1963 1071 Cooper S - info wanted

[Jack of all trades]

"Arden seemed to use over centre toggle clips for the bonnets, positioned in the same place"

So did Broadspeed.....

http://medias.photodeck.com/afe0048c-49 ... xlarge.jpg

[Pete]

"Arden seemed to use over centre toggle clips for the bonnets, positioned in the same place"

So did Broadspeed.....

http://medias.photodeck.com/afe0048c-49 ... xlarge.jpg

Yes I know that, I suppose I should have said Arden , Broadspeed, Harry Ratcliffe and every man and his dog but I'm too lazy ! It all adds up though, for instance the LNP RAC rally car has the same clips, quite unusual for a rally car.

[Pete]

LNP at Prescott in May 1965...



This was the original shell I presume bereft of any trim, fittings etc which were fitted to the touring car. Sorry this thread's dropped off abit, not had much time this week but hopefully will be able do some more next week as the jigsaw piece between the UK and the U.S still needs to be found.

[Flygirl]

As Pete mentions, there are still many details to uncover on the history of LNP and the original shell, both fascinating!

Right now I am trying to get more information on exactly who purchased the car from Steve Neal, as there is some evidence to suggest that the first person to own it in the US was not Bob Kimes. The SCCA competition log books were not required or issued until the early 1970's, and race results are very scarce for 1966 especially. The first log book entry was April 11th, 1972.

We were able to get a hold of John Tremblay last week, who raced Minis in both the 1966 and 1967 Sebring 4 hour Trans-Am races, and specifically drove the #58 car which I had no picture of thus it was a possible match for 129 LNP. John said that he never drove a RHD car, which pretty much rules out 129 LNP racing at Sebring, since we have photos of all the other cars and they are not a match. John is looking through his old records to see if he can find anything that may be of interest. He also mentioned that the car he drove in 1966 came from Canada and was much faster than all the other Minis, which is an interesting story that I am following up.

There is still a strong possibility that Charles (Chuck) Dietrich owned 129 LNP. Beyond the 1966 Nassau Speed Weeks race results showing he drove the car, he lived very close to Bob Kimes in Ohio, and of course the photo Pete posted earlier of Kimes car (#71) and 129 LNP in the same picture. So we are still trying to identify the #71 car, and of course turn up any race results or photos of that era which might give us more information. Bob had several race Minis over the years, his first being a 997 Cooper.

Any new information that turns up I will be sure to post here!

Cheers,

Rachel

[Pete]

Some details on Rachel's car.....

Silver roof paint under there somewhere.....



Arden did a thorough job of spraying the whole shell, even in the rear bins.......



'66 Monte Roof light blanking plate.....


Brackets refitted to Rachel's late '64/ 65 touring car from LNP's original shell....



Nice period Alexander key fob....



Check out the retrimmed Sprinzel seat...

[Pete]

This was Bob Kimes' other UK import around this time (pictured racing in previous shots on this thread), a car that was said to be ex Cooper Car Co at the time. It was green on the documentation when imported into the U.S in April '66 and 1275cc but was in fact a Stewart & Ardern of Acton supplied 1071 in Surf Blue, the original paint being very evident under it's current red livery so this could turn into another exciting find !

Bob sold this car on November 9th, 1968 to Roger Koch.

[rich@minispares.com]

that looks great with its 'teeth'

[Flygirl]

One of my favorite photos of Bob Kimes Morris is this one, from the 1967 ARRC at Daytona. GRX 309D is the car chasing.


Interestingly, my race car #68 (not 129 LNP) started that same race second on the grid beside GRX 309D (as car #64):

The pole car is one of the Purple People Eater Minis, which has been restored and will also be racing at the Mini Challenge. If I can convince Eric to bring GRX 309D out, we will have the largest ARRC reunion ever!

Bob's Morris has extensive race history in the US, and is now owned by John Wittenauer. John has restored the car for the Can-Am Mini Challenge back to it's former GT trim with period sponsors. Beautiful work!



Just like in the UK, race rules were changing fast and the Minis were modified to keep pace as required. The great thing about both the Kimes cars (Austin and Morris) is that they still had many clues left over from their previous lives in the UK. I will be most interested to follow any information that might turn up on the Morris. At one point I was considering buying it (before I knew about 129 LNP).

Cheers,
Rachel

[Flygirl]

Now who was in car 63? Broadspeed sold 4 cars at the end of the 1965, the BOP's went to Holland so that leaves the two Ilford challange cars. Could it be one of them(and what was their registration)??

To follow up on the question of a Broadspeed Mini at Sebring. Last weekend we visited Dennis Prophet who ran a company in Toronto called Reputation Tuning (Reptune). Dennis moved to Canada in 1963, after working for the BMC Competition department for many years. Reptune sold Broadspeed parts, and supported many Sebring cars for over 13 years. Dennis knew George Oulton, and confirmed that it was George driving a Broadspeed car in 1966. Dennis said that 4 Broadspeed cars came over from the UK, two went directly to George (one for him and one for his son), and Dennis received the other two. It is interesting that the photo of the 1966 Sebring car is LHD...perhaps it was converted specifically for George?

Great photo of the Reptune shop:


Toronto Auto show, 1964:


Dennis is looking through his records and may have more info on the Broadspeed cars. I will let you guys know if he finds anything.

Cheers,
Rachel

[Gray]

That brocade in the rear 1/4's would clean up a treat

[tintoptom]

John has restored the car for the Can-Am Mini Challenge back to it's former GT trim with period sponsors. Beautiful work!

[url=http://s1312.photobucket.com/user/yvrac ... f.jpg.html]

That looks to be a very nicely done car - any more pics Rachel?

...and congrats on your amazing find btw - this thread really is a riveting read!

