Rugd1022 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 All the talk of Minis in ERs has reminded me to dig out some pics of the recent National Mini Owners Club day at Stanford Hall from last month... my camera batteries were a bit low at the time so I just bagged the '60s / '70s cars I saw... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_long Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 love the photos. I made my way through 5 minis in the 90s. Great cars, my favourite was a 60s 997 cooper! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Nice to see proper Mini's for a change, and some Mk1's to boot. I was never a Mini man myself though - though i do like the Metro, more like a real car - I preferred its predecessor the A30 and A35. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Who doesn't like a nice (real) Mini? Mind, when I saw the topic title, I thought I might be in for a treat, with a different kind of mini! Ah well, back to day dreaming! Cheers, John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted October 20, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 20, 2012 Ahhh... my Mum had a V reg BL made 1275GT Mini at one time. It didn't have the classic Mini look but the oversized engine in it made it go like the proverbial off a shovel! I still remember travelling at 95mph in the third lane Westbound on the M62 and my Mum explaining that lorries are not allowed in that lane! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 http://youtu.be/2T5MBjkP1yQ Altogether now: "This is the Self-Preservation Society...." ...I made my way through 5 minis in the 90s.... They clearly didn't last long in your hands Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted October 20, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 20, 2012 Minis can take a lot of punishment. My firm had one when I worked in Plymouth in the 1980s, and I managed to get it "off the clock" downhill on the A38. The abuse it took from all and sundry showed in the timing - it got so badly out that you could turn off the ignition, get out of the car, lock it, get your kit from the boot, and the engine would still be running! For anyone looking at the early models on here for propotype inspiration - beware - some of them have non-original wheels to my knowledge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Reid Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 For anyone looking at the early models on here for propotype inspiration - beware - some of them have non-original wheels to my knowledge Maybe 50% of them - all bar the steel ones and the one with the Innocenti's.... That said, the Minilite's were the stock fitment back then. If they were okay for Paddy Hopkirk et al... then they were good enough for me (only my last one - one of the last Cooper 1.3i's built (L144 LLS) had them as stock). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Maybe 50% of them - all bar the steel ones and the one with the Innocenti's.... That said, the Minilite's were the stock fitment back then. If they were okay for Paddy Hopkirk et al... then they were good enough for me (only my last one - one of the last Cooper 1.3i's built had them as stock). Good point about the wheels on some of these cars - the first incarnation of genuine Minilights came out in very late 1966 and were used on the '67 season Monte Carlo Rally Cooper S's, from that point onwards they became a BMC Competetions Department 'Special Tuning' option. There have been dozens of subtly different copies made over the years, ten inch versions at first followed by twelve and thirteen inch diameter ones from the '80s onwards. Four and a half inch wide Cooper S steel rims were only available as an option on Cooper S's from 1963 but the aftermarket boys soon picked them up and sold them over the counter throughout the '60s and '70s. The 'Dunlop D1' alloys on my car (WMU 211G) were available from October '68, which coincidentally was when my car was built, hence the choice of wheel, it had ten inch Minilights on when I bought it last year which are now tucked away in a safe place! Edit : the Bronze Yellow Mk3 Cooper S 'ERW 940L' is sitting on Rose Petal alloys which were a forerunner of the original Minilights, these were launched in 1965 and John Cooper himself had a hand in the design, as he used them on his saloon car racers that season.... dare say he made a bob or two out of them too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 ...That said, the Minilite's were the stock fitment back then. If they were okay for Paddy Hopkirk et al... Yes, but most of what were seen then and now were not real Minilites, but much cheaper immitations. Though I've not owned a mini since the seventies, and could never afford real Minilites, I still have some of the essential literature for those who took them seriously, so here's a poor photo of a poor photo of a real Minilite as approved by the FIA. Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Reid Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 What I'd give for 1071 'S' Nidge! - Although there were many aftermarket parts for other types of cars back in the early to mid-60s particulalrly for Ford's and the like, the Mini's spawned an entire market for car accessories the likes of had never been seen before. I doubt the likes of Halfords would have got off the ground as a business without them. There were some dodgy parts though. Anyone remember the widened 10" rims - take any old mini rim, split it in half and weld a three inch band of steel in between the two halfs! Bought a set of barely used tarmac tyres back in the early 80s for a bit of "navagational" road rallying (not quite as fast as the Motoring News series but just as exciting) got the tyres and the chap had left the rims with them - great tyres but scrapped the widened rims! Great photographs Nidge lots of memories and happy days! