Of course the 970 is a Cooper S, not a Cooper, but certainly a rare beast.
Ron Williams in Tenterfield has an immaculate 1071S and also built a 970S (one of the best restos I've ever seen) but sold that shortly after it was finished.
As far as I'm aware no 970Ss were imported at the time to race, and those that are here (not many to be sure) were private imports at a later date - ie: recently. But, of course, I could be wrong on this and would love to find one that was imported for racing in the '60s.
There are a few 1071Ss in the country, but as most (all?) were imported for racing, prior to the release of the 1275S here, they have had a hard life.
Keith Wright in Sydney has a 1071S that has been recently restored. Keith's standards are VERY high and, although I haven't seen this one in the flesh, I'm told it is a fantastic job and very accurate.
Back in August 2000 Mini Magazine (UK) I did a story on John Hoade in northern NSW who bought a 1071S from a dealership after the 1275 had been released (with the bigger engine available they couldn't sell the 1071 and did it for a very good price).
After running it for a couple of years he sold it off in pieces - body to one person, engine to another and the interior to a young guy doing up a Mini.
20 years later he bought back the original body and traced down the original engine and interior (it's a close knit family in Mini circles) and reunited the main parts to again form the original car!
Anyway, back to the Cooper, the 997cc is the rarest and most sought after. With 997cc engine parts being scarce, many have been changed over to 998cc. Peter Manton's first racing Mini was an 850 (which I believe was first raced at Tarrawingee near Wangaratta in 1961 - but again I could be wrong on this) but he soon switched to a 997cc Cooper, which really started off the whole Peter Manton/Mini phenomenon. That 997cc Cooper is still in Melbourne (owned by Keith Mackay) and we will be featuring it soon in The Mini Experience, with a tribute to Peter Manton.
Also, if you are buying a Cooper, be aware that many have been converted to Cooper S discs. The original Cooper has smaller disc brakes than the Cooper S and are not particularly good brakes - you do better with a good set of drums. So, check for the Cooper discs.
If you are looking at buying a Cooper, be careful about the engine. The build date is the most important to know which engine it should have - see previous post. You cannot tell this from the body number. The body number prefix for an Aussie Cooper is YKA 2S1 - for both engine sizes. According to the info I have, the body seriel numbers for both models began, as did all Aussie BMC models, at 501, but it is not explained if the 998 continued on from where the 997 finished (which would make sense if the prefix is the same) or if they went back to 501 (which would mean two cars with identical chassis numbers for a whole heap of cars - not much sense in that then).
The engine number prefix for 997cc Cooper is 9F/SA/L and for early 998cc Cooper is 9F/SA/H. However, the last 998cc Coopers (I don't know how many) were fitted with Australian-built 998cc engines, similar to the Mini De Luxe engine but built to Cooper specs, and has the engine number prefix of 9YSAH.
Now, a 998cc engine from a Mini De Luxe will have prefix of 9YA/Ta/H, so check that the Cooper hasn't just had a De Luxe motor fitted.
Engine prefix for 1275 Cooper S is 9F/SA/Y - so yes it does get a bit confusing.
If you know the build date and the colour (or at least the approx colour) you will be able to get an exact colour match for repainting, once you have the correct colour code. We can help a little here, as we will be doing a series of one-page articles over the next few issues on BMC/Leyland colour codes and colour charts in TME. Otherwise, you can email me the details of the car and I can (probably) give you the correct details.
As for numbers produced in Aus, I can?t help either, but if anyone knows it would be Stephen Dalton. I will PM you with his email address as soon as I find it.
Cheers, Watto.
