I am very unfamiliar with Classic Mini's, other than seeing the original Italian Job, so I would like to learn more about the history of all the models over the years associated with the name Cooper or Mini....any ideas where to get this info or see pictures of this...such as Morris Mini, Leyland Mini etc

 

This is in no way complete, but it is a start:


http://www.outmotoring.com/mini_history.html

 

Get this book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

 

order the dvd "MINI" from Great Cars at greatcarstv.com or call them at 800.335.7758

for about $15

 

Someone please step in if I'm wrong but...

In the Beginning, there was Austin and Morris both selling the Mini. Aside from some badging and grille differences it was the same car. In 63 they both started selling the Mini Cooper S. Now...not all Minis you see are Coopers or S's... most people assume that it's a Mini Cooper, but John Cooper and his tuning were what made a Mini a Mini Cooper. (and then a Cooper S).

I think both companies merged or were bought by British Leyland, and then Rover, and then ultimately the Borg...I mean, BMW. From what I recall, the only car they ever made more of was the VW Bug. There were something like 5,500,000 Minis produced from 1959 to 2000. There were some styling changes... the early cars had external door hinges with two piece sliding windows and a curvy grille. The MKII and on cars had a more oval-ish grille (compared to the MKI) as well as with the MKIII they got roll-up windows...BUT, if you lived in Australia, you got the external door hinges with rollup windows.

There were lots of different variants of the Mini produced. There was a wagon (estate), a "woody" (traveler)...although I may be confused and the estate and traveler were just two names for the same thing. There was a pickup, a van (basically the wagon minus windows), a "Moke", which was a little jeep-like variant, the Clubman, which had a more square front on it - they made clubman saloons, estates, etc.... then there was the Elf / Hornet. A Mini body with a "fancy" nose and tail on it. In the 80s (I think) they sold Minis like the Mini 30, Mini Polynesia, Mini Sidewalk, Mini Flame, etc, etc. Basically different trim setups to help keep sales up.

As far as engines go, there was an 848cc, 997, 998, 1071, 1100 (?), 1275, 1300, 1275 turbo, 1275 with Single Point fuel Injection (SPi), and a 1275 with Multi point injection (MPi). The engine stayed the same basically throughout the years - it's a pushrod, transversely mounted 4cyl. I think it was *the* first transverse mounted engine, so the import crowd betta show some respek. Err...anyway... the gearbox was mounted underneath the block to save space, and consequently they both share oil. I think you can run sewage spill in your mini engine... they definitely like a nice thick 20-50w.

Interiors changed just like the exteriors did. When the car first started you had only a central speedometer. That grew to a central speedo, oil pressure, and temp gauges. Then it was moved over to behind the steering wheel, and there are various permutations from there.

People have stuffed all sorts of engines in Minis. There have been V6s, V8s, other 4cyl engines such as those from Vauxhaul (spelling?), Honda, etc. Even motorcycle engines. So...from about 30hp in your basic stock 850cc engine to upwards of 250+hp from the other offerings.
Classic Minis are cool. They have more space than the new one does... We were able to fit 4 people in our '71, whereas when we drove our 02 Cooper S it was pretty much a 2 person car (probably doesn't help that I'm 6'6").

Whew. Does that help a bit? I'm by no means an expert, but I've owned classic Minis for a couple of years now, and been interested in 'em longer than that.

 

Latka, everything looks pretty good. The only motor you missed was the very rare and elusive 970 S motor.

The deal on the two books at amazon .com is a very good deal. Being able to access information from a number of different sources is very important when you are ready to buy a Mini. That way you can be reasonably sure on what you getting.

Case in point. Last week a couple of us went over to a guy's house to see a Mini he has for sale. Two years ago I looked at this Mini and decided it was too much money for me. But one of my buddies got real interested in it so we started to research and find out just what model this was. So far from the vin numbers and the identifying parts this looks so far to be a genuine 1071 S Mini Coopers. There are a few things that need to be confirmed but all the books we have do come in handy. Also posting questions on message forums helps too!

Good luck!

 

I had a 64 1071S...couldn't afford to restore it though. Hopefully the new owner can It was a "barn find" ...or as close as you can have to that here in Hawaii. The PO left it out in the sun and rain not working for 5 years :(

 

There's also a great book that a good majority of us here have. There's a few tuner sites that offer it as well. It's called "the MINI" by Graham Robson. Sure you can find it at any book store or Amazon.com without any problems. It was published a couple years ago. Gives the whole rundown of the happenings of the Mini to MINI complete with several pics.
Cheers,

 

You missed out the 1275GT that was produced when they decided to stop production of the Coopers. It never caught on, cos it's ugly (looks like a clubman saloon but with more grunt).

It is quite sought after now tho.

After a few years they started producing Coopers again. RSP Cooper was the first I believe, then special editions like the Monte Carlo and erm... gawd forgotten the other one, had a Rally name anyways. Then nearer the end of the Mini production they were producing Sportspack Coopers.

A lot of people bought basic Sportspacks and took them to John Cooper Garages to have the Cooper Conversion on them. There's a heated debate as to whether these can be classed as proper Coopers, as they were not Coopers when they were first produced.