ok.... I've no doubt this has been asked before but......

what does as SS have as standard equipment? how would I tell if an SS was real or not?

Just a thought - I saw a similair thread on LS equipment levels - perhaps this warrents a sticky if there is some sort of consensus on equipment levels

cheers

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'62 Morris 850 (Marion)
'65 Mini Delux - sleeper 1275/S discs (Ms Plum)
'69 Vanden Plas Princess 1300
'71 Wolseley 1300
'74 Austin 1300 Countryman
'94 XJ6 Sport 3.2
'04 Rover 75 CDTi

A Mini SS will have a compliance plate stamped with Mini SS. Everything else is pretty much bolt on and transferrable except that there will be another bracket for the extra horn that is welded on. Normal Clubbies only have one horn so only have one bracket.

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66 Deluxe, 07 Cooper

The chassis number on the SS is unique to the SS.
The seventh digit is 3. (The LS is 4)

So if it has a 1 or a 2 it can be a Mini or a Mini S or a Sunshine, a 3 is SS and a 4 is an LS.

As for what equipment the SS had as standard, we have a full feature on the SS and LS in the next issue of The Mini Experience.

Only two colours available - Omega Navy metallic and Nutmeg metallic.

Only 500 produced. No idea of the breakdown between colours though.

Cheers,
Watto.

This will pacify you until the next copy of TME comes out Kevan ,



Watto , how concrete is the 500 as I have a couple of old newsclippings here , one says 300 and the other says 500 , did they atart saying 300 and then increase to 500 or did a journo stuff up somewhere at the launch ?

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Hey Ian,

I love your weights on the corner of the poster.

I've just started reading Clany's Crossing - got a copy from a local 2nd-hand book shop.

Still haven't found a copy of Bet your Life though.

Cheers,
Watto.

I thought I'd seen that before Ian - should have known it was yours I guess

so........... I would be right in assuming the SS was born with a 998? and drums?

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'62 Morris 850 (Marion)
'65 Mini Delux - sleeper 1275/S discs (Ms Plum)
'69 Vanden Plas Princess 1300
'71 Wolseley 1300
'74 Austin 1300 Countryman
'94 XJ6 Sport 3.2
'04 Rover 75 CDTi

In a nutshell yes , it was a special limited edition to boost sales , a "Super S" so to speak , under the extra's listed in the poster above it was a standard 998 drum braked mini S .

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The idea was to create extra sales and use surlpus parts at the same time.
I love the way that they could make a new model without the expense of new badges. Just whack on an extra S and you have an SS.
It was such a success that they could afford to tool up for the "L" for the LS. (maybe they were running out of S's too quick )

Watto, I can lend you a copy of Bet your life if you like.

I thought it was bootful of right arms you were looking for watto not bet your life ? Bet your life isn't one of Evan Greens better novels but still worth reading , I've got bet your life I can send if you want to read it as well .

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Yes please!

But I am reading Clancy's Crossing at the moment, so wouldn't be finished with Bet Your Life for a few weeks, if that's OK.

Cheers,
Watto.

It`s been said (back in the day) that the vinyl rooves were only fitted to the SSs because a whole batch of them were left outside in a hale storm, totally rooting most of the rooves (roofs?) & hence to reason for the vinyl covering... I`m not an actual witness to the fact but that`s how the story went when i was a young fella in the middle of all the new SS mini hype.

Anyone got any hard evidence or know anyone who was actually there at the time???

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Yeah , watto was able to debunk that one by talking to someone high up in Leyland at the time . It must be only a regional myth that one , I'd never heard it before joining here .

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I had heard the story before and have seen an SS with the hail dents under the vinyl.
There were a few big storms in Sydney in those years and a lot of cars in dealers got damaged. I don't know if Leyland at Enfield got hail damage but my dad had a depot just up the road and it got hit in those storms.

The Ford factory at Homebush got clobbered in one big storm just before the Laser came out. They had all the build up stock sitting outside waiting for the release and then they had to write them off!