Nostalgia it's an age thing I guess !

[macabethiel]

Found these when I was trawling through some old photos some 75% of the negatives survived our fire. I scanned them for hours using a small stand alone scanner from local Camera Shop in Derby.

This was my first Mini circa 1966 I liked the Lotus JPS colours of the day so had it painted with a silver top half to give it that old fashioned 2-tone look.

My first Mini by Ted Bagshaw, on Flickr

Then in 1970 I bought my first 1275 S it was a beast painted in Rootes Lagoon Blue, next to it is my mates 998 Cooper that was sprayed in RR Regal Red metallic. Photo was taken in Clowne on Wilson Avenue.
Cooper S & mates Cooper by Ted Bagshaw, on Flickr

[Wallace]

Very nice. I checked all the registration numbers on the DVLA Mot check and none of them came up which is a shame.

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by Wallace

Very nice. I checked all the registration numbers on the DVLA Mot check and none of them came up which is a shame.

My only Mini that may have survived was an Austin Mini Cooper originally a 998 Cooper but converted to 1275 S in every detail. Right hand fuel tank, upgraded front & rear brakes, 120 mph speedo, etc.

That one was LOV 378 F my last proper Mini. Never seen it since I sold it to a student back in 1987 ish.

Cooper S by Ted Bagshaw, on Flickr

[Wallace]

That one seems to have survived to 1989 at least. Would be nice to find it again but may just be a V5 in someones possession.

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by Wallace

That one seems to have survived to 1989 at least. Would be nice to find it again but may just be a V5 in someones possession.

What is interesting though is that I had the V5 show the change of colour to Red/Blue/Yellow they returned as Multi Coloured in the Colour section. The vehicle had during my first 5 years of ownership been painted in a Vauxhall Colour Goodwood Metallic Green - this was shown as Green beforehand.

When I purchased the vehicle in 1973 it was painted in it's original colour a non metallic Battleship Grey. It looks as though someone has returned it to its original colour. When I had it sprayed in the Vauxhall Colour it was stripped of all its interior and it was fully re-painted including inside the engine bay.

I sold it to a friend in 1984 I think it was and bought it back about 2 years later. I did a substantial mechanical re-build in 1986/7 including changing it from the original Hydrolastic Suspension to the later (and earlier) Moulton Rubber Cone type.

It was a big task as I had to change the front subframe as they are different, you can't get the ride height high enough otherwise plus some other problems with the diameter of the long top mounting bolts. I had to replace the bell housing as the idler gear bearing had collapsed chewing the bearing housing. All the gears were damaged so it ended up with a new gearbox as well.

I ran out of money after fitting Hi-Lo adjusters all round & Spax adjustables. It need a decent respray that I could not afford so it just got hand painted this time in Red/White/ Black Hamerite bottom half. I was lucky enough to find a buyer who could see the potential for restoring the bodywork as there was no rot and mechanically it was A1.

I did a few checks on it during PNC training days as it was a memorable number, certainly in the early 1990's it was still registered to an owner who lived in Derby in some posh flats that had garages. There were a couple of small garages trading in the nearby old railway arches with quite a few restoring Minis, never saw my old motor though.

I did know of one Arch that had a stripped down Austin Cooper 970 S being restored - they were built for homologation purposes back in the 1964 era. Sadly it was crushed when the Arches Collapsed so was probably written off. This rare model now fetches daft money as does the 1071 version before the 1275 engine was the norm.

[Wallace]

I remember talking to a tutor at the training centre as an apprentice about his racing Mini's as one of the other lads bought a 1275 Cooper S and he rattled off a load of different engine sizes, 997,998,1071 and 1275 have always stuck in my mind for some reason. He told him what to look for to see if it was a genuine 1275 S and turned out to be a twin carb Austin 1100 engine!

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by Wallace

I remember talking to a tutor at the training centre as an apprentice about his racing Mini's as one of the other lads bought a 1275 Cooper S and he rattled off a load of different engine sizes, 997,998,1071 and 1275 have always stuck in my mind for some reason. He told him what to look for to see if it was a genuine 1275 S and turned out to be a twin carb Austin 1100 engine!

An odd fact but in standard specification the BLMC 1275 S engine BHP was not the most powerful of that era. The MG / Wolseley variant 1300 engine that was actually 1275 cc had a slightly greater BHP output I think it was only 5 or so more g.g.s.

Both had the 13 stud big valve cylinder head but only the 1275 S had the EN40B Nitrided crank. Bonus with the MG 1300 unit was that the block was stiffer due to having not having the two crankcase side covers. Made removing the cam followers more difficult !

Unfortunately the EN40B crank did not fit the MG engine as the mains were a different design.

[Wallace]

I have an original pair of SU carbs and air filter off an A series engine here I keep meaning to advertise, cannot remember what was on the air filter as wasn't Austin or Morris and might be MG.

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by Wallace

I have an original pair of SU carbs and air filter off an A series engine here I keep meaning to advertise, cannot remember what was on the air filter as wasn't Austin or Morris and might be MG.

They were all pretty much the same - standard inch & quarter ones on the A series just some had different needles all were the same seat size. There were improvements made to the linkage between the carbs for a more even throttle action.

The larger inch and a half ones were a Special Tuning upgrade. I opted for the Alexander Conversion instead they were inch and a half Strombergs - much easier to get the right jets plenty of power too.