6 replies to this topic

[Cooperman]

Having been to the French Alps and Switzerland I hadn't seen a Mini until I was just walking into Geneva Airport and there was a matt black Mini driving out of the airport.
I was remembering a chap named Alan who was an apprentice working in the design office where I worked back in 1969. In fact he sat next to me and did some detail drawings on the job I was working on which was the Concorde droop-nose. Now Alan had a nice little 63 Mini n850 in almond green and when he discovered that I had a 1275 Cooper 'S' we spent time chatting about Minis. I found a standard 850 head for him which he set out to modify. He did some gas-flowing himself then got a buddy in the machine shop to skim a bit off to raise the C.R. We discussed modyfing the dizzy to give a bit more top-end advance and off he went home to Norfolk one weekend to fit it all, together with a slightly richer needle.
On the Monday back at work he told me he thought it was going much better and would I like to go out with him at lunchtime to tell him how I thought it went now.
This we did and he proceeded along this country road, flat out and going well. Going well, that is, until he got to a 90 degree right hander. He braked too late and too deeply into the corner, then the car oversteered as he came off the brakes and the left rear wheel slid onto the grass verge. We might have been OK, but there was a drainage gulley at right angles to the road which the rear wheel went into. The sub-frame folded under and the car rolled one-and-three-quarter times, finishing in the road and finished.
We climbed out and I said, "well, you wanted to know how I think your car goes, I think it rolls beautifully!".
However, the car was fully-comp insured and he bought the salvage back from the insurer. I found him a good 2nd hand rolling shell for sensible money and with the help of a couple of fellow engineering apprentices he re-built it into a very nice car again and had a bit of cash left over.
I think he also learned not to drive faster than he knew how to - a valuable lesson indeed.
The Old Bill turned up and I told them that that Alan had tried really hard to avoid a fox which had run into the road. We had a discussion about trying to avoid animals and the police officer just said to "run the bl***y thing over next time", and he "hoped that the damage would be easy to fix". Nice bloke he was.

[mike.]

Dam foxes

[coopdog]

was the moded dizzy ok?

[AndyMiniMad.]

Concorde....Now there was an engineering gem. I never got the chance to fly in one. Although they used to go over our old house in london regularly. Glad you and your mate wernt hurt in that crash Uncle Cooperman, sounds like you had a lucky escape.....Dammed foxes! I once hit a stag so hard in an astra that its head came through the screen and its arse peeled the door skin off and deposited its guts all over the legs of my passenger. Im glad I wasnt in my mini that day. Bloody wildlife.

[Cooperman]

was the moded dizzy ok?

From memory it worked fine.
There was a book out around that time by a well-known Mini race driver named Clive Tricky and he detrailed what to do to modify the bob-weights to allow a bit more total mechanical advance. We didn't have Aldon Automotive to provide customised dizzys back then.

[Cooperman]

Concorde....Now there was an engineering gem. I never got the chance to fly in one. Although they used to go over our old house in london regularly. Glad you and your mate wernt hurt in that crash Uncle Cooperman, sounds like you had a lucky escape.....Dammed foxes! I once hit a stag so hard in an astra that its head came through the screen and its arse peeled the door skin off and deposited its guts all over the legs of my passenger. Im glad I wasnt in my mini that day. Bloody wildlife.

The money I earned working on Concorde design paid the deposit on my first house!
My son and I restored a Cooper 998 for rallying when he was just 20. We took it out after running-in and setting up to do a fast test in the lanes near Hitchin late at night. He drove it first and with 73 bhp from 998 it went quite well. Then I drove it and at about 80 mph in a high-banked single-track lane I hit a muntjac deer with the front offside. It killed the deer and gave the Mini a nasty headache. I felt bad about bending Mike's newly restored and prepared car, but I fitted a new front wing, a new Cibie headlight and painted it all in a couple of days and all was well. In fact my son just said "hasta la vista, Bambi".

[minilester]

uncle cooperman your stories do put a smile on my face... this is what this forum is all about, not just tips on modding minis or where to find that period bit to finish off a 1963 cooper, but stories on where we have been and the fun we have been up to in our minis (and ours sons too) glad your back from ya'hols, hope you had a nice trip.


...do keep those stories coming