Perfect timing from MotoringFile:

http://www.motoringfile.com/2020/04/...-mini-forever/

:

Because I just saw a rare prototype tach turn up for sale on the ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333580825272

Might be had for a right bargain too!

I was contemplating buying it but decided against it so I'm posting about it here in case someone else may be interested in such a historical artifact.

To be honest, I was mostly interested in the black face panel and would've disassembled it just for that as it is "factory made" and likely higher quality than the aftermarket gauge faces, and even those are somewhat difficult to get a hold of these days.

I like the orange too.







As you see, it's a little different from final production.

Besides the obvious color difference, it has little notched scallops in the decor ring, which you can also see in this 1999 news article photo:



:

Time warp video:

 

Interesting find. Wonder if it would work?

 

The green connector looks right.

It doesn't appear to be zero'd out though as the needle is resting at an odd spot, so it might be out of calibration?

Warning lights likely wouldn't line up either as euro-spec is different from North American spec.



But yeah,
I thought it was very interesting too!

 

Wow, must be from that old prototype MINI we saw on ebay a year or so ago?

 

It’s so cool it does 1000 rpm just sitting on the counter. Interesting piece.

 

Indeed it may be.

This old thread has some good info & pix of prototypes:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ongbridge.html

And this old testing video of extremes cold/hot is interesting to see the subtle differences of exterior,
but no good interior shots sadly.


Yes, it is a cool historical artifact for sure.

I think they determined they'd use silver face fairly early from what I can tell and there's likely not many of these early black designs out there.

Although it does look a bit plain and minimalistic in this application,
orange on black can look great when done up proper.

 

Holy thread resurection! However, I was the one who bought this on eBay all those years ago.

For the last two years I've been the custodian of MINI Cooper chassis #104, which is the 8th oldest surviving MINI Cooper and classed as a pre-production car being built on 25th April 2001. It has a lot of pre production and early features which never made production, if anyone cares I might create a thread and post some pictures.

Anyway, I tried plugging the rev counter into #104 and while the rev counter needle jumped when I plugged it in, sadly it doesn't work.

 

That's really cool. Love to hear the quirks of pre/early production

 

Very cool to follow up all these years later. How do you determine the chassis #? Is it stamped somewhere. When I bought my R53 from the original owner (a MINI salesman), he said it was one of the earliest MINIs ordered back in early 2002.

 

It should be under the windscreen, a plate under the bonnet on the right hand wheel arch, or stamped into one of the strut towers;





The VIN will read something like WMWRC32000TC00000, it's the last 7 digits in bold that determine the build number.

In the UK, MINI One vins start at TB00000 and rise chronologically from there, though the first 50 or 60 were pre production cars have been scrapped, same with the Cooper vins which start at TC00000 (mine is TC00104) and R53 vins TC60000.

From memory, US R53 vins start around TD50000 for the prototype and very early pre prodcution cars, Cooper was TC30000

 

Forgot to mention that the whole reason I'm posting this, and the reason I remembered that I had the rev counter in the first place, was that I happened to find a picture of this very rev counter being used in a prototype MINI in a press picture posted back in 2000 while MINI were carrying out cold weather testing.

The pic in full size;




The pic zoomed in when I realised what I was looking at;

 

Gotcha, that's easy to find. Even easier just to check my registration. My last 7 digits are TD54079, so not anywhere near the first, as I was told.