Hello all, I was hoping a few of you in the know could please answer a few questions relating to running changes and upgrades to standard equipment on the last of the Aus clubmans?

Aside from the different special editions which all had their own list of standard equipment (LS, Sunshine, 1275LS etc), what running changes were made to the Mini range in 1977 and 78?

The only major things I can think of are:
- The upgrade to dual circuit brakes and the addition of the Park Brake and Brake fail lights on the top dash panel. When did this occur? ?/77?
- The larger tombstone type seats ?/77?
- I've also noticed some later cars with additional warning lights on the instrument binnacle, an amber and red light in each corner. Any ideas what these would be for?


I was also wondering about the rear defroster / heated rear windscreen. Did these become standard equipment or were they only ever an option? I recall seeing several base model Minis and S's that have the rear defroster:

Did this become standard in the last few months of production? I remember when I had an old 1980 Mitsi sigma about 12 years ago and it didn't have a rear defrost so I assume this wasn't mandatory (ADR).

As for the 1275LS, would there be any chance that some of the components made their way onto the base or S clubmans? I.e. are there any late 78 Minis out there with the 7.5 gallon tank, cloth interior, discs etc?

Cheers in advance!

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Dave - 64 Nurburg White Morris 850 & 67 Morris Mini Deluxe (Bro's Car)
Previous Rides - 62 Morris 850 (Sold '03 - Now 'Lulu-62') & 76 Clubman S (Sold '99 - SFW-863)
+ Too many other classics

If he doesn't respond here send a PM to john sneddon. He's compiling a history of Australian Mini and Moke production and should be able to answer some of your questions.

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

They're on my LS (not sure if it's an LS only thing, doubt it?) but they're just duplicates of the Red and Orange lights for the ignition and oil. interestingly the original lights still work too, so there's 2 lights for each warning. ..hopefully that's supposed to be like that
There should also be a brake fail light and handbrake warning light on the top dash pad.

Cheers

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'78 LS 1275

I had one of the last 1275 LS (4th last actually) and it had the duplicated warning lights. I have seen and heard of others like this and believe the factory added them, unless it was some sort of recall program and dealers fitted them. I seem to remember that there must have been some concern that the normal lights were obscured by the steering wheel centre esp the sports wheel they fitted to the LS. Anyway the way Andy describes is exactly the way mine was.

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68 Morris Cooper S Mk1 (*ex 78 1275 LS 4th last built, 70 Morris 1500 OHC & 70 MiniMatic)

I believe the round lights in the plastic cluster holder are an LS thing only. As my 78 Leyland mini S had the green square type and a 77998LS I pulled down had the round ones.

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Thanks guys. So duplicated warning lights eh? That makes sense in a Leyland kind of way... I was wondering if they were warning lights for the defrost or fog lights but I think those switches light up anyway?

I just had a look at the accessories brochure in that section of the forum and from reading that it seems that you could have any LS options fitted to your standard or S mini as well. Plus there's always the chance that the cars I've seen have had them fitted sometime in the last 30+ years anyway.

Just noticed that this mini for sale is a 78 S and appears to have the rear defrost as well:
http://www.carsales.com.au/private/deta ... D-2685167/

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Dave - 64 Nurburg White Morris 850 & 67 Morris Mini Deluxe (Bro's Car)
Previous Rides - 62 Morris 850 (Sold '03 - Now 'Lulu-62') & 76 Clubman S (Sold '99 - SFW-863)
+ Too many other classics

My guess at a possible explanation is there may have been issues with customers cooking or siezing motors because those standard warning lights are not visible with the formula sports steering wheel fitted to LS and 1275LS.
Or they could foresee it being an issue.
Or there was a design rule that warning lights be clearly visible.

When the 1275Ls was released they had already decided that was the end of the mini in Australia so they wouldn't have considered redesigning the dash layout.

In fact that steering wheel was originally used on the Marina TC I think. So never intended for the Mini AFAIK.

The defogger and driving light switches lit up and although they are down in the centre cluster at least they are visible from the drivers seat.

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68 Morris Cooper S Mk1 (*ex 78 1275 LS 4th last built, 70 Morris 1500 OHC & 70 MiniMatic)

I had a povo pack 78 Leyland 998 with no tacho. I don't recall any extra warning lights on that, if that helps. The 76 S didn't have them either.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

The only modification I have listed thus far is on 1 January 1977 which is the fitting of hand brake warning light and brake fail warning light to comply with ADR (Australian Design Rules).
Is your vehicle a 022 prefix vehicle or a XNHAB prefix vehicle, the latter came into being in April 1978.
Look forward hearing from you.

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John Sneddon
0408 431 807
1963 Morris Cooper
1965 Morris 850
1968 Morris Cooper S

I have a Mini S build 9/77 with a 022 body prefix, only has the "park brake" & "brake fail" lights on the upper dash pad. It also has a triple instrument cluster but not repeater lights.
It is a bitsa but I've had the entire wiring loom out of the car and there is no "extra" wiring to accommodate the repeater lights!

Cheers Shane

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If it's not a Cooper S, the mini was designed to be modified!