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Hiya, could a car registered in May 70 be a late mk2 vehicle? Hung around at dealers while everyone swooned over the sexy mk3? Also it would be registered on a G suffix not an H plate?

An example here:-
1970 MORRIS MINI COOPER S MKII:-
https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/197 ... per-s-mkii

XTF 470H
Vehicle make MORRIS
Date of first registration May 1970
Year of manufacture 1970
Cylinder capacity 1275 cc
Vehicle colour GREEN

Produced between September 1967 and January 1970:-
https://minicooper.org/mk2-cooper-s-register/

My S is an April 1970 and has an "H" suffix. A lot of garages had stock of MK II's

My Dads 64 1071 was built late 64 but sat at the dealership till early 65. It was registered as a 65 with a MZ plate. (N.I.)
It was getting more difficult to sell a 1071 when there were 1275's sitting beside them in the showroom.

Yes thought that would be the case, but didn’t H suffixes come out in August 70?

Jasonking wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 1:05 am Yes thought that would be the case, but didn’t H suffixes come out in August 70?

No. 1969

Indeed so....... I know the whereabouts of an original unrestored and poor condition 998 Mk2 locally.
Early/May '69 manufactured and obviously so because it is snowberry white. From November 69 production the Mk2 colours changed to Mk3 colours so snowberry and black became plain glacier white.
This car is H registered in April 1970. LONG after production of the Mk2 998 Cooper ceased production. So clearly left behind, unsold at a dealers and especially so after late '69 when the little 998 was obsolete. But it still hung around for another 4 months until it was sold.....

H plate ran from August 1st 1969 to July 31st 1970 so it's entirely feasible for a late mk2 to be registered in 1970, as others have confirmed.

I had a February '70 registered Mk2 Morris Mini 1000 in the early '90s and an old family friend had an April '70 registered Mk2 S which was monotone black with a Mk3 boot lid. If memory serves, the last few Mk2 Ss came out of Longbridge in Jan / Feb '70.

This customised Mk2 S has a J plate so was registered long after production ended...

That customised Mk2 S Dunlop Formula 70 ad in all the car magazines at the time was my ultimate Mini 'inspiration' in the 1970's...and still is really, along with all those nostalgic memories of trying to copy it's look on a tight budget!

WMU 211G wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 6:53 pm If memory serves, the last few Mk2 Ss came out of Longbridge in Jan / Feb '70.

That's correct, for some reason the S didn't get the Mk3 shell until March 1970 - according to Parnell 145 of the Mk2 S were built in 1970 whereas the last 998 Coopers were built in November 1969 which explains why very late Mk2s were produced in Mk3 colours.

IslandBlue wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 9:58 pm

WMU 211G wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 6:53 pm If memory serves, the last few Mk2 Ss came out of Longbridge in Jan / Feb '70.

That's correct, for some reason the S didn't get the Mk3 shell until March 1970 - according to Parnell 145 of the Mk2 S were built in 1970 whereas the last 998 Coopers were built in November 1969 which explains why very late Mk2s were produced in Mk3 colours.

Plus some late Mk2s came with Mk3 bootlids...

Interesting shots of Mini production at Longbridge, from the film "A Portrait of a People" released in 1970, which appears to show a mixture of Mk2 Mini saloons (with exposed door hinges/sliding windows) and Mk3 (without) on the production line in 1969. Also Mk2's in the later Mk3 colours as sometimes turn up to this day to confuse enthusiasts. The changeover point..or the Mk3 could also be an early Pre-production press car?
(I witnessed a similar event happening on a visit to the Oxford Cowley MINI Plant a few years ago while on a factory tour.....the tour guide tried but failed to distract our party of MINI enthusiasts from suddenly noticing that a pre-production (not yet officially announced to the press) Mk3 BMW MINI was coming down the line amongst the existing soon to be replaced Mk2 MINI's !)

mab01uk wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 10:54 pm

IslandBlue wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 9:58 pm

WMU 211G wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 6:53 pm If memory serves, the last few Mk2 Ss came out of Longbridge in Jan / Feb '70.