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Reid Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Yes, but most of what were seen then and now were not real Minilites, but much cheaper immitations. Though I've not owned a mini since the seventies, and could never afford real Minilites, I still have some of the essential literature for those who took them seriously, so here's a poor photo of a poor photo of a real Minilite as approved by the FIA. Nick Magnesium alloy cost a fortune - watched one or three chaps come out of stages with but the centre left on the rather cheaper versions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekl Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Lovely nostalgic pictures - I had a standard Mini when I first came to the UK in 1976 - LBY332D - lost the hydrolastic at the rear at some point, and the boots on the FWD - both sorted at what seemed like astronomical cost at the time, but would pale into insignificance on car repairs today. Sold it as more or less "scrap" for £50, but saw it running around Brighton a few years later (they hopefully had sorted out the rather tenuous relationship between the gear-stick and gearbox). Always a fun car. Perhaps "not a lot of people know this", but the shots of the cars in "The "Italian Job" running through supposedly Italian sewers (see one shot in the clip above) were taken in deepest Coventry, UK, in a sewer system under construction just south of the city at the time. The sewer system appears to be a few hundred yards from the Humber/Hillman works at Aldermoor, from 1929 Rootes Group, but at the time of the film, Chrysler, churning out the not very late lamented Avenger. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Bob - oh yes please, a nice ticketyboo 1071 S, said to be the nicest to drive of the three S engine sizes. Rare as rocking horse poo now, with only 4,000 or so built try finding one with it's original shell and / or engine...! The odd one still comes up for grabs now and again but usually the original block is long gone, replaced by an overbored 1275 non Cooper one, or it comes with the wrong interior or the wrong speedo etc. All Mk1 Coopers and S's are brimming with period charm though, the correct brocade trim attached to certain body colour combinations being vital to the Mini gurus - modern replacements are available but they're dead easy to spot! The aftermarket stuff that blossomed once Paddy Hopkirk won the Monte in early '64 often fetches silly money, even things like Speedwell keyfobs or Dunlop ash trays, the prices of which would make you weep. Reminds me - must look out for some period wing mirrors at the NEC Classic Show in a few weeks...! Tried to post this pic earlier but it wouldn't play ball - as bought with Works spec. Minilight replicas... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted October 20, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 20, 2012 Great set of photos - I was there with my son Steve and members of the Derbyshire Classic Mini Owners Club http://www.dcmoc.co.uk/ We entered his car into the Concours for a couple of years and each time he came either 3rd or 4th (as there were only 4 entries in the 1970's class). After that he couldn't be @r$d to spend hours polishing it when others arrive with cars on trailers that are never used - he drives his to work every day ! Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Great set of photos - I was there with my son Steve and members of the Derbyshire Classic Mini Owners Club http://www.dcmoc.co.uk/ We entered his car into the Concours for a couple of years and each time he came either 3rd or 4th (as there were only 4 entries in the 1970's class). After that he couldn't be @r$d to spend hours polishing it when others arrive with cars on trailers that are never used - he drives his to work every day ! Mike 'Concourse Karma' works in mysterious ways though Mike... back in the late '90s at Stanford Hall a chap who'd brought his immaculate Mk1 Cooper S (after a £32k restoration) on a trailor came second to an almost identicle car that had been driven to the show, having been restored in a lock up garage with no electricity....! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 For me this would be the ultimate '60s Mini - George Harrison's fabulous Mk1 Radford Cooper S which has some great history behind it..... purchased for George by Brian Epstein in 1965, it left the factory as a standard 1275 Cooper S in green with a white roof and two tone vinyl interior and was sent straight to Radford's coachworks in West London for stripping and conversion to his specification, namely a complete repaint into black, with black glass and black leather interior (Aston Martin seats no less, modified to fit!), full length Webasto sunroof, a fully instrumented dashboard, electric windows with opening quarterlights, Cosmic alloy wheels, VW Beatle rear lights, a specially shaped bonnet with spotlamps mounted in and the standard engine was tweaked to help it lug all that