history

Car's History

The car has been in or around Rochester for its entire life, and although some of the details of its early life are sketchy, a good bit is known, and it is possible to deduce more. Several people know about it in one or more of its previous lives, and I've gathered the following info.

The car was orginally a 997 Cooper, owned by Pete Love, who drove it and at least visitied Watkins Glen. From the dashboard:

It was then sold to Harry, who drove it for a while, and then went to his son. Someone somewhere painted it yellow and covered the interior (including the ceiling and dash) with yellow shag carpet. This mini was shagadelic before it's time! Also, the son was driving when the car was hit in the left rear corner. (Pretty hard, I'd guess - the roll bar was bent several inches there.)

After the wreck, it sat for a while, until the son attempted a resurrection. He took it to (?) to fix, but after a good start, the repair deal fell through, and after another while the car was sold to George, who added it to his stable. I got it from George as he was pruning back his mini herd. The original engine went to another car along the way, and the front end was replaced with a fiberglass one.

I've made half-hearted (really 1/8 hearted) attempts to contact former owners - unsuccessfully.

No one is sure exactly what year the car is.

Currently:

Engine no: 99H354V-H1714 (from a Mini 1000, first introduced in 1967)

Head no: 12A1456SM

Body no: ??? the number plate is gone. There is a plate on the floor pan stamped with F199878, but that's not indicative of anything.

Deducing the year

Pinning down the year of the car from what's here is a bit tricky, because some of the parts are original, some not, and some suspect. Here's what I know:

Original Not original Questionable

Main body shell (exc. left rear corner, left door pillar) Engine

Right hand door Left hand door Door glass

Heater

Going through the "Original Mini Cooper and Cooper S" book by John Parnell gives some key dates in Mini production history and other information that is useful in the search:

Date Change Significance

10/64 Sunvisors changed from center mount to edge mount Holes in top rail for center mount visor

9/64 Door courtesy lights No holes for coutesy light switches

9/64 Hydrolastic suspension introduced No hydrolastic

12/63 Cooper 997 discontinued

6/63 Seat belt mount lowered on door pillar Mounting point high up on right hand pillar

5/63 chrome widow catches replaced by plastic Chrome catches on the one window I have

3/63 New heater introduced, recirculating one dropped Recirculating heater

4Q/62 Small door lock lever replaced by larger one What looks like the small lever (I don't have a comparison, or a picture)

10/62 2 bulb number plate light replaces 1 bulb light Inconclusive - no light

7/62 Aluminum front struts introduced Mine seem to be steel

6/62 door trim held on by 10 rivets rather than 12 Right door has 12 holes

4/62 front seats converted to rubber diaphragm and 5 (rather than 3) flutes Seats had rubber diaphragm and 5 flutes in upholstery.

This information would seem to pin down the date to between April and June of 1962. And there's some more evidence, from items in the car that have date stamps.

Item Date of manufacture Note

Windshield washer motor Assuming that the wiper motor is original, this supports the 1962 year hypothesis.

Rear quarter window glass date mark The date code (from Parnell) says that the dot under the "O" in "TOUGHENED" indicates a year ending in "2". (Similarly, a dot under the "H" would indicate a year ending in "5". It all assumes you're able to identify the decade)

Door window glass date mark The dot over the "T" in "TRIPLEX" indicates the quartere of manufacture. This is a very puzzling piece of data, because the date code reads 1Q/x6 (e.g. 1966), which does not jive with the evidence so far supporting 1962. Furthermore, the hardware in which the glass is mounted definitely has chrome clips, rather than plastic (See production changes above.) so this date code is inconsistent with the hardware. Both pieces of glass bear the same 1Q/x6 code. My conclusion is that the right hand window got broken early in the car's life, and was replaced with new glass.

All said and done, it seems that the car is a 1962 Mini Cooper. Now, when people say "How old is your car?", I'll be able to say "It was made in 1962. You figure it out."

Original	Not original	Questionable
Main body shell (exc. left rear corner, left door pillar)	Engine
Right hand door	Left hand door	Door glass
Heater

Date	Change	Significance
10/64	Sunvisors changed from center mount to edge mount	Holes in top rail for center mount visor
9/64	Door courtesy lights	No holes for coutesy light switches
9/64	Hydrolastic suspension introduced	No hydrolastic
12/63	Cooper 997 discontinued
6/63	Seat belt mount lowered on door pillar	Mounting point high up on right hand pillar
5/63	chrome widow catches replaced by plastic	Chrome catches on the one window I have
3/63	New heater introduced, recirculating one dropped	Recirculating heater
4Q/62	Small door lock lever replaced by larger one	What looks like the small lever (I don't have a comparison, or a picture)
10/62	2 bulb number plate light replaces 1 bulb light	Inconclusive - no light
7/62	Aluminum front struts introduced	Mine seem to be steel
6/62	door trim held on by 10 rivets rather than 12	Right door has 12 holes
4/62	front seats converted to rubber diaphragm and 5 (rather than 3) flutes	Seats had rubber diaphragm and 5 flutes in upholstery.

Item	Date of manufacture	Note
Windshield washer motor		Assuming that the wiper motor is original, this supports the 1962 year hypothesis.
Rear quarter window glass date mark		The date code (from Parnell) says that the dot under the "O" in "TOUGHENED" indicates a year ending in "2". (Similarly, a dot under the "H" would indicate a year ending in "5". It all assumes you're able to identify the decade)
Door window glass date mark		The dot over the "T" in "TRIPLEX" indicates the quartere of manufacture. This is a very puzzling piece of data, because the date code reads 1Q/x6 (e.g. 1966), which does not jive with the evidence so far supporting 1962. Furthermore, the hardware in which the glass is mounted definitely has chrome clips, rather than plastic (See production changes above.) so this date code is inconsistent with the hardware. Both pieces of glass bear the same 1Q/x6 code. My conclusion is that the right hand window got broken early in the car's life, and was replaced with new glass.