Please bear with me …it’s a long post. Grab a coffee or beer or whatever?

I have recently purchased another Mk2 after a long wait and all I was looking for was a car for restoration. One came up that had been restored (somewhat with problems) but had original documents including the Dealer Handbooks, which was a big plus for me.

The car obviously was not he original colour that it was when purchased in 1970. It had been resprayed and all traces of the original colour missing. It was noted as being resprayed Tartan Red which from another ausmini post is a 1964 colour or thereabouts.
There were a number of things that I wanted to clean up about the car and the resto, which wasn’t the best and of course the history, which I always wanted to do with a Cooper S hence the handbooks.

After doing some initial research with the person I purchased the car from, I was frustrated with not being able to pin down the original colour details of my car. Wanting to get the car (one day) back to 'as original' as possible I did more searching.

A 'Minicraft' service sticker was still on the car so I decided to give the number a call. The lady who answered was very helpful and once the rego number was entered into the system ‘up popped’ the details and the last few years service history from when after it was 'restored'…..but importantly she had the original colour noted……

She quickly said that when it came to ‘them’ it was Camino Gold with White top. It was owned by a bloke who had it stored in a shed (as I knew) for 20+ years. The son had bought it ‘from dad’, restored it, didn't like the original colour and chose Tartan Red.

So a little bit more of the pieces fell into place. But was that the original colour??? It came to Minicraft in 2012-3?

Then thinking I could go a little further I looked up the original owners name from the Dealers Handbook and entered them into the White Pages. There were no Mr. K.B’s (name changed to protect the innocent !!) in Perth. There were 13 same surnames in WA but no Mr K.B. I then looked at where all the 13 same surnames lived with the closest one being about 100km from Perth. So I printed out the list of 13 names and numbers and started from the top based on how far away from Perth they lived.

The first one I rang was answered by a lady (‘old’ by her voice) and I thought to myself ‘this is not a good idea and could take a while!’. I quickly explained that I have a car that I am trying to find the history on and, as I said on the phone, “…have you or anyone in your family or anyone you know have owned a Mini in the early seventies???..

There was a short pause....Her response was “ Yes, my husband had a Mini, I will put him on the phone”……….I thought ‘BINGO…yes’

Mr K.B came on the phone and I explained the situation. He said ‘yes’ he bought a Cooper S after seeing it on display at a show in Perth in 1970 and was amazed that after 45 years someone was calling him up and also surprised it was still running!!!. ‘Does it have the same motor' was the first question he asked which worried me!!?

His stories and memory were great on the car. Where he travelled in it and with whom. It was like reliving a persons past through a car. He recalled many thing including the rego number…….He said it was UIP 263….my response was that the handbook ‘has it’ as VIP 263 and the previous owner had it as VIP 263 for 24 years and I have done the same.
He said maybe he was wrong but I could sense he knew that he was right. His support for that argument was that from ‘memory’ all cars in the early 70’s in WA started with ‘U’

We spoke for some time and he explained how long he had the car, what it was used for and how he traded it to a dealer for a Celica!. A dealer on Adelaide terrace in Perth. His memory was spot on. But it added another dimension since he traded it in 1975 yet the owner who did the resto said he bought it off the original owner in 1982. (Ok, more investigation work needed here.)

He has lots of photos and still some paperwork on the car. He said he will send it through........And of course he sent the original photos of the car outside his house in 1970+ with the rego as….yes, it was indeed UIP263 …..(ok, will have to get that fixed up one day, maybe for the second Mini...haha.- don’t tell the wife!)…….

We have since exchanged more info on the car. I have attached his photos for 1970-1972 (Poor quality)...he said it was a ‘mustard colour’ and white. He liked it as soon as he saw it he reckons. Then I did some more research. The car prior to shed storage was used for some off-road rallies/excursions which I will detail shortly. The photo attached shows it around 1992 with front bar and plate brackets gone.

The story continues…..as does the work and enjoyment.

Please share your own stories if you can or want too on the history of your car. I was very hesitant at first with ringing up strangers but in the end ‘everyone' (most) seemed pleased that I did, including me!!

