Hey Guys,

Was wanting to know, were all MK 2 Cooper S ( 7/70) stamped on the ADR plate as 4 next to the seating capacity?

Even tho rear seatbelts were a optional extra, if they weren't fitted would it still be stamped as 4 or 2 on the ADR plate.

Regards,

Mark

Rear seatbelts were mandatory after 1st of Jan 1971, so very few cars would have to have them fitted. I can't imagine this affecting prior cars in regards to seating capacity?
https://infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/ ... les/04.pdf

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Thanks Timmy,

Im only asking as my 7/70 S shows no signs at all of rear seatbelt's being fitted but on my ADR plate it is stamped as "4" next to seating capacity.

Maybe being that the car can seat 4 they stamp this as 4 even tho rear seatbelts may never be fitted.


Mark

I have photos of over 60 MK2 S 1970 and 1971 ADR Plates on my files.

All but two of them have the seating capacity stamped as "4".

One of those is a 7/70 stamped "S" and the other is a 7/70 ex police car stamped "2".

The seating capacity was hand stamped from the front up to 7/70 and from 8/70 it was machine stamped from the rear.

Same goes for the Mini K and Mini Matic ADR plates. Most are stamped "4". Two have no seating capacity stamped.

Seating capacity has nothing to do with seat belts. It is more to do with the comfort level for the size of the car.

What everyone else said is correct. Nothing to do with seat belts, just seating capacity. See following BMC Standards pages on ADR Compliance.

All Mini Vans and most Mokes were stamped 2, except those later Mokes where a rear seat was fitted at the factory, then they were stamped 4.

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

By the way, not trying to be pedantic but just to get the terminology correct, the plate mentioned by mini210 at the start is an ADR Compliance plate, not an ID plate.

ID plates were used on all vehicles until somewhere during 1969, then deleted (gtogreen1969 will have an approximate month). ADR Compliance plates served a different purpose and were introduced in January 1970. You can see images of both and further explanation in the preamble to the Cooper S Registers.

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

I had a look at the ADRs second edition.

1 Jan 1975 the ADR 5b came into effect saying all seating positions must have seat belt anchor points and the seat belts shall comply with ADR 4b.

Therefore from 1 Jan 1975 the ADR plate seating capacity is the number of seat belts fitted.

https://infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/ ... es/05B.pdf
https://infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/ ... es/04B.pdf

Note...

"Data Required on Compliance Plates.
2.1 Make of Vehicle."

In this case the Make of the Vehicle is a "Morris".
This also means later on that the make of the vehicle is a "Mini" and not a Morris or Leyland.

Like this ...

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

A little off topic, but I like the periods ads which specify the seating capacity "Body: 4 seater" and then have a photo with 6 people in the car in the last image
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=73895

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People were much thinner in the 1960s.
But photoshop has been in advertising for a long time.

In car advertising over the years, it is curious to compare the relative size of the car in comparison to the people in or around the car, distorted to make the car look bigger.
In that last 850 illustration, it's hard to work out exactly where the bodies of all those faces fitted inside the car!

My Moke is registered as a 5 seater. I'm not sure how, because it wouldn't be safe to have 4 people in the passenger seat.

Tim

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1951 Morris Commercial J Type Van
1955 BSA C11G
1961 Morris Mini Traveller
1969 Triumph TR6R
1977 Leyland Moke Californian

Things were much more "relaxed" back then. I used to regularly commute from Sydney to Canberra in a 65 Deluxe with 4 other mates (count 'em;). And its probably safe to admit to driving my 850 (well sharing duties - no one person could reach all the controls) from the playing fields at the back of the Daceyville police station to Uni with a full rugby team inside....

Cheers