Removed the headlining today ('66 cooper S). In the Newton Commercial description for the new one, it says, "Mini saloons of this period had a two piece headlining frame with the canopy glued and stapled to them. Early cars had light grey material, but after 1962 all cars had the special Cream Crackle material. Included in the kit is a pair of "C" post panels and a piece of material to go under the rear window.These frames are no longer available, so make sure you keep them safe if not in the car during restoration."

When they refer to "these frames", do they mean the six metal ribs, or are there supposed to be additional frame pieces behind the pieces on the c-posts?

I have the six ribs, but the c-post panels just had the cardboard material behind them.

tx,
bmc

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

Hey! Look at that! I'm an 848cc now! Woo hoo!

bmc

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

my c posts on my 69 morris only had cardboard behind the lining and the 6 ribs

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1969 Blue Mini K, 1330cc, Weber 45, polished aluminum roll cage, Race seats, 4 point harness, full rewire incorporating 8 fuses, 6 relays and new headlights just needs tyres front shocks and a windscreen til re-register

Don't forget there is difference's in Australian Cooper S's to UK ones, trims were completley different between the 2 styles of cars.

Doogie

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I won Hay once, here's the pic to prove it..


Hay, it's not about the car, it's not about the venue, it's about the people that come here. Peter Dwyer, Mayor of Hay NSW.

Sure thing--so, was cream crackle the norm in '66 in Australia? Any metal ribs in the c-post panels in your car?

tx,
bmc

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

I'm sure in reading it for the 2nd time they only meant that the hood lining frames were unobtainium. There are no frames in any c-post panels. And as said above, any Australian mini with wind up windows will have the usual one piece hood lining.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

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

What they are talking about there is what we know here as the 850/997/998 cooper hood lining . It's a 2 piece (front and rear half) semi spring loaded frame that is covered with the hood lining material and sits higher in the roof than the later type you have . From memory the Mini Deluxe (1965) onwards had the hood bows arangement like you have and since it's Australian only it may well be different to what Newton Commercial has to offer . Nearly all of your cooper S trim will be different to Newton's as it was Australian sourced to meet the percentage of local content rule . I'll get some photo's shortly and post with the differences .

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That's what I eventually got to also; I think the "2-piece" meant one piece is the cloth (replaced) and one piece is the frame ribs (not replaced).

Should be fun. Man, can't wait to drive this car again, but looking forward to all the little projects in the meantime...

bmc

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

OK , this is the early type , you can see the join in the middle where the light is ,



And one out of the car with the frame ,




As I said , we stopped using them here around 1965 and then went to the later , one piece type which uses seperate metal rod hood bows . This one is in a 1970 Mini K but should be the same as what you have , notice how the hood lining comes down further than the 850 one .



If you are unsure of what trim yours orriginally had at any time just ask here as the Australian stuff was mostly different to the UK despite what UK people will tell you .

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Thanks for the photos. I think (based on the crap above the headlining) that the one I took out today may have been original. If I read your post right, the '66 would be the one piece, yes? And in cream crackle vinyl?

Thanks.
bmc

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

Yes , the 66 would have had the one piece hoodlining with seperate hood bows (no frame) , not sure of the correct vynil as I'm not a cooper s nut but someone else will be able to help out there .

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the material is different to what is referred to as cream crackle - my UK traveller has cream crackle, and it's a very different pattern to an aussie MK1 (including MK1 Cooper S, Mini Deluxe, later 850's - they all used the same stuff). I had a fairly good early roof lining, but binned it because it was a bit too fragile at the edges. Dad fitted one of the trims sold on ebay - it looks good, but I haven't actually looked at it closely to see the pattern

MK1 head lining material is different to MK2 material.

If the stuff that came out of your car doesn't have tears and damage, then re-use it, any discolouration can be painted with vinyl paint - my roof lining was repaired (he used two torn head linings to make one good one) and painted, and you wouldn't know it

it is really very difficult to get any trim items from UK that are 'correct' for an australian assembled car - like sports says, most of it was made out here, from locally sourced raw materials

I took some photos of the trims I have... excuse the darkness of the photos, the colours are all roughly the same

cream crackle (same on the 62 & 65 travellers I have/had) - looks like lots of little spider webs


MK1 - from my '66 panel van - looks like lizard skin


MK2 - from my '70 cooper S - kind of a woven look

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Thanks Simon.

My visors are the pattern you showed as cream crackle. The '66 had the lizard skin (and I say 'had' because it's now in many many pieces--it was super brittle), and the '70 has the woven pattern. So I'm guessing they were both original. Was it normal for the visors to be different than the headlining?

Is there a source for the mk1 linin in Australia these days?

tx,
bmc

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S