What is the last Mk1 S Aust built chassis #, including the M1&1/2's?

Regards

Daniel

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I don't actually want the number, maybe just an idea of last 10 or 100, as in ##?? or ###? instead of ####

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I've found it, 5486 ta

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See what happens when nobody answers you - you become self reliant

Yeah, I thought I'd be clever/lazy but ended up searching and presto....

Now I've just got to determine if its an ex-police (The one I'm checking details on), many friends in the mini community think it may be due to the holes here and there....I'm not that concerned but would be nice to know, surely the cops would have a dbase to find out?

Daniel

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I would be very suprised if those data details survived. Remember its pre computer days (yeah I know - they had computers but keeping car body numbers was not high on the priorities).

What holes where - I had an ex-police special and had a bit to do with others at that time.

A few in the Dash panel that confirm with others that I've been told about. I don't plan on painting it the original colour, shale green, unless people think it may be worth (more) restoring to original??

Does anyone have a pic inside a police spec? Like showing the gauges etc mounted? Are they worth more as a police car, or less as most were thrashed within an inch and beyond?

Daniel

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Daniel
I would say that a good restoration of a police mini in the police mode would create quite a bit of interest.

Watto has done a story on the police mini's (I think) and much of it is steeped in myth as much as fact. Sourcing the right bits might be the hard part as the Police auction off parts like radios as they become reduntant.

Grant Freeman has an original police speedo mounted in his mini which he chanced upon in a guage reconditioning shop in Sydney. Others may also have one lying around.

The holes on the side are for the fire extinguisher, others are for the radio and auxillary speedo. God knows where you find a sun screen these days.

www.autocables.com.au

Point of error Mr Chairman.

The last Mk1 Cooper S was #5486.

The last Mk2 Cooper S was #2919.

So, are you saying you have found the last Mk1 Cooper S built? Is it verified? Would love more info.

We heven't done our feature on the police Minis as yet - that is planned for
Issue 11, due out in mid-June 2007. Any information appreciated.

I will be trying to find detailed info on chassis numbers, etc, if available. Have found some info on the 2 only Cooper S used by Victoria Police, but little info so far on the 400 or so used in NSW, and others. Hopefully, all will be revealed in the magazine.

Cheers,
Watto.

I found the number in another thread, not the actual car, mine is 52## so is March 69 or so, not the last one. I knew it was very late Mk1, but wasn't sure how close, hence my Q regarding the last ones number.

Daniel

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[quote="Mike_Byron"]I would be very suprised if those data details survived. Remember its pre computer days (yeah I know - they had computers but keeping car body numbers was not high on the priorities).

What holes where - I had an ex-police special and had a bit to do with others at that time.[/quote]

G'day Mike

I apologise for contacting you like this out of the blue ... I've been on ausmini for a year now ... and at one point I thought I had an ex-police mk II ... then I read Watto's article in TME ... and thought, hmmm no ... and THEN while checking the clutch pedal clevis pin I noticed that UNDER THE DASH there is some light blue paint ... and to me this is a pretty convincing sign that the original paint was light blue ... having spoken to the preivous owner some 15 years ago, he said that when he got the car is was HAND PAINTED in the current GTO green ... so the chances of this car being originally GTO green is pretty slim ... also I have spoken to a few copper mates of mine who indicated the old police coopers were a light blue in colour ... particularly in NSW ... and finally, yes this car has holes in the heater for a CB microphone and holes under the dash (passenger side) for a CD radio ... but thats about it for tell tale marks ... the engine is stock cooper s MK II ... I'm about to go out and check the seat heights ... but I thought I'd drop you a line and get your thoughts on the matter ... you seem to have a bit of knowledge in the area ... and so I appreciate any pearls of wisedom you could send my way.

Cheers, Simon

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Simon

Well that has dredged up a lthread from the past.

Have you read Watto's story in TME ??

The more Watto researched the story the more he changed his mind on a few things. However, the NSW Mini Cooper S's used by the police were a variety of colours. Essentially unmarked highway patrol cars. They were browns, greens, yellows, red, the same colours that were being used for the ordinary non police minis.

They had things that did characterise them such a driving lights, an aerial mounted mid roof, A mesh sunvisor across the top of the windscreen and a big burly body that virtually filled the cabin of the car.

You have to appreciate, by 1970, just how popular and how many minis were on the road at that time. They were women's cars, teenagers cars and sporting enthuisasts cars. The police mini was policed owned for 30,000 miles (or three months) and sold at auction so there was lots of ex-police minis on the roads.

Those with keen eyes would have spotted a police mini a mile away but the greater majority of motorists didn't and the police coopers simply melted into the traffic amongst all the other non police minis. It would have absolutely counter revenue productive to paint police highway patrol cars police blue.

In the early days some non cooper minis were used a general duties cars by the NSW police and these were painted police blue and carried police markings and a fixed flashing blue light. They weren't very popular or practical as general duties cars and didn't stay on the police force for long.

Mike

Mike Byron wrote:





Actually in my article in TME I pointed out that in fact the police continued to use Minis up to around 1970, and possibly weven with the release of the Clubman series. The flashing lights were not introduced across all police vehicles until at least 9 September 1967, so many police Minis before that date would not have had lights or sirens. The General Duties cars also started out light grey, and later became light blue.

That's getting away a little from the original concept of this thread though, which was more about how many Cooper S were built, how many police Cooper S there were, and what is their value.

As my research revealed, quite surprisingly I have to admit, there were at least 1,000 Police Cooper S used by the NSW Police alone, plus two in Victoria and an unknown number in the ACT. According to a Leyland press release, dated 29 July 1971, "The N.S.W. Police Force yesterday took delivery of its 1,000th Morris Cooper S for high speed pursuit work".

As there were only a total of 7,404 Cooper S made in Australia, around 1 in 7 (14%) were used by the police.

How that affects the value of the police Cooper S is debatable, but in order for a suspected ex-police Mini to be of greater value than a non-police Mini, its history needs to be able to be confirmed by some sort of paper trail. Some people are lucky enough to have original log books listing the NSW Police as the original owner, or purchase dockets from police auctions, or even, in at least one known case, to have an original police service record for a particular car, but these are rare cases.

A few people have 'confirmed' their car was used by the police, through discussions with former police officers, but this is at best circumstantial evidence. For the most part, without any paperwork proof, all you can do is make an educated guess about a car's authenticity through looking at the various tell-tale signs, as detailed in my article.

And remember, not all police Cooper S had sun visors or driving lights, and apparently not all lowered seat frames or centre-mounted aerials, but all should have had reversing lights and hand-brake warning lights. And there was certainly a variety of colours used.

Cheers,
Watto.

Simon,

In case you aren't aware lowered frame front seats for Police Minis (SPO 16) was discussed in a thread last year, including photos:
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic ... seat+frame

As Watto said you should also have reversing lights (switch on the front of the gearbox in place of the reverse detent plug and twin filament globe holders for the rear turn indicators) and handbrake warning light (red light on the instrument panel and fabricated switch bolted to the handbrake - see photos below).



Mine also has holes in each rear storage bin but I've yet to confirm absolutely that these are Police related. Please, if anyone has a verified ex-NSW Police MK II S I'd love to get feedback on any holes you have (if you'll pardon the language!), especially in the bins. I also have three small holes (circled in the photo) under the parcel shelf on the passenger side which may be for the radio - does anyone else have these?




Doug