For those interested in old cars.

[alastairq]

2 hours ago, BernardTPM said:

Red was quite popular in the 1980s, but the early 1970s were much more colourful.

 

Especially if an Alfa Romeo?

[BernardTPM]

or Ford Escort

 

 

[boxbrownie]

You cannot beat a Nappy Yellow Mk3 cortina 

[peanuts]

12 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

You cannot beat a Nappy Yellow Mk3 cortina 

New born nappy brown allegro ?

[peanuts]

Followed this rather tired looking consul along the A62 Oldham bypass wafting along at a steady 50mph .

Edited January 11, 2022 by peanuts

[boxbrownie]

9 minutes ago, peanuts said:

Followed this rather tired looking consul along the A62 Oldham bypass wafting along at a steady 50mph .

And with a Dutch tow bar? 

[peanuts]

1 minute ago, boxbrownie said:

And with a Dutch tow bar? 

did wonder what that was about 

[Kickstart]

6 hours ago, alastairq said:

 

Especially if an Alfa Romeo?

Compulsory for an Alfa!

 

All the best

 

Katy

[alastairq]

9 minutes ago, Kickstart said:

Compulsory for an Alfa!

 

All the best

 

Katy

Plus, leather embossed with a snake eating a baby?

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, peanuts said:

Followed this rather tired looking consul along the A62 Oldham bypass wafting along at a steady 50mph .

That was probably flat out for a Mk. II Consul.

[Kickstart]

32 minutes ago, alastairq said:

Plus, leather embossed with a snake eating a baby?

Leather optional, person being eaten compulsory 

 

All the best

 

Katy

[45568]

11 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

They did have the stainless steel trim on the doors Peter, this one appears to have it missing but the badging on the bootlid is definitely that of a Morris Cooper S, which makes it an odd one, although it is documented that during Mk1 and particularly the early Mk2 production that some cars left the factory with exterior trim and light fittings missing which were later fitted to the cars at dealerships. Not all Coopers had white roofs though, this is another very common myth, you could order one in monotone but the official factory colour combos for all of the Mk1 and Mk2 Cooper models were as follows....

 

Mk1s from September 1961 to September 1967

 

Old English White + Dove Grey roof (very early cars only)

Old English White + Black roof

Tartan Red + Black roof

Smoke Grey + Old English White roof (discontinued c.1964)

Tweed Grey + Old English White roof (discontinued c.1965 / 66)

Fiesta Yellow + Old English White roof (discontinued c.1965)

Surf Blue + Old English White roof (discontinued c.1965)

Island Blue + Old English White roof

Almond Green + Old English White roof

 

(None of the red Abingdon Works team rally cars left the factory with white roofs, they were despatched with black roofs which were repainted white at Abingdon)

 

Mks2 from September 1967 to November 1969 (998 Cooper) and from September 1967 to February 1970 (Cooper S)

 

Snowberry White + Black roof

Tartan Red + Black roof

Island Blue + Snowberry White roof

Almond Green + Snowberry White roof

El Paso Beige + Snowberry White roof

Sandy Beige + Snowberry White roof

 

(When the Mk3 range was introduced in October 1969 there was a some overlap with the end of Mk2 production and it's known that some very late Mk2 Coopers had early Mk3 monotone colours, the only Cooper model to receive the Mk3 bodyshell was the 1275 S which didn't start production until March 1970, right after the end of Mk2 Cooper S production, and then in turn the Mk3 S ceased production in July 1971)

 

 

Thank you for this very informative answer Nidge. My father-in-law to be worked on the Mini line at Longbridge from start-up to the start of the Allegro build, (he moved across to become a foreman, always maintained it was worst thing he ever did!). I remember the Abingdon red/white examples, but had completely forgotten about the black roof examples. My all time favourite was the almond green/white combo, always looked very smart.

 My first car was a 1960 Morris Mini, floor starter button and sliding windows, cherry red, 900 PTE. Purchased from an Irish backyard mechanic who lived up the road, it was a money pit. I could have had, for the same price, a well looked after Morris Minor from the respectable garage on the corner, (Greenhill Motors, Moseley, owned by Smiths), but as a 17 year old in 1968, what are you going to do?

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

[rockershovel]

10 hours ago, peanuts said:

New born nappy brown allegro ?

I always reckoned that vivid lime green colour sometimes seen on Capris  to be notably offensive to the eye..

[Rugd1022]

11 hours ago, 45568 said:

Thank you for this very informative answer Nidge. My father-in-law to be worked on the Mini line at Longbridge from start-up to the start of the Allegro build, (he moved across to become a foreman, always maintained it was worst thing he ever did!). I remember the Abingdon red/white examples, but had completely forgotten about the black roof examples. My all time favourite was the almond green/white combo, always looked very smart.

 My first car was a 1960 Morris Mini, floor starter button and sliding windows, cherry red, 900 PTE. Purchased from an Irish backyard mechanic who lived up the road, it was a money pit. I could have had, for the same price, a well looked after Morris Minor from the respectable garage on the corner, (Greenhill Motors, Moseley, owned by Smiths), but as a 17 year old in 1968, what are you going to do?

