I finally had a chance to get out to see John and the guys at the new location, buy some parts, have a chat, and get an invite to look around the back of shop , quite unreal, I had forgotten about all those little bits that people have often told me were no longer around , WRONG , if you are looking for that elusive part that you thought was not around give them a call you might be surprised!!!

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That's why it's good to be.............ME

Sounds heaps better than my local mini shop. They never want to chat or give advise, they supply the wrong parts and make me pay double for the privilege. Not to mention an 80km round trip. I buy from Karcraft, MKO or overseas and use Ausmini to get any info.

I have been buying bits from John Smidt at Mini Kingdom/Mini King/MiniKingdomOnline since 1980.
I have also been buying bits from Greg at Karcraft since 1981.

I can't think of two better people to buy parts from.

I would rather buy from the good guys than the cheap guys, it is even better if it is good and cheap.

AWOODY
I was there today when you were there
you would have seen what goes on
customers in the shop , phone calls , internet orders , email orders ,
John is always willing to help with advice to anyone , this takes time away from the day
to those that have not seen this first hand . please a little bit of tolerance
this internet stuff is all new to John and there are a few teething problems
remember , most of the time John is doing this all by himself
I try to help out when I can , but most people still want to talk to John
There is still a lot of what I call GOLD to be discovered amoughts the old stock that was transferred from Narellan

Mark

ive ordered from John twice since he started online and both times there have been issues.
As much as I like to support local suppliers it gets hard when there is constantly problems.

Yes! Mistakes happen, but John will always endeavour to correct them. Even at his own expense. You don't get that type of service from other suppliers and his prices are quite reasonable.

Cheers,
Alan

I don't have a vested interest in promoting any one supplier. John has gone above and beyond for me a number of times. I've been very impressed.

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Build thread for Supercharged 1275 1967 Deluxe Resto
Build thread for Mini ute conversion 998cc Turbo

It's a bit rough calling two issues in the two years he's been online "constant problems".

MKO order issues I've been made aware of were fixed quickly and at MKO's expense (even when it was clearly the customer at fault). John's honesty and integrity far outweigh any occasional hiccups, in my view. He's been a rock for the Mini enthusiast community for almost 50 years.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

I've been dealing with mini kingdom and John since 1977 and will continue to shop with him wherever possible for all of the great reasons stated above. I did have one issue in the early days of MKO but he sorted it out and gave me a little "bonus" as well. There is no BS or "I'll say and do whatever to get a sale" just honesty and friendliness.

Cheers
Rod

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1967 New British Racing Green Mk1 Cooper S, 1967 Lake Green 1275 MG Midget, 1969 Jet Red / Crystal White Mk2 Cooper S, 1972 Gambier Turquoise Clubman GT (ex police), 1972 Camino Gold Clubman GT, 2009 JCW Challenge Edition, Megane RS265, Clio RS220.

Some people get brainwashed as to what parts shops to go to on all the forums on the internet whether its parts for a watch or parts for a aeroplane it goes on everywhere

Id say if john made up some sort of membership card and put a deal together with the card there wouldn't be no complaints at all

I reckon john and his son has the doors open today as well being australia day

Yes and it is a good tour when he takes you out the back and says take a look at what I got then goes back out to the service desk in the front it used to happen at mini king as well

Id be going back and forths with parts and putting it on his counter then back out the back going through the next row of shelves some of the stuff he give me for next to nothing

If it's OK with AWOODY who started this thread I'd like to widen this discussion to include all the Mini parts businesses in Australia, not just MKO. Hopefully all businesses in that category are listed here (if not please let me know and I'll update it). viewtopic.php?f=41&t=83593

Those who are relatively new to the Mini world should take a moment to understand the environment in which those businesses operate. Talk to John at MKO, Neil and Don at Cooper S Imports, Brian at Link, Richard at Mini Rich's, Matt at ReadSpeed, John at Mini Bits, etc. and ask whether they think their business is a 'fat cat' with a licence to print money. I think you'll find they all work extremely hard every day in an effort to keep their balance sheet on the positive side. I know some worry that when they eventually retire they won't have the same pool of money to fund their later life compared to those who worked in other more traditional jobs.

Classic Mini spare parts is a relatively small and shrinking market. How many brand new Mini parts businesses have started up in the last decade? Few, if any. So why do the current businesses continue to operate? In my view it's because the people who run them and staff them are true Mini enthusiasts. They love being involved in the Mini scene and helping you and I keep our precious cars on the road. These are the people who have sponsored Mini drivers in motorsport, provide support for events staged by the Mini clubs in each state, and give freely of their time by imparting knowledge to those who may or may not end up being a customer. I don't see Mini Spares UK, Mini Sport UK, Mini Mania USA or any of the other overseas parts suppliers doing that, nor do the offshore organisations stock the many parts that are unique to Australian manufactured Minis.

At next month's Mini Club of NSW Show & Shine MKO is providing the venue, donating some nice awards and allowing its premises to be used for the day. Attendees will be able to talk to Bob Holden, Rocky Canto, Graham Russell and other Mini stalwarts who are long-standing friends of John. This is just one example of a Mini business giving back to the Mini enthusiast community.

When next you need to order parts for your pride and joy it might be worth taking a moment to think beyond just the price.

P.S. If it's a genuine New Old Stock BMC or Leyland Australia part you are buying you might also like to think about the business that had the foresight to purchase that part from the factory when it closed in the early 1980's, the financial investment made at the time, and the cost to store it for many decades so we all have the opportunity to buy it in 2016.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Well written Doug, and l also use mko as my first preference when shopping for parts.

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SPO41 Mk2 Cooper S very original
1993 R32 Nissan Skyline GTR

Go ahead Doug, all I was trying to say was that people might be surprised as to what is available if they bothered to seek them out and here they are . Yes I have been buying parts from John since the mid seventies and there are others out there that also provide great service , parts and prices eg. Vic at mini performance centre at kurmond is an invaluable source .

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That's why it's good to be.............ME