Hi Everyone,

I’m looking for a bit of guidance and advice regarding my new purchase, an Australian built 1962 Mini Cooper.

I’ve just bought the car in a side deal from ebay in the US and I’m going to have the car shipped to me in Ireland. Hopefully it will be with me in about 6 weeks. I have a few other Minis and I’ve always loved the Australian cars, I was looking for an S but then I saw this. I know I should have asked for some advice before I bought the car but I really liked it and didn’t want to miss it.

Based on the seller’s pictures I thought it looked like a good solid, genuine, original and rust free car. The numbers seem to match and the car is already on the Australian Cooper Register so presumably it’s a known car, I’m told it went to the US from Australia in the late ‘90s.

I was just hoping for a bit of guidance regarding the originality of the car (I’ve done a bit of research about Australian cars but I’m far from an expert), to see what is original and what’s not and suggestions as to what I could do to improve the car.

Thanks

Paul

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137296220 ... /lightbox/

Love the colour combination with the porcelain green interior.

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1968 Morris Mini Deluxe - members gallery
1970 Morris Cooper S - members gallery
Mini's I grew up with
Slot car couch

Suggest you get hold of Cooper articles in the (now defunct) Mini Experience magazine, or the digital version Mini Experience Reloaded. I can't access my collection at the moment to tell you what issue(s) it's in but if no-one else can in the next few days I'll try to find it.

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

Does it come with the under bonnet heater blower?

There was no mention of the heater blower as one of the spares going with the car, just the original wheel trims, water pump and fuel pump. I've a bad feeling that a replacement pump is going to be hard to find?

Thanks for the engine bay picture, that's going to be a good reference point.

A few questions I have, hopefully someone can help:

Are the seats, door cards, etc likely to be original?
Do you think that is the original (black) carpet?
Presumably the matching front door cards are missing?
Is the dash surround original?
Would the engine and gearbox be painted the same colour?

Thanks

The carpet would not have been black.

Most likely Green carpet the same as the carpet in this car. https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=ht ... are_type=t



The Green will tend to go a light brown over the years. The seat protectors stay green however. Here is the carpet from another another Saxon / Osmond car.



The speedo binnacle looks correct to me.

Here is a road test of an early 997 Cooper with some pics. I have photos of a few road tests if you are interested.

All of this info and photos are brilliant, if you have any more I'd love to see it.

Thanks

Osmond and Saxon green as per ID plate.

This car most likely had the aealy heater with the blower located in the engine bay. The original Air control knob is used to control the air flap at the grill. The odd looking choke knob is correct as its position. Both those items are very rare to find in an original car.

Here is the carpet from another Saxon / Osmond car. It is about 6 months later than yours and has the later heater but the seats, door cards and carpet should be the same.


Here is a parts list for the heater to help you see what is missing.

Wondered what the black plated hole cover was used for in more modern Minis.

A couple more of that same test car CVC032.

CYC342





CVC366

You may find this Facebook group helpful. https://m.facebook.com/groups/215887218 ... le_browser