My new project 1962 Austin Super Seven 343 FOP

[coopertim]

After parting with my 1071 and spending a year in the wilderness driving an MG which I really liked to be fair, I always knew there would be another mk1 mini in my life at some point. I’ve had a mk1 of some sort in the garage for the last 37 years and once they are in the blood that’s it! Following a few messages and phone calls asking about available cars, I couldn’t believe it when I was offered 343 FOP, a 1962 Austin Super Seven project in tartan red, one of only four red Austin’s left! FOP is a four owner car built April 6th an originally supplied in Birmingham by R.J Evans & Kitchen and sold by Lincoln Street Motors of Sparkhill on May 5th to the first owner who kept the car until 1989! In 1967 he began working as a sales representative for Moss Gears Ltd in Tyburn Street Birmingham and started a car log chronicling every journey made in the car, mileage, how much petrol, oil, parts and sundries went into it with all receipts kept! The original speedo was lost at 99,999 miles when it locked and the original engine was replaced in 1977 but the shell is original with the FE number still on the inner wing and all remaining ancillaries are dated march or April 62. The car escaped being turned into a Cooper and even a race car and will now remain a Super and it will be restored as a usable car over the next couple of years or so. It retains it’s original number plates and boot board and has continuous history from day one with the original bill of sale, typed and hand written and also the Austin Guarantee. Really looking forward to restoring FOP over the next couple of years and taking it to Blyton in 2026!

Tim

[AndyPen]

Looks like a great base to start from Tim

[coopertim]

Cheers Andy, it’s such a lovely car! The gutters are perfect as are the doors. It clearly has been a well loved car even though the history file shows it’s been the wars a few times!

Tim

[S33blo]

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this. Especially after seeing your 1071

[5portsrock]

Well that break didn't last to long look forward to seeing your progress. Welcome back to the fold Tim

[Minigman]

And you’re back in the game

[Exminiman]

Very nice indeed, remarkable condition, its amazing how those early shells seem to be less prone to rust than the slightly later ones.

[Old English White]

Very nice indeed, remarkable condition, its amazing how those early shells seem to be less prone to rust than the slightly later ones.

Not sure about that. Certainly there ARE some good ones which have survived but my first Mini was a 1961 model and was absolutely rotted out everywhere at 10years old My In-laws had one of the first Mini Travellers brand new and it failed the MOT (rear subframe mostly) on rust and was disposed of by 1966!

Great to see this "Super" survive in pretty original form. It'll make a wonderful project. I once owned a red/black Austin Super which also sadly only made it as far as the 1970s

[Exminiman]

Very nice indeed, remarkable condition, its amazing how those early shells seem to be less prone to rust than the slightly later ones.

Not sure about that. Certainly there ARE some good ones which have survived but my first Mini was a 1961 model and was absolutely rotted out everywhere at 10years old My In-laws had one of the first Mini Travellers brand new and it failed the MOT (rear subframe mostly) on rust and was disposed of by 1966!

Maybe its my imagination, but I seem to see proportionally more pre 64 shells in usable condition, but its all very anecdotal…..

[Old English White]

I suppose that the ones which became rusty quickly (the majority!) disappeared long ago and so those which survived are naturally the better ones?

Nobody wanted to keep a very rusty 10 year old Mini in the early 1970s when it was worth about £25.00, so most of them were scrapped/used for spares. There were loads of them - including what we now consider to be rare and valuable variants.

[coopertim]

Got FOP home and have started going through the boxes of bits that came with the car. We have excellent doors and boot lid, the original Super boot board is there as is the rare Super grille. Bonnet needs some tlc but is still good, the door upper and lower trim is present as are the door hinges. Front subframe is excellent, rear has been scrapped but radius arms and back plates etc are there. Door side glass is present as is the rear screen and Tim Harber a previous owner has said if I can find a decent set of rear quarter windows, he will swap them with the original’s which are currently in his race car. Sadly it lost its original interior many years ago but hopefully I’ve found a good original replacement which will keep the 1962 smell!

Tim

[gs.davies]

Excellent stuff Tim. You may need to change your user name to Soooopertim now though