On Fri, 29 Dec 2017 17:42:33 +0000
Chris Hogg wrote:

The early minis were
particularly prone to conking out, as the plugs and distributor were
right out front and caught everything.

That reminds me of a particularly wet drive on the M1 in a new-to-me
Mini that kept cutting out. It emerged that a previous owner had lost
the plastic shield that should have sat between the front grille and
the distributor - as soon as I tied a carrier bag in its place the car
ran fine.