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

 

Your old Cherry Red Mini would be worth a fair old wedge now if it were still around and in good nick, the surviving '59 cars are mostly accounted for and command strong money, not surprisingly so the '60 cars are starting to catch up a bit. I still fancy an another early Mk1 but I've promised myself not to buy any more Minis!

 

Photo by Roger Geach with permission to share it : Liskeard station on Christmas Eve 1976 with Rog's early Mk3 Mini in attendance....

 

 

 

[Hobby]

I had one that colour!

 

20 hours ago, peanuts said:

New born nappy brown allegro ?

 

"Russett Brown" if you please! Actually a very nice colour when polished up, proving you can polish a turd! Replaced by "Clove Brown" in the Maestro!

[Dunsignalling]

14 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

That was probably flat out for a Mk. II Consul.

Depends how long you were willing to wait or how steep a hill you were descending.

 

Last one I had anything to do with was OK at the motorway limit but you really didn't want anything to make you slow down!

 

John

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

Your old Cherry Red Mini would be worth a fair old wedge now if it were still around and in good nick, the surviving '59 cars are mostly accounted for and command strong money, not surprisingly so the '60 cars are starting to catch up a bit. I still fancy an another early Mk1 but I've promised myself not to buy any more Minis!

 

Photo by Roger Geach with permission to share it : Liskeard station on Christmas Eve 1976 with Rog's early Mk3 Mini in attendance....

 

 

 

I recall the early 1959 minis being snapped up by racers as the view was those early cars used a slightly thinner gauge of steel in the body making them usefully a bit lighter than subsequent cars.

[PhilJ W]

I had an early Mini, 8763 MT. What was unusual about it was it started out as a saloon but by the time I got it it was an all steel estate. What had happened was that the original body had been badly bent in a rollover and the sub frames and greasy bits had been transferred to the new bodyshell. It didn't last all that long as the previous owner had replaced the clutch and  omitted to put back the lock washer. There was a loud bang and bits of bell housing everywhere. I got rid of it by giving it to the local tech college.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

I had an early Mini, 8763 MT. What was unusual about it was it started out as a saloon but by the time I got it it was an all steel estate. What had happened was that the original body had been badly bent in a rollover and the sub frames and greasy bits had been transferred to the new bodyshell. It didn't last all that long as the previous owner had replaced the clutch and  omitted to put back the lock washer. There was a loud bang and bits of bell housing everywhere. I got rid of it by giving it to the local tech college.

Mine was PJ 1070………I thought it would be nice to throw a Cooper 1070 lump in it, but sadly never got around to it and it never actually rolled a wheel registered, then again I was only 17 at the time!

[Oldddudders]

5 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Mine was PJ 1070………I thought it would be nice to throw a Cooper 1070 lump in it, but sadly never got around to it and it never actually rolled a wheel registered, then again I was only 17 at the time!

A good Surrey number! My mate’s parents had a 1962 MkIII Zephyr 6, 4125 PJ. 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

A good Surrey number! My mate’s parents had a 1962 MkIII Zephyr 6, 4125 PJ. 

Yes, I actually think it was 1070 PJ thinking more about it now, that’s interesting as we lived in Essex at the time, so not a big journey to its final resting place 

[Richard E]

On 12/01/2022 at 14:32, boxbrownie said:

Mine was PJ 1070………I thought it would be nice to throw a Cooper 1070 lump in it, but sadly never got around to it and it never actually rolled a wheel registered, then again I was only 17 at the time!

 

A long time ago (about 45 years actually) a friend had an Almond Green Mini Estate which was pure 1275 'S' underneath. Forget what happened to it but I also recall him having a Mk2 1600GT Cortina which he put through a farm gate one night on a road rally - we were the car behind him when he did it (by about 25 yards!|). Just to add insult to injury he'd bought the car as a write off from an insurance company where it was a staff car that had been driven into a manhole.

[boxbrownie]

47 minutes ago, Richard E said:

 

A long time ago (about 45 years actually) a friend had an Almond Green Mini Estate which was pure 1275 'S' underneath. Forget what happened to it but I also recall him having a Mk2 1600GT Cortina which he put through a farm gate one night on a road rally - we were the car behind him when he did it (by about 25 yards!|). Just to add insult to injury he'd bought the car as a write off from an insurance company where it was a staff car that had been driven into a manhole.

The only “incident” I had road rallying was in my mates sprite I was navigating and he as usual driving too bloomin’ fast and at a very “90deg hard right” easy to mistake for “straight on flat out”…………well the sprite crossed the 10 foot ditch and into the Earth bank the other side, luckily my door popped open and I managed to get out unharmed (seatbelts always!) but ended up two foot deep in the ditch water…..the Sprite was about a foot shorter in total!  

Edited January 13, 2022 by boxbrownie

[Nick C]

Ah, the fun of swapping rallying tales... I had quite a few in a decade or so of navigating...

[boxbrownie]

16 hours ago, Nick C said:

Ah, the fun of swapping rallying tales... I had quite a few in a decade or so of navigating...

We used to swap each rally Nav and driving……Nav I wasn’t my favourite pastime I preferred my 2002tii to his sprite/Aston DBV8/Jag XJV12………oh yes he was the rich mate