mk1-forum.net

Hello all,

I've just joined and I have a pair of Mk1 minis.

I have a 1964 Morris Mini Minor Super Deluxe (surf blue with a white roof) which is a solid, standard car but requires restoration and a 1963 Morris Cooper 997 which was restored a few years ago.

The Cooper is currently Almond Green/white roof and requires a repaint. I have been told that although the car was originally supplied to Stewart and Ardern in the factory colours of Almond Green/white roof, once delivered, the new owner had the car repainted in two-tone metallic grey/silver with new bespoke brocade trim fitted in dark grey instead of green.

Can any details from Stewart and Ardern be verified?

Many thanks,
Mark

Welcome,

Cant help with the Stewart and Arden aspect but Ive got a similar 850, a '63 Mini Minor, also in Surf blue and OEW
Post a afew pictures up.

Hello miniminor,

I need to take some better photos of my car...
I've also amended the description of my 850 to read correctly (Morris Mini Minor Super Deluxe)

Mark

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have a couple of very nice cars & that the 997 has an interesting history too.

As you are probably aware, Stewart & Ardern disappeared in the early 1970's & as far as anyone is aware there are no meaningful company records that have survived or are at least publicly available. I spent a lot of time chasing my tail when I was researching the S&A Mini Sprints.

I have also had contact from a few other people who were trying to find similar info, none of which have been successful.

If your car still have it's original number, you may be able to glean some info from the old council registration records, these are surprisingly complete in some areas & are non existent in others though.

Please keep us posted with your progress.

M

Hi, I have 3 x 64 SDLs in the family, welcome to the forum

New brocade in a different colour sounds very unusual to me by the way.

mk1 wrote:Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have a couple of very nice cars & that the 997 has an interesting history too.

As you are probably aware, Stewart & Ardern disappeared in the early 1970's & as far as anyone is aware there are no meaningful company records that have survived or are at least publicly available. I spent a lot of time chasing my tail when I was researching the S&A Mini Sprints.

I have also had contact from a few other people who were trying to find similar info, none of which have been successful.

If your car still have it's original number, you may be able to glean some info from the old council registration records, these are surprisingly complete in some areas & are non existent in others though.

Please keep us posted with your progress.

M

Hello Mark,

I'll definitely keep you posted with any progress with the local council from that time.
I was not aware that councils had registration records? (I always assumed that the DVLA or similar kept these records)

Best regards,
Mark

Up until 1974 all records were kept by local councils. This was taken over by the DLVA as the system was computerised. Most Councils have kept their old paper records, but some have been lost over time.

This is an example of a very good Council, some are not so

https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandar ... gistration

Council records can be invaluable in tracing the recorded history of a car.

Thanks for the example,

I will try the local London councils first, then the Hants council? (as that is where it spent a lot of years)

In the meantime, I hope to find images of other minis that were painted in two-tone paint schemes offered by Stewart & Ardern.
As the car was only ever in its factory green/white paint for a very short period of time I am leaning towards returning it to the colour scheme that the first customer ordered, it will be interesting to know if they used a special scheme or if they simply followed the factory layout of body colour/roof colour?

Mark

The bad news is that London is one of the worst for missing records.

maybe one of our resident record tracking experts would like to comment?

AndyPen wrote:Hi, I have 3 x 64 SDLs in the family, welcome to the forum

New brocade in a different colour sounds very unusual to me by the way.

sorry that wasn't written very well...

what I meant was that bespoke trim was used (dark grey vinyl instead of the original green) with brocade inserts.
I have no idea if the brocade insert trim was silver or gold?

Mark