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I hope someone can help me with some doubts i have from seeing lots of pictures of early minis which show a lot of differences between them

For instance, I have seen red minis with grey fleck seats and plain red door cards but also I have seen some with plain grey fleck door cards. So, was there a standard here to either match the door cards to the grey fleck or to the color of the car? Same doubt with dash panels, wich in some cases for grey fleck interior I have seen a plain white dash panel sorrounding the speedo.

Also, when was the white morris grille fitted instead of the chrome one?

Did all early minis have the door kick plate, and if so, was it a rule to only fit the black ones to the morris and the chrome ones to the austin?

thanx a lot.

I have seen red minis with grey fleck seats and plain red door cards but also I have seen some with plain grey fleck door cards. So, was there a standard here to either match the door cards to the grey fleck or to the color of the car? Same doubt with dash panels, wich in some cases for grey fleck interior I have seen a plain white dash panel sorrounding the speedo.

Early cars had a LOT of variation in trim. This was to some extent due to supply interuptions & shortages & to some extent BMC still experimenting to see what sold well.

As a rule the earliest cars had door cards the same colour as the trim (ie not grey fleck) where as later cars as a rule had grey fleck door cards. Dash panels are usually grey fleck. I have onlt seen one car with white crackl;e dash cards & that was made as a 1 off and is "wrong".

Also, when was the white morris grille fitted instead of the chrome one?

Morris had white grille & Austin Chrome for the first 2 or 3 years of production. Someone better on dates will be anle to get closer than me.

Did all early minis have the door kick plate,

Yes. Or saloons did anyway.

and if so, was it a rule to only fit the black ones to the morris and the chrome ones to the austin?

Yes, but only upto about april 1961.

Thanx for your answer Mark

the mini basic, never had a kick plate on mk1 or 2

cheapskates

the trim variations are vast.. im not including super/cooper here....
morris deluxe up until nov/dec 59 had flat fleck withblack bottom
austin up till 60 had flat fleck

morris deluxe for 1960 model year has coloured flat vinyl as same color as seat ,but by sep 61 this started to become the fluted type in seat colour.

austin began fluting the fleck door cards in 1960 ,right uptil autumn 61 when the door cards became seat coloured and fluted
seems autumn 61 with the amalgam of austin and morris body colors and trim colours,both makes ran same trim patterns.

i wont get into seats on this thread,,it will take me hours.

dash liners-
morris deluxe till nov/dec 59 were fleck
austin deluxe fleck right through till autumn 62 when the model was deleted
morris deluxe from nov/dec 59 to sep 61 seemed to be headlining grey material,top and bottom

early austin dash liner bottoms have been seen in black,some grey hardura and the slightly later ones in fleck

early morris deluxe liner bottoms are black vinyl while the post nov.dec 59 ,the grey ones are same material

autumn 61 saw morris deluxe dash liners to return to grey fleck like the 59 cars but instead of a black base,this was fleck like the austins.although a few early 62 morris deluxes had a form of a black hardura dash liner bottom,, probably supply difficulties

oct 62 saw the sdl model which always had seat color dash liners with a black liner bottom,wheather austin or morris!!
(not the same color as newton suggest)

the basic dash liners were grey card on early austin and morris,with a black or grey hardura or vinyl bottom liner

for 1960 model yr these were grey plain headlining material on basics,which stayed that way right uptil the mk2

early basics had gray millboard door cards,while for 1960 (late 59 on morris) they were cloth covered millboard up till mar 62 when the basic recieved vinyl trimmed seatrs and ribbed vinyl door cards

as mark says,the early cars had such a variation,,due to supply problems and experimentation of trim changes

the post oct 62 ones are a lot more clear cut ,when not much changed apart from the seat patterning/construction,sunvisor/headlings
thats job for another day

i shall have a cuppa now

hope this helps sombody

I think I need to lie down in a darkened room after reading that post Brook.

sorry,,i just thought it mite help

brook shaw wrote:oct 62 saw the sdl model which always had seat color dash liners with a black liner bottom,wheather austin or morris!!
(not the same color as newton suggest)

The dash liner and rear parcel shelf on my '63 Super Delux are a slightly darker shade of blue to the seats.






One the Morris grille thing, weren't the white grilles on the base models and the chrome on the De-lux cars?

brook shaw wrote:sorry,,i just thought it mite help

On the contrary, your post did help, a lot.
It just amazes me the depth of knowledge you guys on here have about our favourite little car.
I think I know a fair amount about Classic Minis, but to be honest, compared to some of you guys I know sod all in comparison.
Always learning something new every day I'm on here.

i agree, 100%! i did my time with gelstons dartford 40 years ago and i am still learning about these little cars. ian.

looking at the shape of the dash liner,they are deffo recovered or repro
my 2x surf blue 63 cars have matching dash liners to rest of trim

british trim company sometimes struggled matching this colour

whats with the carpets>?
look like coverdale or the ones from somerford
i binned mine,,fitted like a "glove on a chickens head"

yors fit a lot better than mine did,, look much improved tho the centre beading i found a bit over the top

The carpets are Somerford, I got them shortly after buying the car as the carpets it came with were just horrible foam backed things.

The dash liners match the rear shelf vinyl. Can't think why they would have been recovered when the rest of the interior (except carpets) is original.

Thanks for all the information shared, pretty extensive.

surfblue63 wrote:The carpets are Somerford, I got them shortly after buying the car as the carpets it came with were just horrible foam backed things.

The dash liners match the rear shelf vinyl. Can't think why they would have been recovered when the rest of the interior (except carpets) is original.

ive come across a surfy 63 sdl with off color dash liners.
he changed them 20 yrs ago ,got them from btc.
slightly off shade and similar contour to your liner cards

maybe sombody ripped yours while removing a dash card ,,or in all probability bmc couldve also used the morris minor equivalent on yor cards ,,now that is a shade darker,,

goes to show all cars have thier own quirks

my 63 surf blue sdl has a slight shade and grain difference on the rear seat bolster,tho no evidence is there of any repair work done

newtons new powder blue dash liners arent bad at all for color match (ill stick my neck out here),and grain is much better

the rear shelf is ok,if you remove the vinyl,,and stick it to your old shelf without the padding newton are obsessed with fitting to these rear shelves

mite make a difference to your lovely car,sir??

[quote="brook shaw

the rear shelf is ok,if you remove the vinyl,,and stick it to your old shelf without the padding newton are obsessed with fitting to these rear shelves

[/quote]

I know what you mean with the Newton rear shelf. I retrimmed my '93 Sprite with a Monte Carlo kit and had to unpick the staples and trim an 1/8" off each end of the card to get it to lay flat.