22 replies to this topic

[Brentonmcgrath]

HI Im an Australian living in Japan. As a kid I had 3 minis. One was a cooper. i loved it and have always wanted another. I am a panel beater and have done many retorations for other people but have always wanted to get another cooper or cooper S and do it just for me.
I went for a walk last week and found an unregistered round nose mini sitting with no number plates and flat tyers sitting in an apartment car park.

It had morris Cooper S badges on the bonnet and boot, cooper bumpers and twin tanks

I was speaking to a tenant and he said a guy use to drive it but he split with his girl friend and then she drove it but it broke down and she left it and shifted away and its sat there for a year.

On closer look I found the following

The right hand tank was a fake
its badged as a morris but its a Rover
the hinges on the outside of the doors are really just lookalike hinges or door stops as the car has inner door hinges.
The speedo goes to 130 mph
it has a 1275 motor
it has a single fuel injected carby
air con
additional eletric radiator fan
the engine has a black metal rocker cover with a cooper emblem
the engine number is a cooper number as the best I can find from the net

so the car has boiled and has no radiator cap and no brake fluid but this doesnt bother me

the thing is I dont want to waste my time on a mini unless its a cooper or cooper S
at the moment I have not found an ID plate either
so my questions are

Where is the ID plate fitted as not under the bonnet?
does the 1275 only come in the Rover cooper? the engine number starts with 12A2EF77
did the rover cooper have these fake door hinges fitted?
i have found a body number on the top of the grille panel, can I tell if it is a cooper from these numbers? B20S 932447A
any other advice to identify it or any advice I look forward to your help

I can also post or email photos to help with the identification

I look forward to hearing your comments and help
what can I do to make sure it is a cooper or cooper S

BRENTON

Attached Files

•  Mini_cooper_S_006.jpg   1.06MB   133 downloads

[stickycreambun]

Hiya welcome!

Im no expert on the export side of things, but going from the engine number code list that is a cooper engine! woo!
like I said, it may be different over there, but it sounds to me like that may well be a Rover Cooper, that someone has re-badged as a mk1 style Cooper. I cant imagine any left the factory with fake external hinges, none did over here anyway. Im not sure what you mean single fuel injected carby? I think it should have been a MPI.

Good luck

[Marroon]

Id say its a very well done look-a-like, early mk1's had rounded bottoms of the doors, and a piano hinge n the rear opening window.

However that looks like its already been restored and alot of money spent on it, overrider bumpers, chrome door mouldings, mk1 rear light conversion, twin petrol tanks...

If its cheap , it would be worth buying just to sell on again! And if it is somthing a little dodgy, youll get alot of money back on parts if you break it, i belive theres a big market for mini parts in japan too.

[Retro_10s]

The engine is from an 1990> SPi Cooper (Single point fuel injection NOT carb). It has a 3.2 final drive - uses a closes loop catalyst system and the compression ratio is 10.0:1

So basically it's a 1990's made to look a lot older than it really is. Has it got an old registration plate too?

[leaky]

See how much he wants for it. It would be worth buying even if its not a cooper. It also looks to be in a good condition considering its been sat for a year.

[Brentonmcgrath]

See how much he wants for it. It would be worth buying even if its not a cooper. It also looks to be in a good condition considering its been sat for a year.

I checked again it has a single piont fuel injection motor and a single carby.
Another thing is it doesnt have an oil cooler but i have read that some early Rover coopers didnt.

as for the money side of it I can have the car for free if I take it away
In Japan it costs a fortune to dump a car
in reality there is no where to dump them and there is no dealers where I live that fix , sell or deal in them so owners pay huge money to get them fixed or just leave them and go away

its the reason why the plates have been removed

I have many pictures I can show you but not sure where to upload them all on this site
Brenton

Attached Files

•  Mini_cooper_S_008.jpg   415.98K   23 downloads
•  Mini_cooper_S_009.jpg   933.12K   62 downloads
•  Mini_cooper_S_002.jpg   949.03K   55 downloads
•  Mini_cooper_S_005.jpg   774.09K   33 downloads

[mighty mini jack]

Wow!

