1963 1071 Cooper S - info wanted

[Flygirl]

Hi guys, hoping someone can chime in on this. We are trying to locate more details on a 1071 race car we are currently restoring. Bit of an odd-ball car, it has been in the US from early 1966 to last October when it was imported it to Canada. The US history is easy to follow with local knowledge and race log books, but the details regarding the car before it got to North America are scarce.

The title is for a 1963 RHD 1071 Austin Cooper S, Surf Blue. Build date is July 1st, 1963, and it left the factory on July 8th to the Stour Valley Motor Company in Stourbridge. Sometime between August 1964 and before it went to the US in early 1966, it was re-shelled with the body of a RHD Tweed Grey 1964 Morris Super-de-Luxe. This car was built July 31st and dispatched to Appleyards of Bradford on August 4th, 1964.

Whomever preformed the re-shell was very careful to take all the right bits off the Surf Blue 1071, including reapplication of the vinyl upper dash and A-pillers, 850 shifter blanking plate, boot brackets, trim, and all mechanical bits. Strangely, the Tweed Grey donor shell was then sprayed a medium blue with a silver roof, not Surf blue. This paint job was very thorough, with everything in the interior stripped out, other than the lower vinyl dash rail. There were a number of "rally-ish" items on the car when we got it, including a Lucas dimming mirror, voltage regulator/fuse panel dash mount, rally light hole in the roof (blanked off), start switch on the driver's door, and other things not normally associated with a road racer, certainly not a North American one for that era.

The first US owner (now deceased) declared he purchased the car from "a privateer close to the BMC Works teams who rallied the car and had brought it over for the 1966 Sebring 4 hour race". There is nothing available to verify or disprove this statement. It seems improbable that anyone would remember anything about this car, or that there are photos or records of a medium blue rally car with a sliver roof, or a (wrecked?) Surf Blue 1071....or for that matter a Tweed Grey one! I don't have any other documents beyond the Heritage Certificates for both cars and the Ohio State registration for the 1071. This photo shows the medium blue colour detail and key location on the driver's door: http://www.toyboxracing.com/i/1963%20Cooper%20S/027.JPG

Unanswered questions are numerous! Any thoughts are appreciated.

Cheers,
Rachel

[KA2S4]

Interesting story!

Is that metallic blue?

The Arden Engineering car was Met blue/Silver.

[Pete]

This could be another great find !

As James says that colour does look very Arden ! Steve Neal's Arden 1071 race car '129 LNP' was Surf Blue and was later rallied on the Monte with a roof light on it !! The Stourbridge dealer connection looks promising also as Steve Neal lived nearby. This does sound very exciting !! I've sent a message to Steve Neal to ask about it's possible journey to Sebring.

I've got a very good feeling about this !

[guru_1071]

sounds like a find and a half

[nick@dunsdale]

post's like this are another reason the forum should be kept alive !! somehow

Interesting cars coming to light

[Gray]

A few more pics on their great website:
http://www.toyboxracing.com/albums/albu ... 763710.htm

[Flygirl]

Thanks guys for your ideas, and anything that might turn up!

The blue is quite metallic in colour, and this was sprayed down over the Tweed Grey with no other colour in between. After it was purchased by the US buyer, he painted the exterior "Wedgewood Blue", his signature colour for all his race cars. At some point quite a bit of the interior was also painted flat black, but not the doors, which are still the metallic blue on the inside. The car also had the Rose petal wheels on it.

Cheers,
Rachel

[Chris64]

post's like this are another reason the forum should be kept alive !! somehow

Interesting cars coming to light

Absolutely Nick - what a great story this is and the other post from Fass both within a couple of days of each other - viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7674

[ivor badger]

The blue looks a bit dark for an Arden car, but that might just be the colour balance on the camera. The photo of Alec Poole on the grid looks dark as well.

My thoughts on looking at the photos were, does the back not flex a bit with coil spring dampers fitted and the arches not welded properly to the side panels?

[guru_1071]

My thoughts on looking at the photos were, does the back not flex a bit with coil spring dampers fitted and the arches not welded properly to the side panels?

active ride innit.....

[Pete]

Shame the steel front has gone, it ran (as a 1275) 576's on the bonnet on the Monte in '65. It was an Austin which ties up well with all the other evidence like the paint, the roof hole, the original 1071 and colour, the supplying dealer, it's all there ! I've asked Norman Seeney for his opinion and I'll report back, but I'm very optimistic that it's 129 LNP, Steve Neal/Arden's first Cooper S racer.

[guru_1071]

if it is, id say that this and the Spanish downton car on the other thread will have to go down as the best pair of period race cars with strong period competition history to have turned up in years.

question is, which one would you choose to have in your garage...............

[mk1]

This sounds very interesting indeed! I look forward to following the thread with interest.

M

[Gray]

If it is what it is perceived to be that throws another question to the mixing pot, should it be rebuilt to period spec or has it gone to far to worry about putting it back and just use it and enjoy it ?? It can always be retro-restored if so desired.

[ivor badger]

There is a point missing from these discussions and maybe it requires a new thread. Most mini racers were built privately from a collection of parts for club racing. Ie, find a decent shell and work from there. The ones photographed with reg numbers and newly registered are normally works/ dealer supported cars running in the British saloon car championship. These have to meet international regulations with homologated parts. As the cars passed their use by date in the BSCC, they would slip down into private hands and club racing to special saloon regs. This meant any mod within extremely loose rules went. Shells would get damaged and the best available= cheapest used as a replacement

[Pete]

The ones photographed with reg numbers and newly registered are normally works/ dealer supported cars running in the British saloon car championship.

..and yet I've oodles of photographs of early club races with virtually all the cars with registration numbers on, not just BSCC races . Alot of these early cars were little more than road cars until saloon car racing became that popular and regs relaxed that much that off road cars started to become purpose built as you say with little regards to any identity so to speak. '129 LNP' falls into the first catagory and I suspect it's supposed remnants pictured on the link fall into the second. Neal also had an early club race car at the same time which was registered 551 BUY.

[ivor badger]

There is a situation where people raced their road cars, especially up to the mid 60s. That had virtually disappeared by 1970, except where the car would have to be road registered for the class. Since a car used purely on the track could put any number it liked, it was not an unknown for drivers just to invent numbers. One of the most famous was Les leston's lotus Elite DAD10, which apparently was never registered and the number just applied to the bonnet.

[steve1071]

if it is, id say that this and the Spanish downton car on the other thread will have to go down as the best pair of period race cars with strong period competition history to have turned up in years.

question is, which one would you choose to have in your garage...............

I missed the Spanish Downton car, is it on this forum?

[guru_1071]

don't forget that many club racers drove their cars to the circuits as well, so they had to be 'road legal' - clive tricket is a perfect example of this

only 'posh' people could afford a tow car and a trailer as well!

[Pete]

I missed the Spanish Downton car, is it on this forum?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7674