i believe there are three greens that the engine came out with. one is a light, almost metallic green, the second is a deep dark green like dorothy has and the third is a dark green with a bit of a brown tint to it, it looks almost like a deep olive green. i may be wrong though.

Yes you are right about the colours Marcello . The Mk1 Cooper S came out in August 1965 with the Light Metallic Green coloured engine , supplied by Berger Paints , code CP8689 . The early 850's where painted Brunswick Green as Steve suggests . Just wondering if anyone knows when the changeover point was from the Dark Green to the Light Green , as my 1964 850 is an Aus one , as against the earlier 1961 to 1963 English 850's. Perhaps all the Aus ones where painted the Light Green ??? But then when was the changeover from English to Aus , must have been sometime between 1963 - 1964 , anyone know ???

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1965 Morris 850
1966 Morris Mini Minor
1967 Morris Cooper 'S'
1977 Leyland LS

I think it might have something to do with Australian engine production...the darker came from UK whether it be Austin or Morris and maybe the Aussie engines started using the new colour.....I could also be delusional

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"Show me the Mini!"

Aussie MORRIS 850s were dark green



Austin minis more kaki



mini deluxe including MKII deluxe/mini K 64 to 69 metalic beige



Cooper S metalic green god knows the dates for them

Steve

I have the original engine out of the 63 850 (engine number matches plate) and it is blue !!! no sign of green anywhere yet I remember my 64 850 being light green

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

My '61 850 's original engine was dark green. When I got it back in `64.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Thanks guys for all the info , and thanks for the pics Steve . Anyone else have a 1964 Morris 850 out there ??? From what I can gather with all the comments , and having viewed a few Morris 850's yesterday , engine colour seems to have been dark green from 1961 thru to 1964 , when the change to light green occured sometime , possibly mid to late 1964 ????? This would be around the same time I guess that aus production started . In which case probably not a lot of Morris 850's got the light green engine , as Mini Minor production started in 1965-66 . Does anyone know approx date of aus production starting ??? It seems also that the earlier Dark Green engines also got the Morris plate rivetted to rocker cover , whereas the later Light Green ones have the sticker .........cheers

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1965 Morris 850
1966 Morris Mini Minor
1967 Morris Cooper 'S'
1977 Leyland LS

So what is the story with the Blue painted engines?........are they reco'd or something, all the 850 motors i have sitting here have been painted blue and i can't find any trace of green on them.

I have a spare red one and a black one ..........must have been re-painted at some stage I guess ............

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1965 Morris 850
1966 Morris Mini Minor
1967 Morris Cooper 'S'
1977 Leyland LS

I've never seen any Morris engine (from Aust) that wasn't a variation of the greens, I would think that it was a reconditioned engine perhaps.

I am with you guys, I would give my Mk2 up in a flash for my original 63.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

a guy i know has a tin of the austin engine green that he was trying to sell. i was about to get it but i realised that is was the wrong colour so if any one is interested, let me know. where do people get there engine paint from? do you paint the engine before or after assembly? how do you gey the correct shade in a heat proof paint? is it just 2pak?

hey AJ my 850 is a sixty three but was first registered in sixty four. i once met a guy who lived near me who had a porcelin green 850. his body number was 2 cars after mine from but he had the later body style with the cut outs in the front apron. he also had the aussie style bootlid. he reckons when he got the car, he bought it off the old lady who swore it had never been touched and she had it since new. all the build dates on my car suggest it is a very late, 1963 850. i guess it could be one of the last english style 850s around and that the change was at the end of 1963. i bet i will hear a bunch of people saying they have a later one though without the cut outs and the english bootlid though, i could be wrong but i know for a fact, my car is 100% original.

A mate of mine has a non restored 63 850, it is yellow, and only has 11000 genuine miles on the clock, the only thing we had to do to it since it was last registered back in the late 70's was change oil, resleave clutch cylinder and adjust the brakes. It is absolutely amazing. It is not registered and the owner has no plans to register it. i want to buy it but they wont sell. I will put pics up tomorrow.

Ryan

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Ryan Filippi
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

cant wait to see the pictures.

me too

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