due respect it's normally only people that have no bodywork experience that diss anything other than Heritage.

Yes, Heritage do make panels that fit better than most non genuine, but they are a long way from perfect and have been getting steadily worse over the years. Partially worn tooling and a slip in quality control I reckon. They also don't have a lot of the old press tools for earlier MK1/2 cars which is where the likes of M-Machine do a fine job.

M-Machine supply several of the panels for the recently released Heritage MK1 shells as BMH no longer have the necessary tooling. Full floor assembly being one component from them, as well as several other bits and bobs.

m machine panels. are better  and they are cheaper?/ you can NOT fix STUPIC..  ( how can you get better the OEM panels?/ 

.....ok, I towed the Mini home.  From what I have sampled via Mini owners is that M-Machines panels fit better.  They are less expensive too.  $1600 for over 40 pieces of steel and panels is a good deal.
Dogscarf

"I then drove the Mini home and ......."

Sorry....that just sounds funny when looking at your pictures

I have heard that M-Machine Has heritage beat on some panels. For example, when I do my MK2, I plan on getting the complete full floor with cross member, heel board, and sills. They are pricey, but I have seen them in person and the amount of work they save is amazing. Also, the fit is bang on.

british motor heritage of course..