What was the release date for the Aussie cooper s ?

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That's why it's good to be.............ME

September 65 is all I have so far. I will see if I can find something better.

This one reckons Sep 65 (although registered in NSW as a 1966??)
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19372/lot/317/

The cams doc also have Sep 65 (I know there are other errors in there)
http://docs.cams.com.au/Motorsport/Hist ... -%20Nc.pdf

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I'm in the same boat as you.

The car in the Bonham's advert (car #505) is in the Cooper S register with a delivery date of August 1965, as is car #501.

As you'll see in the following BMC Press Release cars were being manufactured and delivered to Dealers by September 1965. In The Mini Experience Watto says Cooper S production started in August, with the model being released in September 1965.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

That is fantastic! "Special competition suspension units are fitted to give exceptional cornering at ultra high speeds"!

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Flute - 68 MK I Cooper S
Member: VMCI #2474
Member: International Mini Model Collectors Club

Excellent Press Release Doug.

The problem is working out the dates or what date you are after, there is pretty much three different choices.
1) The date they were released for sale to the public.
2) The date production commenced.
3) The date the first car was built.

It might look silly and think that choices 2 and 3 are the same but look at the Force 7 as a good example. Cars were built but production never commenced and they were never released to the public.

I had a good look at Car 505 a couple of years ago, it wasn't built in August 65.

Rebodied?

Re-plated.

From September 1965 BMC assembled local CKD Cooper 'S' Minis at Zetland and these cars differed slightly in having twin 50-litre fuel tanks, laminated windscreens and three point seatbelts.

Don't think they were 50 litre each tank

25 litre each tank

They weren't CKD either.

I agree.
They were basically a Deluxe shell that went down the line with the others, there was an ID tag or sticker that said it was an S, and various bits got put on/left off to achieve this.

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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.

The date they were released to the public for sale is what I am after.

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That's why it's good to be.............ME

I guess that the official date would be the date on the press release.

They had to build 100 by the time of the Armstrong 500 on the 3rd of October.

I haven't seen an official release date for the Cooper S like the famous 23rd March 1961 for the Australian Morris 850. The press release above is the closest thing I've found, but I'll keep looking through other company documentation. No doubt the public knew an Australian version of the Cooper S was coming and I suspect some customers would have placed 'an order' with their local dealership prior to September 1965. But I don't remember seeing mention of an embargo on releasing information or blacked out windows on dealerships with a specific unveil day like other models. It may have just appeared on sale once available.

... and some Dealers would've got preferential treatment on delivery over others.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

The August 65 Wheels article say the car is "still not generally released" (whatever that means)

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68 Morris Cooper S Mk1 (*ex 78 1275 LS 4th last built, 70 Morris 1500 OHC & 70 MiniMatic)