[mk1]

This is one of the most impressive & fascinating threads that has appeared here for a long time.

Thank you to all parties for sharing it with the members.

M

[Pete]

One of my favorite photos of Bob Kimes Morris is this one, from the 1967 ARRC at Daytona. GRX 309D is the car chasing.

Rachel

Potentially there could be two ex works Minis in that shot. GRX 309D for certain, and the Morris 1071 still looks to be in it's early shell hence having it's front panel nibbled away to aid brake cooling, quite a common occurence on those early cars (though I've never seen a CCC with that done). The chassis number definately ties up with a Surf Blue S&A 1071, the current car is still the same colour under layers of paint and has it's original chassis number on it. Cooper Car Co did run several Morris Cooper S cars which had their 1071's pulled at as soon as 1275 was available and the '65 season cars (and onward) were not early shells so I presume they sold the early cars off. At least one of Cooper's 1071's was Surf Blue that's for sure...



I just need an exact build date for this car first before putting two and two together (Simon ! ) and it'd be interesting to know what colour 231 VPK was and what age (Simon ! ) though I don't suspect that was the car.

[Flygirl]

I just need an exact build date for this car first before putting two and two together (Simon ! ) and it'd be interesting to know what colour 231 VPK was and what age (Simon ! ) though I don't suspect that was the car.

Pete, I have sent John an email to see if he has ordered a Heritage Certificate or not. I will get back to you on that.

Here is a colour photo of the Morris in 1972:


Tintoptom, I don't have any more photos of the restored Morris right now, but I am very keen to see the car in person next year. Gray, those rear brocade panels were severely cut when someone cut out the rear wheel wells, as they were not removed for the operation. They would have been mint once the black spray paint was removed, but alas no longer useful


Cheers,

Rachel

[rich@minispares.com]

my dad used to work for marathon, I suppose its handy to be sponsored by an oil company when your racing a mini

[Pete]

Pete, I have sent John an email to see if he has ordered a Heritage Certificate or not. I will get back to you on that.

Here is a colour photo of the Morris in 1972:

I think it'd be an idea for Tom to get a Heritage trace (despite the price of them nowadays (!!) but I can tell you his Surf Blue Morris 1071 was built 16 March 1964 and had no factory fitted options recorded. The car was despatched to Stewart & Ardern, Acton, London. The FE Number on the inner wing of his car is spot on for the date of build. More research needed on this car being green on import and 1275cc which '64 CCC cars would have been.

The first CCC Sebring car 231 VPK is a much earlier car potentially and has a Surrey registration issued between August 1961 and March 1962. It could have been an S with a donor ID or could have been a very early 997, even an ex demonstrator for all we know. As I say the late Paul Lips was researching this car and had collected some good info on it.

[Flygirl]

The ongoing search for information on 129 LNP produced this photo of the car at Nassau in 1966 with Chuck Dietrich driving:

The Minis are ahead of the Porsches and Camaros, as it should be! I am fairly certain the white and black Mini beside is Robert Coiteux, from Canada.

This is from Terry O'Neil's book on the event. He is doing an updated version of the book which will be out in time for this years Speed Weeks reunion event. By the way, the Mini is a feature car for the 2013 Speed Week event, where for the first time since 1966 they will have actual racing. It is a shame that 129 LNP won't be ready....The Bahamas in December - nice!



Edit - high resolution photo

[meb]

This was Bob Kimes' other UK import around this time (pictured racing in previous shots on this thread), a car that was said to be ex Cooper Car Co at the time. It was green on the documentation when imported into the U.S in April '66 and 1275cc but was in fact a Stewart & Ardern of Acton supplied 1071 in Surf Blue, the original paint being very evident under it's current red livery so this could turn into another exciting find !

Bob sold this car on November 9th, 1968 to Roger Koch.

The following race car which was recently sold by Roger Koch may have been an evolution of the above car:

http://www.minimania.com/cars4sale/1053 ... _Car_Sedan

CS/GT5 Race Car, Raced by Roger Koch 1969-1978. Four SCCA Central Division Championships, SCCA Runoffs every year 1970-1978, two pole positions. For sale exactly as raced at Road Atlanta Runoffs in 1978, dry-stored since, never dismantled or decontented. 1293cc, forged crank, forged pistons, 14:1 cr, excellent head, Longman split Webers, Maniflow 3 into 1 header, tuned megaphone, super-light flywheel and clutch, Jack Knight custom-made close ratio 4spd gearbox, fuel cell, full cage. SCCA logbook, full history and documentation. Many spares. Complete with custom trailer.Suitable for SCCA GT or easily back-dated for vintage racing.

[Pete]

The ongoing search for information on 129 LNP produced this photo of the car at Nassau in 1966 with Chuck Dietrich driving:

That's certainly another smoking gun Rachel, great shot. I'm still waiting for some more info from some of the people involved at Arden but as we learned earlier in the thread this is not the 'stuff of life' to them, being still very busy in the BTCC.

[Pete]

The following race car which was recently sold by Roger Koch may have been an evolution of the above car:

http://www.minimania.com/cars4sale/1053 ... _Car_Sedan

That's how I understand it and it may not look original but as with many of these cars they don't turn up looking how they did ! You can still see the original Surf Blue paint evident on this photo..



That one could turn out to be something pretty special aswell if Bob's story of it being ex CCC is accurate, need some more shots and info if poss ? It's described as a '65 car in that advert but it was a March '64 1071.

By the way did anyone see the article on GPH 1C in Octane this month ? Quite a big spread, Paddy commenting on it oddly and Ginger Devlin even seems to remember it being blue originally and that's how it's just been repainted inside and underneath , though the photos earlier in this thread clearly show it as originally white ? Warwick Banks is said to have raced it but there wasn't a number plate on the car he raced.