French Radford mini De Ville GT Hatchback Austin Cooper s

[Nevsmini]

Nice tread here which might help

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12027&hilit=Radford+colour

[hanlminiman]

What should be fitted on the top centre where screws holes can be seen ?
Speaker ?

Does anyone knows ?

The whole panel has 3 apertures and extends across the top of the inner roof panel. You can see where the outer two have been strengthened, in a similar way to alloy foot rests in rally cars, forgotten name of process. In another of your pictures the panel is attached to the rear vertical windscreen panel. The purpose of the wide panel is to strengthen and reinforce the structure of the roof to support the hatchback hinges and the very heavy fully fitted the hatchback. It is possible that the oval centre panel is for a speaker but I suspect suspect there are more similar size screw holes to allow fitment of removable roof lining or similar. My car is very similar to the other 3 and was one of the first GT's built and registered in January 1966, having been built at Longbridge in the spring of 1965. Originally Tartan red with black roof. Sadly I did not undertake the partial restoration at end of last century so have no record of job numbers but there is still evidence of the Tartan red bodywork.

[PMini]

Radford job number I have found only on the inside of the central armrest.
What does it correspond to ?

[PMini]

Other tired original Radford parts

[PMini]

Radford parts

[PMini]

Radford parts

[PMini]

Radford parts

[PMini]

Radford part

[PMini]

Thank you for all this information and help, i will need some.

Do you know if the digit number could be find on other parts too ?

Anyone knows if is it possible to identify the first owner of the car ?

[Nevsmini]

The Job number is probably on the back of the dash as well, it could be found on the back of any Radford part. I have even seen them on the back of original carpets.
Finding out the first owner will be difficult. Your best way at the moment is to try and trace previous owners. If the Radford records ever come to light it will be mega for anyone that knows there Job number as this number should be against the first owner in there records.

[Pete]

That number looks about right for mid '66! You'll find that number on the rear surfaces of quite a few trim panels and yours is nice and clear The ribbed rubber material on the side of the tanks and on the back of the seats would also match the same stuff on your bootboard. What's interesting is that it's colour coded to the trim on the tanks but black on the rest. Mine's just black but then the bit on the side of my tanks is missing. Mine was a single tank originallly though.

[Pete]

Agree with Nev, first owners can be very difficult to find as the registration records were all lost for all London registered cars (the vast majority of Radford cars) and obviously overseas cars will require local research at their destination. It's such a shame that no Radford records have yet come to light but I am trying to exhaust a few different avenues as regards to this.

[Pete]

My car is very similar to the other 3 and was one of the first GT's built and registered in January 1966

Have you got any pre resto pics of your car Cliff, cos your hatch shape is an odd one! The earlier hatch is the same as the Ekland one, and the one that belongs to Graham up here which is just completing restoration (both with Beetle rear lamps aswell).The slightly later one is the same as mine, Bri's and this car. Yours is neither, unique in fact!

[PMini]

Thank you Pete.
Neville, I will check the dash to see if I find the 4 digit too.
How do you know the 4 digit are correct or not ?

Also in your summary of Radford steel HB, did you explain that this car is the last of all the 9 cars build with the steel HB ?

Anyone knows if the Astrali wheels are the genuine Radford wheels of if there only were the Cosmics, the mag minilite ?

[PMini]

The Dash of my Radford is also in km/h at the French specs, is there an other one Radford steel HB that was built to the French spec as mine ?

[PMini]

Pete, I also don't know for the speakers in rear boxes because there is no details I can fin in .
Do you know what is the correct type of lamp on the roof of the steel HB model ?
Do you have photos of details showing the roof panel, the rear boxes, the front door trim .. ?

For the engine I don't know how to identify the correct Downton cylinder head and Inlet manifold, do you have a reference ?

Thank you for all your messages.
In France we have the "British welcome event", and on this forum I discover the French Welcome !

[hanlminiman]

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PEU_001rhw.jpg

My car is very similar to the other 3 and was one of the first GT's built and registered in January 1966

Have you got any pre resto pics of your car Cliff, cos your hatch shape is an odd one! The earlier hatch is the same as the Ekland one, and the one that belongs to Graham up here which is just completing restoration (both with Beetle rear lamps aswell).The slightly later one is the same as mine, Bri's and this car. Yours is neither, unique in fact!

Hi Pete
When I saw Brian's car the aperture looks very similar to mine, the only difference being that mine has smoother curves on the hatchback top edges and the panel above the light cluster whereas the 1966 cars seems more square. The French car looks a very similar to mine so I don’t understand why you think mine is unique as it looks very similar to the sellers launch car and the one featured in the Radford brochure with VW rear lights. I have history of ownership from 1971 and am still on the case for the earlier years. I’ve added a couple of detail images for you to peruse.
Cliff

[Nevsmini]

Cliff,
I reckon your car was the 3rd prototype HB built by Radfords and the last before they standardised the steel HB. Pete is correct in saying its shape is different than the std steel HB as your top corners are round and the step on the sides are more horizontal than the std steel HB. Also prototype 2 HB was built from a Red and Black Cooper S. It's possible that these two car were bought at the same time by Radfords in 65 as they are known for buying small batches in the same colour. What through me at the start with your car was the door handles, I thought it was a 66 built car, but it's all falling into place now that it's built in 65. Someone must have change the door handles at some point in it life like so many other Coopers back in the day to make them like the newer model. I might post up a timeline in a new tread with photos to make it a bit clearer. So to date it looks like there was 1 # prototype 1, 2 # prototype 2 and 1 # prototype 3 , 9 # std steel HB, 4 # Ali HB, 3 # fibreglass HB.

[Nevsmini]

This HB was also sent to Switzerland and was built for the Mackintosh (chocolate) family. This car would be the closest to your car for detail as it has the same seats the earlier std steel HB's were fitted with microcell based seats.

[Pete]

Cliff,
I reckon your car was the 3rd prototype HB built by Radfords and the last before they standardised the steel HB. Pete is correct in saying its shape is different than the std steel HB as your top corners are round and the step on the sides are more horizontal than the std steel HB. Also prototype 2 HB was built from a Red and Black Cooper S. It's possible that these two car were bought at the same time by Radfords in 65 as they are known for buying small batches in the same colour. What through me at the start with your car was the door handles, I thought it was a 66 built car, but it's all falling into place now that it's built in 65. Someone must have change the door handles at some point in it life like so many other Coopers back in the day to make them like the newer model. I might post up a timeline in a new tread with photos to make it a bit clearer. So to date it looks like there was 1 # prototype 1, 2 # prototype 2 and 1 # prototype 3 , 9 # std steel HB, 4 # Ali HB, 3 # fibreglass HB.

So forgetting the Carabus car for a minute Ekland's and Graham's are the earliest production hatches from October '65 (unless they're the same car??), Cliff's is the next in line and is unique? and then Bri's which became the standardised steel hatch same as mine and this one, the red one pictured and yours?

Nev we really need a book doing on these!!