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Can any of you experts out there tell me the date when they started to recess the front screen
On my roof chop that i understood was a 1964 shell i have no recess and i thought by then they were recessed.
Of course it could have been modified when the chop was done in the 60's but i am curious

They changed to recessed in October 1960 according to the '59 register's website.

Glad someone asked this, was meaning to for my '61

Is this the same case for the rear screen too?

the roof chop rear screen is not recessed but i am no expert on this, i shall have a look tonight at my 65 cooper s and see if they recessed them.

The date of late 1960 has thrown me a big curve ball, let me try and explain my pridicament.
i brought the car back in 1987 as a roof chop car on a B reg plate.
the car had been serioulsy modified over its previous life that included
3''roof chop
flip front, c/w brace bars and inner wings removed
modified rear floor
Vanden plas 1300 dash board.
no engine
twin tanks
mk 2 rear lights fitted
modified support cross brace under dash where the old switch panel was
modified bulkhead with air box and also 2 groves presumably for twin su jets
The car is also a dry suspension
over the years i have inserted a 1400 engine with weber 45
rebuilt everything except changing the front sub frame (that incedently has 4 studs to the top not bolts), but this has been re vamped
it does have brackets for opening side windows

now for the confusing bit, i brought a 6 wheel mini scamp of someone who was building a new one back in the late 80's i then used the roof chop number plate on the scamp as i aslo had a 1961 shell and log book that has been in family from new, i then over time sold the scamp along with the B reg plate, and for the life of me i cannot remember the rest of the reg.

Now over the years i have rebuilt the roof chop including a new mk 3 floor as i just could not afford a mk 1 floor at the time.
so the big question is where can i find dateble items bearing in mind the following
the floor has been changed
the front has been cut off (so no sign of sunvisor holes)
the dash has been changed
no engine or box
the items i have checked are
the regulator (1967)
the wiper moter (1972)
The boot lock catch appears to be missing but i may have it somewhere.
windscreen is laminated with a 2 '' chop
as i write this the only place i have not looked at is the high beam switch,
i also have some very , very faint numbers on the off side triangular area by the bulkhead/inner wing.

so as you can see i have quite a task infront of me trying to properly date this car so ANY help would be appreciated and if anyone remebers any roof chops (not sprints) that was modified in the 60's and used on track by White rose engineering then i would very much like to hear about it.

Is this the same case for the rear screen too?

Yes.

Ok a little update for you.
Over the increased doubt over my cars age i did manage to dig out the high beam switch and after a clean up i found april 65. A bit later than i had hoped for but again not tying in the recessed screens.
So i thought drastic action was needed so took an electric file tothe faint numbers on the offside bulkhead stiffining trianglular bit and after some work and desifering i have got the numbers

39462

Having looked in the original mini cooper and s book by parnell it makes no direct mention of this number so is this classed as the chassis or body no. Or is it simply a manufacturing no.
If it is the body no. I think this would make it around May 65 so would tie in with the high beam switch but not with the recessed screens or the 64 plate that was on the car
My current thoughts are that it may be a 65 car and the screen recess modified when the chop was done and for what ever reason a 64 plate was put on it at some time.
Any other thoughts or am i just going round in circles

That number the number's of the chassis number so you can work out the year of the car from that number and work out the full chassis number by inserting the relevant details ie. Austin or Morris right or left hand drive etc. Which by my reckoning makes it a 64/65 car......

It's the chassis number, end of July 1960

Bill
If thats the case it would tie in with the non recessed screens.
Is there information availe on these early chassis no or is it just down to the vast experiance of a handful of guys?
I would really like to research this information but dont really know where to look.
Would dvla be able to help or would british heritage be able to work with that no.
Cheers in advance

It'll be BMIHT. You'll need to establish if its an Austin or Morris. Two ways to tell, original paint or the easiest is to see if it has a BMK tag (or more likely if he two holes are present in the bulkhead where the tag used to be)

http://1959miniregister.com/variations-numbers/

Scroll down a little and the BMK numbers are about 3rd down.

If there is a BMK number or the holes where one was its a Morris, if there is no evidence of it then it's an Austin

Then give BMIHT the chassis number and Austin or Morris and they will give you the information, either a dating letter or Heritage Certificate. They are VERY busy though so there is a back log.

Thanks bill
Can you inform me whereabouts on the bulkhead i should be looking and if its from the engine bay side.
I have had a quick look and the only 'pairs' of holes look to big for self tappers.
I have paid the heritage people for an online and email search agaist an austin so we shall see what they come up with.
Did morris and austin share chassis numbers or did they both have seperate batches?

With the chassis nr from the triangular stiffener bmiht will tell you if it's Austin or Morris. I think it costs 5

There are duplicate sets of numbers but the prefix is different, so there will be an Austin A/A2S7-39462 and a Morris M/A2S4-39462. If they only have the 39462 then it's not possible to know which book to look in. If 1 of them is a LHD export and the other a RHD etc it might be possible to say which yours is most likely to be.

The holes are to the right (as you look at the engine bay) of the speedo hole roughly where the washer bottle goes 61 onwards.

The tag is about 50mm long ish.

i read up on a couple of things and found out you can do an email enquiery to the heritage lot.
Cost me £6.00.
best i have ever spent (apart from the site donations).
they were exceptionally helpful and after a little more information they gave me 2 options.
Austin was a van so highly unlikley
or the morris was an August 1960 in white,(the original colour of the car as far as i could tell)
so it blows my idea of this being a 64 car, but the hard work now begins.
Heritage will issue a certificate that may help but will njot come up with an original reg so the only other thing to try would be to contact DVLa but i must admit i am alittle concerned that although i have 'owned 'this car for 27 years it might actually not be mine.
more likely it was involved in a crash and then modified from there but it is a potential hornets ( no its a mini ) nest.
but thatnk you all for the information especially Bill from the 59 club.

Great result, well done. Happy to help in any small way I can.

You'll be able to get a new V5c for it with an age related plate, sadly the DVLA won't hold information on the car without knowing the old registration number.

Bill