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PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 6:46 pm 
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The original owner of my first Surf Blue '67 S was a guy in the Navy based in Sydney. The car was registered in NSW and had no flares. When I bought it in '69 it was registered in SA and had flares fitted to cover the Hunter and Delbridge wheels.

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1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 8:01 pm 
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The August 1969 issue of the BMC Parts & Accessories Division Newsletter announced the fitting of the wing extension to production Cooper S's and their availability as an approved BMC Accessory.

Out of interest, the flares and backing strips for use on the production line were exactly the same as those issued by P&A as accessories, except the accessory backing strips had a metal preservative coating. Oh, and they had different part numbers.

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NL105 p03.jpg


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:03 pm 
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Location: Camden
The legal reaction to slightly wider wheels/tyres in the 1960s had a lot to do with peoples' concerns about minis. People who lack the required amount of grey hair/no hair at all/ don't understand how radical the mini & Cooper S were in the 1960s. In recent years we have seen WRXs, Evos, Skylines and V8s as fast cars, but their performance is just incremental. The Cooper S and all the modified Deluxes in those days were a complete standout in a class of their own in speed and handling.
They were driven aggressively and were a 'hoon' car of their age. The wheel/tyre issue was partly a "got you on a technicality" reaction.


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:44 pm 
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As Bill says, the Mini was a breath of fresh air performance wise.
`slightly wider'?? haha. Back in the mid 60s I used to split Mini wheels and widen them for Parramatta Speed shop. Non-S wheels were all 3.5" stock.
5.5", and 6" widies were common. Early days we welded bands in with 2 stick welds (no tubeless tyres used then). Later we would offset split an outer rim and weld that on (1 stick weld).
No 165/70-10s in the 60s, we used to s-t-r-e-t-c-h 145/10s over a 6" wide rim. rofl... :)

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:08 pm 
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Bill B wrote:
The Cooper S and all the modified Deluxes in those days were a complete standout in a class of their own in speed and handling.
They were driven aggressively and were a 'hoon' car of their age. The wheel/tyre issue was partly a "got you on a technicality" reaction.


You lost me at hoon car Bill...a sweeping overstatement IMHO...many of them were driven sensibly and often by enthusiasts or car club members.

It was a different time, where sports cars were more popular then today and the Cooper S was certainly considered a sports car, and it attracted the inevitable higher insurance premiums which is why a lot of them were hard to move from car yards.

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:33 am 
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I drove the friggin wheels off mine. I recall one drive from Brookvale to Palm beach. Dicing at the lights 5 minis abreast. Me, Danny Burke, Andrew Bergan, Chris Adlam, Skinny, and that guy that I can't recall who used to fight a lot and is probably in gaol.
Best hoon days of my life.

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1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 11:38 am 
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The only time I've ever had "wheel" problems was with my MkII many years ago. Despite standard wheels (how rare is that on an 80s Mini??) the local inspector claimed the front wheel track was over spec and refused to provide a pink slip. When I objected he dragged out some ancient RTA publication that listed the specs for the 850.

Some not so friendly discussion followed. I left without paying for his "inspection" after inviting him to the local copshop to discuss the matter..

Otherwise, I've been driving my S (and Traveller with an S front end) for over 30 years with 165 tyres and no flairs. Not once has this been questioned by either the RTA or the local fuzz..

Cheers, Ian


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:07 pm 
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low n blown wrote:
I drove the friggin wheels off mine. I recall one drive from Brookvale to Palm beach. Dicing at the lights 5 minis abreast. Me, Danny Burke, Andrew Bergan, Chris Adlam, Skinny, and that guy that I can't recall who used to fight a lot and is probably in gaol.
Best hoon days of my life.


Agree with the above statement, we had 4 Cooper S's in our little circle of friends back in the 60's and 70's, from what I recall they all were driven very very hard, they were always pulling big revs where every we went. There seemed to be a big difference in performance between the cars we had when they were stock, the car on the right, ADO374 was so much faster and all together a lot sweeter motor than the other 3. Two of us were in the army at the time (National Service) and ADO374 used to do the Melbourne/Sydney run on a regular basis, remember there were no speed limits then, and we did the run non stop in 8 1/2 hours (no freeways then just the old Hume Hwy). We also wound ADO374 off the clock down the old 'Pretty Sally' hill on the old Hume Highway with 4 National Service guys in the car. (Stupid stuff now I am older but different times then).
Attached is an old pic, there were only 3 of the 4 cars there that day, mine is the Mk1 on the left with the dealer fitted flairs.

Image


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:43 pm 
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No one I knew ever drove them "sensibly". The Cooper S was a hot rod that would outrun almost anything, and in the wet even better. The MGB and EH Holden boys were left for dead. Things only really started to change towards the end of the '60s when the first mass V8s came along, then the XU1s and the fast Japanese cars started arriving.

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1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 9:15 pm 
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Drewie's photo is a stunner - really captures that period. So many great comments and great memories from a simple question!
Bill


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:03 pm 
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thanks very much for all your info and stories guys. very interesting. I hope this helps others too.

matt


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:03 pm 
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Location: Under the bonnet son!
I love that image Drewie!

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:16 pm 
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Thanks 'Bill B' and 'Mick', they were good times and we had a lot of fun back then in our Minis, I have heaps of memories both good and bad, but not a lot of photos apart from a few black and white snaps.
They were amazing little cars and real giant killers in their day.


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:31 pm 
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Drewie wrote:
Thanks 'Bill B' and 'Mick', they were good times and we had a lot of fun back then in our Minis, I have heaps of memories both good and bad, but not a lot of photos apart from a few black and white snaps.
They were amazing little cars and real giant killers in their day.

Same for me, Drewie, but in a 1969 MK II Cooper S.

Lot's of fun ... :D
... some incredible adrenalin rushes ... :shock:
... and almost no photos. :(

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:50 pm 
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cool stories... :)

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