extra weight about. George took delivery of it in early '66 and used it enthusiastically (he was fined £6 for speeding in it!) but early the following year, during the recording of Sgt. Pepper he had it stripped again and repainted in full on psychedelic style, when it was also fitted with handmade wrought iron bumpers which were painted gold. It was used for the filming of Magical Mystery Tour in September but by about 1968 he'd got a bit bored with it and later passed it on to Eric Clapton. A few years further on, c1973 / 74 he took it back from Eric and had it resprayed again in black, obliterating the hand painted hippie swirls, flowers and symbols. Fast forward to the '90s and he had it restored back to it's psychedelic glory, although this time it wasn't quite the same as the person charged with doing the work had to work from photographs and not all of the images match up with the '67 paintwork. Around this time George was filmed driving it for the up coming Beatles Anthology and was ocassionally seen driving round Henley-on-Thames in it. For some reason the handmade bumpers and Cosmic wheels were ditched in favour of the painted Minilights and standard bumpers seen in this pic... one or two other details don't match up with the '67 spec but blimey it's still one heck of a car.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagrizz Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Nidge, Back in 1989 I bought a 1969 Mini Countryman - with all the wood - and used it as my runabout for four years before selling it to a chap in Brinklow in 1993. I saw it in Rugby a couple of years later and I presume it still exists, but I'm just a little curious as to where it is. As a member of the owners club, are you able to access a list of registration plates for surviving Minis? My Countryman was XRK 907H. Thanks Graham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted October 20, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 20, 2012 My Countryman was XRK 907H. DVLA database shows that it was last registered in 1994 and so if it's still around it's been off the road for along time - sorry ! Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagrizz Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Thanks for checking that Mike, Oh well........ Graham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 For anyone looking at the early models on here for propotype inspiration - beware - some of them have non-original wheels to my knowledge Don't forget that some 1275GT Clubman models came with the Dunlop Denovo run-flat wheel/tyre system. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted October 21, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 21, 2012 Ive had 2 minis, the first one i had in 1993 was a V reg and started off as a beige 1000c, and ended up in british racing green (cooper lookalike)with a 1275 MG metro turbo engine (minus the turbo) which was bored out to 1340cc, that in turn was fitted with twin 28/36 webbers off a cortina, an LCB manifold and straight through exhaust, used to leave my mums MR2 standing up to 60mph but would t go much faster than that!! It eventually went pop though I replaced that with a fully deseamed 1275 clubman with 4 cibie super ocsar spotlights on the front, that one had an italian job style rear roll cage fitted and i replaced the 10" wheels with 13" minilite replicas Both were great fun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Remember Minis as being, well, mini. However having had to buy a larger car (to tow the caravan, a Vectra Estate - previous was a Focus estate) I was surprised the other day to have to look up at the (alleged) MINI alongside me in a traffic queue. They aren't so mini any more. Thanks for the nostalgia pix. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 Remember Minis as being, well, mini. However having had to buy a larger car (to tow the caravan, a Vectra Estate - previous was a Focus estate) I was surprised the other day to have to look up at the (alleged) MINI alongside me in a traffic queue. They aren't so mini any more. Thanks for the nostalgia pix. They certainly aren't!! The chap who owns the beige Mk2 Cooper S in the first pic I posted (APC 95H) also owns one of the new 'big' Minis and it's huge compared to the beige beastie... I know which one I prefer. I tease him about it sometimes but he's happy enough with it, it is a very comfy car... but it ain't a Mini! Ed - there are still one or two pukka GTs on the concourse circuit with Denovos on, also one or two Rover P6s about with them too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted October 21, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2012 I over took a very nice Mini "station wagon", you know the estate with the wood framing, yesterday. It looked well "mini" compared to the other cars on the road. Something many modern modellers seem to forget is that car parks are still marked out for smaller 1960s cars. Don't you just love it when you drive into the last space in the car park and cannot get out of the car because you have a 4x4 each side So modern modellers remember to squash your cars up close in the car parks. And another thing to remember is that half would be parked badly as the owners still think they are in the Mini they learnt to drive in and have the space around them to park at a funny angle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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