restoration of my mk2 cooper / s?

[evonaut]

103_6561.jpg

thought i would post about my restoration project and fill you in with the interesting and fairly dubious yet sentimental history.

i bought my 1969 red and white mk 2 cooper s as my first car in 1985. carried out all the verification checks as in 11 stud head, twin tanks, 120mph speedo, brake servo, etc etc. (parnells book had not yet been written)

in 1986 i passed my test just after my 17th birthday and we were off!

about a year later, i started university and the cooper s was proving a little rich for my student tastes and so my dad, an engineer and collector of all things, and mini cooper enthusiast himself as an owner prior to my birth, said don't sell the mini, give it to me as a future restoration project and i'll buy you a morris minor as a replacement. my mini was parked up in the garage christmas '87, and there it remained for the next 25 years, collecting a load of rubbish around it as it melted into the floor.

very sadly, my father passed away a couple of years ago, without having starting his project, and i inherited my first car. it turns out, my dad had never re-registered the car and so it has been in my name since i passed my test in '86.

excited about the project i quickly set about clearing the garage and researching about my new rust heap. now armed with parnells book, a dvla history check and BMHL heritage certificate, i discovered that my beloved red and white cooper s had left the factory as a beige and white 998 cooper. the engine, running gear and log book had all been upgraded to red and white 1275 cooper s in 1977.

once i got over my initial disappointment i came to terms with the project and have decided to restore the car as it currently stands, returning it to the original colour scheme of beige and white. the heritage certificate does not specify which beige (apparently when my car was first registered they were just changing over to computer records and memory was so expensive that they simply wrote beige and white) and so i'm opting for my preferred sandy beige and snowberry white.

I'm keeping the 1275 s engine and running gear although, as is evident from the 120mph speedo, not 130, and rubberised cv joints not hardy spicers, that my engine is in fact a fairly early mk1 engine not the correct mk2.

i am also detailing the car correctly for a cooper s, including correct RH tank, and breather pipe clips (the first give away as an upgraded car as they were missing from my boot) the only thing that may let me down is due to the extremely high cost and i'm gonna probably stick with standard cooper displacers on the hydrolastic suspension. i do know where to get s ones however i was recommended to retain standard ones as i would be unlikely to notice any difference....... jury is out. will let you know my final decision.

the log book states cooper s, albeit with incorrect engine number. on my car the engine number plate is missing although i will replace the plate and leave it blank.

anyway, the rebuild is underway and is being coordinated by cooper's garage (no relation) in suffolk. the body work is being carried out by M and D, who are local to Cooper's, and also local is the engine rebuilder Chris Allitt Engineering. can't wait for the engine and gearbox to be taken apart so i can find out about the important bits including crank and head etc to give a more accurate age to the engine.

all panels are heritage, adapted as required due to unavailability - front end cooper s and late mk 2 bootlid.

carbs are oversized HS4s, and have been restored - photo attached! beautiful!

although technically a replica, which i struggle with, i will refer to my car as a period upgrade and keep it badged as a cooper s. not an uncommon activity back in the day, and after all, that is the car i bought and have owned for nearly 30 years. lets face it, the most valuable of cooper s's are probably competition cars and its unlikely that many of them have retained all their original parts including the engines.

as i mentioned earlier, my dad had been a previous cooper owner, and was also a collector of all things, so when he sold his car before i was born he retained the aftermarket cox of watford safety racing seats, and red leather paddy hopkirk springall steering wheel, all of which will be refitted into my car as part of the restoration. Mk1's very own Mark has uploaded onto Mk1-performance, the original sales brochure for cox safety seats. I did say my dad collected everything!

i have attached a few photos of the restoration so far, and I hope to keep this thread updated as works progress. looking forward to hearing some feedback on the project

adam

[rich@minispares.com]

once i got over my initial disappointment i came to terms with the project and have decided to restore the car as it currently stands,

adam

what a great story your car has, I for one would not be in the slightest bit disappointed by the 'upgrade' the car received. its very much like my er-cooper s, all be it yours did at least start as a cooper!

it was a perfectly legal thing to have the logbook altered if the car was upgraded in the 1970s (indeed, I think it only stopped been done in the late 1980s)

at the end of the day, its your car, with your history, so what ever the 'nay-sayers' will say doesn't matter one jot

[evonaut]

thanks for support! i have been meaning to post about the project for ages and it was reading your post about your er-cooper s that finally inspired me to do so!