That's correct, for some reason the S didn't get the Mk3 shell until March 1970 - according to Parnell 145 of the Mk2 S were built in 1970 whereas the last 998 Coopers were built in November 1969 which explains why very late Mk2s were produced in Mk3 colours.

Plus some late Mk2s came with Mk3 bootlids...

Interesting shots of Mini production at Longbridge, from the film "A Portrait of a People" released in 1970, which appears to show a mixture of Mk2 Mini saloons (with exposed door hinges/sliding windows) and Mk3 (without) on the production line in 1969. Also Mk2's in the later Mk3 colours as sometimes turn up to this day to confuse enthusiasts. The changeover point..or the Mk3 could also be an early Pre-production press car?
(I witnessed a similar event happening on a visit to the Oxford Cowley MINI Plant a few years ago while on a factory tour.....the tour guide tried but failed to distract our party of MINI enthusiasts from suddenly noticing that a pre-production (not yet officially announced to the press) Mk3 BMW MINI was coming down the line amongst the existing soon to be replaced Mk2 MINI's !)

Some of these cars may of been on order for months, so customer would of been expecting ext door hinges, where as some could be advance orders for dealers or stock cars…….It would be convenient for have an exact cut off date, but that is not how manufacturing and sales work…..

You would probably of been over the moon to get a MK2 bootlid in your “Pre face lift” mini….
.
.

At least one very early Clubman (built before the Mark III 850/1000) was painted Smowberry white with the Elf Hornet door handles.

John Hammel's W&P Mk2 S had a Mk3 boot lid from new but still kept the Mk1 / 2 hinged number plate arrangement...

Better pic...


I first came across this fabulous car in the car park at Stoneleigh in 1999, it was owned by a guy called Andy Stewart then and was painted Rolls Royce Regal Red, it took my breath away as it looked so damned cool. Andy sold it back to John Hammel who then had it repainted back into the dark blue that W&P did it in back in 1969.

Costafortune wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2024 10:21 am At least one very early Clubman (built before the Mark III 850/1000) was painted Smowberry white with the Elf Hornet door handles.

I wonder what the reason was for changing the Elf Hornet door handles for the Mk3 Mini production?

WMU 211G wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2024 10:56 am Better pic...

WP MK2 S JH 18986739 (1).jpg

I first came across this fabulous car in the car park at Stoneleigh in 1999, it was owned by a guy called Andy Stewart then and was painted Rolls Royce Regal Red, it took my breath away as it looked so damned cool. Andy sold it back to John Hammel who then had it repainted back into the dark blue that W&P did it in back in 1969.

I agree...like you say a fabulous car and it looks so dammed cool!

I was one of those who got a VERY late Mk2 Cooper, in glacier, in December 1969 after returning home from Australia. There were many strange features, such as the 'other-side' grommets for cack-handed wiper wheelboxes. The most obvious was the boot lid as has been mentioned before.
INTERNALLY, it was double skinned and ribbed
EXTERNALLY, it had the long flat Mk3 number plate space but it also had the internal threaded plate for the hinged number plate brackets. I never saw another version of that 'intermediate' boot lid

This meant that after a few days, when I wanted to remove the hinged number plate stuff (as we all seemed to do.....) and put the number plate and light directly onto the boot, I either had to drill through BOTH skins for the 4x long bolts or do what I did......... Drill through both skins and used a 3/4" tank cutter on the inside so that the washers and lock-nuts would close up on the outer skin. It never had holes for the little 2-part Mk2 badge either

Even then, between the inner and outer skins I could ominously see rust already forming so it got a xxxxing good dosing of oil spray.

There is always a question as to when, exactly or near-to, what chassis number did the paint colours change on the Mk2's, to Mk3 colours