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ex 1976 Mini 'S'
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - ex Police
ex 68 Morris Cooper S Mk1
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2
1970 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - '73 Bathurst replica
70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - under resto

Excellent detective work.
It would be great if everyone could trace their cars back to the original owner.

Plus it's a great colour to Camino gold

What an excellent story.

brilliant!

great to see another Camino Gold car - is it on the register? is the car number in the 228x range?

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

No its not a brother to yours. 2311

Top story mate shame your in qld and the original owner is in wa you could have taken it back to him to really re live his youth once you've finished it

Its fantastic when the history comes out. cars can have a life all of their own

I received an email over the weekend with this letter attached that i will share from the original owner as he wrote it. I think he was more excited about the car than i was in finding him. His
youth probably mirrors a lot of similar young people from that time. He has nine years on me but we did the same in the late seventies. I had my first Cooper S 1978 - 1983

Hi Mike,

I have been going down memory lane after you contacted me about my Mini Cooper S trying to remember as much detail as I can.

I purchased the mini in October 1970 after seeing it on display on the Winterbottoms stand at the Perth Royal Show September 1970, I think I liked the yellow because it was different to all the other Copper S's. I was 19 years old turning 20 in December. Winterbottoms showrooms were in Adelaide Tce Perth as shown on the front of manual folder, they had their service department in Subiaco. Oddly I don't remember much about going to their showroom or the purchasing process, ie. salesman, trade in etc.

I drove it almost exclusivly around Perth and suburbs doing what 20 year olds do, beach, parties, dating, drive-ins and generally cruising around. I can only remember going country in it once, after a Sunday session at the Kewdale Hotel on a long weekend, I broke the speedo cable testing the speed.

I don't have any records re selling it, but it would have been around 1975, from memory I traded it in for a secondhand Ford Falcon Stationwagon at City Toyota who were also located in Adelaide Tce, Perth at the time. I seem to remember the salesman telling me the car detailer at City Toyota was wanting to purchase the Mini Cooper
City Toyota are still operating in Perth (different location)

I don't remember any problems with it or how regular I had it serviced, l know it was serviced at Ilich Motors Canning Hwy, Como, I also had it serviced by Wayne Negus Motors in Welshpool once or twice and of course backyard tunes by me probably making it worse. Like most 20 year olds I did not keep records, invoices, rego papers etc. I don't recall any accidents, dents or major scratches.

The car was garaged at 91 South Tce, Como (the red brick house in the photo ) for the period I owned it.

My memories of owning and driving the Cooper S are all good and tippical of a 20 yo in the 70's and think back, I probably shouldn't criticise today's 20 yo so much, well some of them anyway.

It's possible to sleep on the floor behind the passager seat if you are 20 and have too much to drink. I evidently did this a couple of times.

Hope you enjoy my Mini Cooper S as much as I did.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the car.

Ken

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ex 1976 Mini 'S'
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - ex Police
ex 68 Morris Cooper S Mk1
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2
1970 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - '73 Bathurst replica
70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - under resto

That's brilliant!!!!!
What an insight into a much loved car in the 70's and the love will be continued I'm sure
Pity to see a WA car interstate but it looks to be in very capable hands!

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1969 Morris Mini Cooper S MK2 - In need of some serious work!!!
1977 Mini Clubman 1275 LS
1961 Morris Mini 850
1964 Morris Mini Deluxe with 1100 S engine - rolled it

That's fantastic!

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

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

Simon, It is 2311. I will return it (against my wifes "strong opinion") back to Camino Gold. The only other colour that she would accept apart from Red is Baltic Blue which was the colour of my first ever Cooper S. I have also added a photo (the only one i have) of my ex-police Mk2. I owned it between 1978-1983 before it was stolen from our family house garage in 1983. Never recovered. JVD 435 - i wonder if VIN and Eng details can be found at NSW registration archives??

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ex 1976 Mini 'S'
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - ex Police
ex 68 Morris Cooper S Mk1
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2
1970 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - '73 Bathurst replica
70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - under resto

That's so awesome - great that he is so into it too

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Build thread for Supercharged 1275 1967 Deluxe Resto
Build thread for Mini ute conversion 998cc Turbo