Tracing Cooper 'S' history courtesy of 192.com!

[coopertim]

Hi all

Due to working in one of the many snowed out schools, i found myself at a bit of a loose end this morning! I have no idea about the history of my car other that it was owned at some point in the late 80's by Nick Rogers and has spent about 15 years under a sheet in a field quietly rotting away! So, with the wife at work, as you do, i started to read through my green log book for AKY to see if i could trace any previous owners using the Internet and 192.com people search. Fantastically i have managed to speak to an owner from 1969 when the car was five years old! He told me that he rebuilt the engine to +20 thou and he also said that he has a unopened vertical oil cooler which he bought for the car but never used which he is going to send on to me! He told me that there are a couple of photos of the 'S' which i can have. The plastic dash was fitted before his ownership and it was still Surf Blue at that point. The other owner i spoke to was an absolute gem of a discovery. Mick and his wife owned AKY from 1971 - 1988! He is a really nice bloke who even now is very emotional about the Cooper. Mick filled me in on loads of info on the car - it was painted dark blue in 1971, has had new wings, a new drivers door, patches to the floor and it was apparently very rusty when he sold it for £2000 in '88' At the time of the sale, the car still had its full Powder Blue / Brocade interior so frustratingly it seems to have lost its front seats whilst it was under the sheet hibernating!! It seems that this was a very well loved, and as it turns out a very well travelled Cooper. The car has been driven on a few occasions to St. Tropez, Cannes, Nice, where a front wheel bearing had to be changed at the side of the road!, Lorette, has done Monte Carlo and the Cols and also Barcelona!! pictures of the Cooper in its heyday have been promised which i will post when i receive them.

All in all a really rewarding Friday that has seen me from not having a clue as to my car's early years to now feeling that i have known it for years! Thank you 192.com!!

Cheers for now. Tim.

[Pete]

Cracking result Tim, especially with the oil cooler ! Look forward to seeing some photos .

[mk1coopers]

Great news, I did the same thing using the BT online phone book which also resulted in taking the car down to the old owner so he could see it again and loads of period pictures / tuning receipts

[guru_1071]

thats a good result tim, you cant beat a bit of internet stalking!

[coopertim]

You're not wrong there Rich! I'm really pleased to have found stuff about the car. It relly feels that the restoration has now started. I cant wait to get it into the workshop next month!!

Tim.

[SteveG]

A few weeks ago I managed to contact the owner from 1965 of my 1964 998c Fiesta Yellow cooper. He had some great stories to tell and thinks he has some slides somewhere to send me.

If I keep it / restore it I will drive it round his house as he lives 30 mins from me!

[mk1]

What a cracking tale.

I will have to try the same on my Speedwell car as the DVLA enquiry was a dead end.