Ok, I have a genuine question that others might also want to know the answer to and I was hoping this would be a more constructive thread.

I have the 1st edition of this book and want to know what changes have been made.

How do I check what changes have been made to the first edition? Does one need to buy the second edition or is there a website to list the changes so I can handwrite the updates or can one print off the amendments? Is there any technical support for customers?

I have 2 reasons for asking.

1. I would like to have a more accurate book to refer to.
2. I would like to recommend changes for mistakes that I have come across but unsure if they have already been fixed.




Here is an example from page 103

The YG2S6 car numbers in late 1972 were in the 1300s and engine numbers were in the 3500s. But page 103 has alot of these mixed up. The difference between car and engine numbers are very noticeable because the 1000 engine was shared over the YG2S6 and YJBAV6R.

Quoting engine numbers as car numbers increases the production numbers.

Below is one of the last YG2S6 ADR plates in 1/73 and is YG2S6 1424. However page 103 has quoted YG2S6 2296 in 1/72 and YG2S6 3569 in 9/72.

I looked at the critical review for suggested changes on page 103 but didn't see any changes to the engine/car numbers suggested by Mr Cripps. Either the changes have been made in the second edition or Mr Cripps has not looked at this area of concern as yet.

Can anyone confirm if page 103 the second edition still has car numbers YG2S6 2296, YG2S6 3256, YG2S6 3356, YG2S6 3569 listed or are they now 1000 2296, 1000 3256, 1000 3356, 1000 3569

Bye

_________________
Enjoy your Mini
Regards
John Sneddon

Happy to be proved wrong if you have ADR plate evidence of 1972 cars in the YG2S6 3000s.

You can't just blindly quote factory documents or parts books without doing your due diligence.

I thought the above questions were fair and my evidence was enough to question your quoted car numbers.

Brad, I can confirm that I have not reviewed individual serial numbers through most of the pages of Mr Sneddon's book, nor have I reviewed the time lines and tables - although I can see many errors in those also. As for the page in question, in my second edition (which I've now disposed of), the serial numbers for YG2S6 go from (in increasing date order), 2296, 1277, 2296, 1049, 3569. 1390, 889, 1345 and 3256 during 1972. Quite a few problems there it would seem. I am not aware of any technical support, web site, or other corrections updates (except for my own) for Mr Sneddon's book. However, I am aware of his public invitation to provide comment so I suppose he will welcome your comment in due course as stated. Regards, Tony

Thanks for the reply eightfifty. Its much appreciated. I would just like to have an accurate book to refer to and for others to quote. It just appears that any constructive criticism or suggestions with evidence which differs from what is in the book is shot down. I am not sure where to go from here. There might be hundreds of mistakes with dates and numbers incorrect and the mini community will be quoting this "bible" for many decades to come with incorrect information. I just picked one page and it has a dozen things that don't look right to me and warrant further investigation.



Rialto - Here is some more information to support my comments. Lets just focus on the first entry for page 103. It says YG2S6 2296 is a Jan 1972 car. I believe the cars were only at the mid 850s in Jan 1972 and the engine numbers were around the 1000-2500s.

Dec 1971 = YG2S6 791
Jan 1972 = 1000-2504
Jan 1972 = YG2S6 853, 1000-2524
Feb 1972 = 1000-2603






I have used 2 vans as part of my evidence this time because they used the same 1000 series engine. You may have more YG2S6 passports to service to compare with. Do you have any evidence other than the quoited numbers in factory documants or parts books?

Edits. added support documentation

GTOGREEN, your question is one that I and several other guys I know would like to know the answer to.

_________________
1965 MK1 English Morris Cooper S (Downton)
1967 MK1 Morris Cooper S
1972 Clubman GT (6/72 Cadiz)
1968 MG Midget

When quoting factory documents the date given can be for a car built that month or month or 2 prior.

The engine number can be one already fitted to a car or highlighting a change to a powerplant which could be fitted to a car a month or 2 later.

Add this to the mixups with quoting engine numbers as car numbers they also quote body cum numbers as car numbers.

To have an accurate book you need to compare the factory information with other hard evidence like ADR plates, passports to service and purchase documents. You also need to look at any other car types quoted in the same document to help assist in dating the change points.

I would agree but one can be misled by post-manufacture data such as identification plates, compliance plates, owner and service documentation. There are three main concerns with this approach.

1. There are of course many mistakes made in these documents as you’ve described and one has to tread carefully.
2. Limited data. The factory made tens of thousands of cars in the Mini and Moke range, but observational data for only a few thousand are available.
3. Over-confidence leading to incorrect conclusions. A typical example is Mr Sneddon’s assumption that Car Serial Numbers for Moke from 501 to 7999 (Page 203) were assigned to the Mini Van, because he couldn’t find any plates for Mokes in his data in that range with a prefix YJBAB.

My area of interest is mainly pre-production data, but both views would add to a better picture. If you Brad would like to prepare a book on your observational data, I’d be happy to review it or add to it as best I can.