My guess is around August 68.
I base this on an average of the total number of cars built divided by the number of months they produced them.
It is rough and ready but it seems to work within a month or two.

The reasons I think It is 1967
has the older style wipers which park on the driver's side, Not to Many 1968 models with the wipers parking on driver side, this usualy indicates wiper
posts close together on flat scuttle panel
and has full length hydro pipe covers under the car 1967saw the introduction of the full length covers,
So I am not saying it cannot be a 1968 Model but if it is I will be
Morris 1100 Is very Very good at this, So I could well be wrong

_________________
" A Hundred Years From Now It will not Matter what my Bank Acount Was,
The Sort Of House I Lived in, Or The Kind Of Car I drove ... But The World May Be A Better Place
Because I was Once Important In The Life Of A Child"

John, I don't have a date for the change of the wiper motor but I do have the change point for the car numbers for the Cooper S and the Deluxe.
There is a bit of info around for Cooper S build dates and it looks like the changeover was around May 68. (my Cooper S is car 4028 and it should be the second last car with the old pattern)
So now I'm going to contradict myself and say that going by the wiper motor numbers it looks like this Deluxe was built in April 68.

But I could be wrong! I am only basing this on stuff I have found and have no really accurate figures.

"So my questions are:
Is it definitely the Mini Deluxe I've always said it is? ..."

If you say so.

Is it possible to establish month and year (it's one of the questions on their form)?

But they have no idea so its whatever you say (want it) to be..

Would it definitely have had a body plate fitted?

More importantly... who cares - tell them it didn't - they have no data either way.. (as I understand it - some didn't??)

The important point being that the experts can't really say - and motor registry certainly ain't that... If they say you MUST have a plate then get one.... they will have no more idea then you what should be stamped on it.

If they ask for something I can't/choose not to provide, I just tell them mine is a UK import (which does happen to be true) but they don't know that / have no way of finding out... and it makes them happy.

Cheers, Ian

Wow, what a great thread!
I got it passed this morning.
The inspector didn't care much for the date - he ended up asking me what month and year I would like it to be - so I said 1/68.
I showed them to a thick Leyland workshop manual which states that some cars were produced without build plates, and I suggested that my car may be one of those.
So in the end they just wanted to hear about the car's history as I knew it, and didn't even want to put a plate on it.
It also turns out that their "compehensive" database only kicked off in 2003, so the earlier the registration history of a car is before that point, the less chance there is that they will have knowledge of it. As such, the burden of proof seems to shift to the owner - "we don't have an electronic record of that car, so you need to satisfy us of where the car has been and when/where it was last registered.". As such, it cost me $45 (and 3-5 hours of my time) to establish the car's identity!
My Dad also has a passport to service - will post those details here.
Thanks everyone.

_________________
'68 Deluxe w/Metro engine

XC9000 - it was maroon when I got it.

_________________
'68 Deluxe w/Metro engine

Sorry Matt, Special Burgundy was applied in both 67 & 68. http://www.ozcooper.com.au/paint_codes.htm

An interesting thread ~ it brings out the knowledge base. All grist to the mill.

Please you had no hassles with the rego.

And in summary - Ian 1071 S has made his point.
(And aside from this thread he'd better be planning to come to the MITG SnS or else!!! )

_________________
..still waiting for the Italian Job sequel to see if the bus went down

31795 is March is March 1968 - I have a copy of the original documents for this car.
If you would like a copy send me your email address to [email protected] and I will forward same.

_________________
John Sneddon
0408 431 807
1963 Morris Cooper
1965 Morris 850
1968 Morris Cooper S

We really should try and archive all the known selling dates. They are a good indication of the earliest a car might have been made. Some cars did sit around for months waiting to be sold but some did.

Your number 31795 ties in fairly well with my wiper motor dates and helps make my earlier production average guess look silly!

Damn I'm confused now so if 31795 is March 68 would that make mine 300xx a 67 now? How many did they make on avg per month?

CJ

The average based on the dates and numbers from BMC works out at about 780 a month, but in line with dates from handbooks and the wiper motor changeover I think it really could be as high as 900 a month (The Morris 850 works out at 1003 a month)
Using the car number and date that John Sneddon posted it works out at 883 a month.
So Womble, your car might have been made 2 months earlier.

Lol cheers Morris 1100. I will see what the oracles at Transport SA come up with. All going well I should be taking it in either next week or the week after.

CJ

One of my Dad's cars is 33015 and has a wiper motor (almost certainly the original one) stamped 04/68.

His other car is 27568 and has a wiper motor (again, believed to be the original one) stamped 10/67.

All of this talk about dates, stamps and plates has got my wondering - what online registers exist of minis in Australia - any?

Would there be some merit in setting up a wikipedia style databse for owners to fill out themselves? Many of the fields could be optional, for those who don't like the idea of certain info being online.

Matt

_________________
'68 Deluxe w/Metro engine

In the 1990s the MCCNSW produced a list of Cooper Ss manufactured in Australia. This has been further developed in four locations, JH in Brisbane, PO in ACT, Watto and another bloke in vic and myself.

We have now about 600 of the 7405 constructed.

In fact we have 390 (out of 4986) Mk1s & 281 Mk2s (out of 2419), so we have a long way to go. The idea is that when (& if) we get to 1,000 ID'd, Watto prints the register in the BMCE.

Disappointingly, some time ago I made a call on ausmini to all to provide the MCS details by PM to increase the list and it met with receiving two positive responses clearly demonstrating that owners are very precious about revealing numbers. we were frankly flabbergasted at the negative responses in consideration that you can go to a show with the bonnets of the cars up and photograph or take down the relevant numbers and other detail.

The register has about 30 Coopers, and a dozen M850s, with a handful of others (Deluxes, MMMs). David Rosenthal on another thread could take the lead on the 850s, see the thread in mini chat: sports 850s and 850 mini register for details. last post was me on 30 Dec 12. http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic ... hlight=850

JH in Bne would be another bloke to get the 850 register going. PM me and I will provide you what I have on ate fiddies but firstly with JH's permission.

_________________
..still waiting for the Italian Job sequel to see if the bus went down

XC9000,
I'm starting to get a sense of just how difficult the task is!
Aside from the poor takeup rate you mention, there is the issue of changes of ownership, errors, fakes, and goodness knows what else.
Nonetheless, a worthwhile task - and any data is better than none.

_________________
'68 Deluxe w/Metro engine