[mk1]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for telling us all your story, it is great to read more details.

Your cars history is nothing to be ashamed of, it's the history of thousands of Mini's Coopers & even S's. They were morphed into something different by owners who wanted to use them as they wished.

It sounds like your car is getting a fantastic rebuild & I look forward to seeing the progress.

PS. Thanks for the Brochure for the main MK1 site.

[rich@minispares.com]

thanks for support! i have been meaning to post about the project for ages and it was reading your post about your er-cooper s that finally inspired me to do so!

ah...


safety in numbers eh?

[Pete]

Great story, and I recognise those seats as being the same as fitted to Brian Epstein's Wood & Pickett Cooper S! Very unusual to see, didn't the belt actually anchor in the back of the seat?

[gs.davies]

Great story behind the car - like others have said, i wouldn't be disappointed at all. if anything a bit of interesting history to it.

Good luck with the restoration, I'll be watching with interest as I work through mine!
Gary

[rich@minispares.com]

Wood & Pickett Cooper S! Very unusual to see, didn't the belt actually anchor in the back of the seat?

I bet that was useful in the event of an accident!

I actually saw a car recently (not a mini) that someone had 'repaired' the entire floor with a bit of alloy pop riveted round the outside edge...


that was bad, but what was worse was that the seatbelts where bolted through it

[mk1]

Maybe they were using the seat belt bolts to hold the floor in

[evonaut]

yes the seat belts withdraw into the top of the seat back. apparently the seats were designed for safety which would make sense as my father was very safety conscious. there was fixed belt or inertia reel available and the brochure lists both types with prices for each.

in the past 2 years or so i have been researching the seats on line and until Mark uploaded a scan of my dads original brochure, there was only 1 reference for cox safety seats which is a design reference web site, link below. now there are 2 references of course.

http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?titl ... e=d.214.26

I would love to see pictures of the

Brian Epstein's Wood & Pickett Cooper S! Very unusual to see

is he a member of this forum?, or a member of the MCR? i'm sure he would like to see the brochure too!

will update with more photos as the project progresses, and of course tap into the wealth of knowledge should we have any queries.

thanks again

adam

[Pete]

I would love to see pictures of the

Brian Epstein's Wood & Pickett Cooper S! Very unusual to see

is he a member of this forum?, or a member of the MCR? i'm sure he would like to see the brochure too!

will update with more photos as the project progresses, and of course tap into the wealth of knowledge should we have any queries.

thanks again

adam

Pictures of the ex Epstein S (it's in Hawaii !) here :

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6084&p=42675&hilit= ... ein#p42675

[evonaut]

Aha! That Brian Epstein!

Seats are very similar. Same make I'd say, just a different model. The headrests are different.

They remain a rarity, almost unique!

Thanks for info.

[evonaut]

side 2 underway!

[JC T ONE]

Great story, and a tribute to your late Father, that you rebuild the car, he kept in all those years.

Well done

[evonaut]

doors and front end happening........ slowly but slowly!

[swifty]

That looks really good ... Ken

[evonaut]

rear end is on its way! including making up a late mark 2 boot lid out of a mk1/2 outer skin and mk3 inner skin!

[evonaut]

lost a few pics due to forum crash so here are some of the recent photos again.....

zinc plating, displacers and new rear wings!

[evonaut]

side 2 done!

visit tomorrow to inspect welding pre primer prep and painting! very excited..........

have also received my MOWOG template from Ricardo, ready for the subframe!

[java gt]

That looks great,bet your getting excited now that it is near painting.