Free, thats bloody good!

[mab01uk]

1990's Rover Cooper SPI Japan export (with air con) given retro Mk1 look as is popular in Japan..........for free you would be mad not to take it!!!!!!

I think the registration plates are assigned to the owner rather than the car in Japan, so they move them to their next car?

Edited by mab01uk, 15 May 2009 - 11:50 AM.

[Brentonmcgrath]

1990's Rover Cooper SPI Japan export (with air con) given retro Mk1 look as is popular in Japan..........for free you would be mad not to take it!!!!!!

I think the registration plates are assigned to the owner rather than the car in Japan, so they move them to their next car?

The plates in Japan can go with the owner its up to he person when you register it.
But the owners have moved on an just left it now

The main thing to know is that its a cooper.
Did the ealry Rover minis come as a cooper S or just a Cooper?

also do you know where the ID plates would be fitted so I can check it out?
that is if they are still in the same place.

I cannot see them under the bonnet

Brenton

Attached Files

•  Mini_cooper_S_003.jpg   870.54K   13 downloads
•  Mini_cooper_S_001.jpg   910.21K   18 downloads

[GraemeC]

The VIN number should be stamped into the gutter on the front of the scuttle panel (if the scuttle is original). The original VIN plate would have been on the driver's side inner wing.

[mk1leg]

The Japs love ripping off all modern stuff and then refitting all mk1 retro stuff the've done it for years......see mini30 vid or dvd...........

[taffy1967]

Yes then enthusiasts over here started to do the same.

Trouble is we copied 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here' from one of their disturbing game shows (it was called 'Endurance' I think?) and so every year we have to watch people eating bugs and stuff. Or we can simply switch channels which is what I tend to do.

Either way, not all Japanese ideas are good ideas to be adopted, but retro kitting out newer Minis is fine.

[MiniMonty]

It looks like someone has put some serious effort (and money) into getting the retro look on that.

10" wheels, MK1 rear lights (done properly), retro side repeaters, over riders, corner bars, tripod lights,
all the badges, wing mirrors, rear plate set up...
It wouldn't have been exported in that colour combo either.
I bet the interior is pure 1963.
Someone spent a fortune having all that done.
That's a ruby in the dust mate.

A late Rover Mini with what looks like a pro job of retro detailing.
I'd bite your hand off if you offered it to me for FREE.

As it's a right hand drive you could probably even send it back to Blighty and (I'd guess) make a
killing if you found the right buyer / dealer.

Best wishes
Monty

[mini_mad69]

Looks like a SPI mini thats had the retro treatment. I'm not sure what you mean by carby. But it's a single point injection system on that.

Also that ram-air air filter is rediculously loud, ive been in an spi with one and its silly, ive got one on my hif44 and thats even louder.


Bite the persons arm off to take it.

Ben

[Aria Aradhea]

On closer look I found the following

The right hand tank was a fake
its badged as a morris but its a Rover
the hinges on the outside of the doors are really just lookalike hinges or door stops as the car has inner door hinges.
The speedo goes to 130 mph
it has a 1275 motor
it has a single fuel injected carby
air con
additional eletric radiator fan
the engine has a black metal rocker cover with a cooper emblem
the engine number is a cooper number as the best I can find from the net

The fake hinges are a popular mod in Japan. The electric fan are standard equipment to contend with the higher running temperature caused by the Aircon operation. AFAIK, there are no Rover Mini Cooper S (factory produced, that is). There were the Cooper S conversion kit done by John Cooper Garages that make the Rover Cooper into essentially a Cooper S. When the Cooper went injection, there were the Cooper Si tuning kit from John Cooper Garages, visually identifiable by the chrome rocker cover and an authentication plaque.

If the engine number checks out as a Cooper, than it will probably be a Cooper, though Japanese Coopers have a different (lower) compression ratio than the UK Coopers and perhaps the final drive is different too, although I'm not sure about it.

If you can get it for free, then I'd say go for it! Japanese Minis are fun, mostly rust free, and the aircon is a godsent (too me, anyway )...