Hello friends!

I live and work in Europe, Hungary. Never ever saw a real australian built Mini - until...

A few weeks ago I aquired a very strange looking mk1 body, that I would like to identify if only possible.

It has holes in the roof gutter (not cut outs on the corners).
It has an australian spec boot lid.
Some numbers are stamped into the firewall (10950).
It has no floor buttom switch hole.
The doors are sliding window type, no safety bosses for the handle. The lockable handle is unusual.
The brake pedal is strenghtened on the side.
The steering column has an alloy cast attachment part, not the usual pressed steel.
Only left side fuel tank.
According to a once owner, it had a remote gearbox, but it was replaced in the early 90s. Gearbox and engine went scrapped.
The brake master cylinder was cooper-type in '91 (earlyest picture of the car).

You may understand how unique an australian Mini can be in central Europe, especialy as the car was latest imported to the country in the early 80s.
We would be gratefull for any help in the identification!

I will post pictures soon.

Thanks:
Gergo Feher

Great post!
Had it been converted to left hand drive? If it was originally like this then it wouldn’t be Australian as we’re right hand drive over here. But hey, there are loads of people who know more on this site. I only know a drop of oil in the sump compared most ausmini members.


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Zulu...

1967 mini Cooper S

Thanks a lot for the kind words!
The rhd-lhd conversion I am pretty sure of, though on these old Minis its only a matter of a good day or so.

What makes you think it is Aussie other than maybe the boot lid, did the previous owner import ?

The rear tail lights being square with the sliding windows doesn’t sit right for a mk1 Aus. Maybe UK ?. Possible that someone has welded in the square tail lights as well i guess as people did that.

The dash rail & switch panel looks like its been replaced as well.

I dont think the door handle is mini, maybe someone found something that was close ?

It may need some further investigation under the paint. Eg, is there welding for the tail lights, and there are normally numbers on top of the radiator cowl that can help ID.

Like Zulu says, plenty of people on here know more than me I’m sure it can be figured out.

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1966 Mini Deluxe - “Gabby” 34 years under restoration and counting...
1970 MGBGT
1959 MGA

Oh sorry, just noticed there isn’t a radiator shroud…. That doesn’t help ID wise

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1966 Mini Deluxe - “Gabby” 34 years under restoration and counting...
1970 MGBGT
1959 MGA

The firewall is the same as used on the 850 and Cooper until mid 1965. The Floorpan matches a pudding stirrer that was later modified to take a remote shifter so that narrows it down to an 850. The holes in the drip rail are Aussie. So my guess is its an Aussie 850.

Now the issue I have is the aussie car number and aussie body number were located on the passenger side firewall until appox car 17000. (note passenger side for right hand drive) All I can think is that this was one of the very first Aussie bodies and they put the stampings on the drivers side briefly before going back to the passenger side. I can confirm Car 10942 and 10966 are both on the passenger side.

Car 10187 had a UK body number and Car 12178 has an Aussie body number so yours would have been one of the very first cars with an Aussie body number.
Here is a pic of a UK body number.



Here is a pic of where the ID plate and chassis number were located on cars from approx 5700 to 17000. The body number is hidden under the ID plate.



Having the body number on the firewall means the radiator shroud was left blank so it doesn't matter that the radiator shroud is missing.

There is a chance the car number is also stamped under the passenger seat on the floor. Is there anything there?

Many thanks Sir for the information and help.

I will check the floor panel, though it is in very bad condition overall, and was also welded heavily.

I was quoting Aussie passenger and driver sides as per a RHD car. So your floorpan chassis number will be under your driver's seat. It's just inside the door jam between the 2 floor mat studs.

I have checked the floor, the angled section was repaced each sides.

Last night I read myself through the content here, and I have found some matching facts with oters cars.

This 850 has a very similar "cut" on the tunnel as mine.


viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20518

It looks pointing towards the 850 direction. Just made me think why people replaced their gearboxes? Of was there anything like 850ccm engine with remote gearbox?

On the other hand: we still have the question of the tall type brake master cylinder. And if You inspect the picture, there are quite some factory looking holes on the left inner wing. There might have been a servo.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20518

On the earliest pics ('91ish) our car had no strenghtening member for the slam panel. I thought it was cut of, but I have recently found some cars with no stiffners. Can it be original?



The second picture I found on the net. Aussie Cooper 997from '64.

The remote gearshift is a bit more “sporty” and gives more support to the engine. Nearly every 998 and bigger engine had the remote shift so it’s pretty common to swap from the 850 shifter when putting in a bigger engine

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They all had a slam panel support brace. Sometimes people would cutoff the vertical brace to fit an oil cooler and not worry about refitting an angled brace.

I wouldn't be concentrating on the master cylinders too much as they can be easily swapped. Same for the tail lights because it was very common for people to fit clubby tail lights to round noses in the 70s.

Anybody can identify any of these parts? They might not be original though.