36 replies to this topic

[THE ANORAK]

got myself a bargain at the birmingham MOC show today, a new boot lid lock for the new cooper project.

looking through our goodies tonight, i was messing with the lock (which seems to be brand new) and wondered if the origional keys for the car would fit. it would be nice to have the one key opening the doors and the boot

got the keys for the car and to my amazement the new lock has exactly the same key numbers as the origional locks

now, either i have just had a very rare stroke of good luck

or...

the keys for all the locks on minis have a very limited number range and most of us could probably get into each others cars

does anyone know anything about now many different keys there are out there ????

[bert998]

i opened my mini with my locker key without even realising

[THE ANORAK]

[mini93]

i was told that theres only about 30-40 different keys, not very good

[alexcrosse]

yer, people share minis'! lmao.

Mk1 escort were worse tho i think, lk 15 keys or somin silly. Back in the days where people didnt steal cars (i.e. there wernt chavs)

[minili]

I managed to unlock my mini with the key only half way in, wasn't intentional lol.

Someone I know, I forget who, said that they and their friends could just about all get into each others minis because the keys and locks are rubbish - none of them have the same markings in the keys though. Just rubbish locks lol

[minipip]

i think the original cut number was 10

[Dan]

Errrm, I'm surprised at you not knowing this Anorak!

There's very few keys for all British classics of a certain age. Haven't you ever seen the guys selling original equipment keys off a board at shows? They have an orange and black board of about A3 size with rows of keys on it and that is every different key for Minis, MGs, Triumphs, Land Rovers etc. You used to just front up at the Rover dealer and ask for a key by the number, they had all the keys in stock all the time because there weren't many and gave them to anyone. I think there's around 100 altogether but they are very similar to each other and once a lock or a key is a little worn you can open them with pretty much any key from the same group, also they weren't all used on all cars so the Miini probably only used a couple of groups from the list. I replaced the barrels on my Mini when I got it because it had three different locks, none of which would open with each others keys. I changed them all out so that I had a single key for all the doors and then found that all three of the original keys would then open the new locks as well, even though they wouldn't open each other.

The key number shouldn't be on the barrel though, at least not on the outside section.

Edited by Dan, 17 June 2007 - 10:26 PM.

[furiousjim]

ive heard of people sticking spoons in their ingnitions

[lemmingzappa]

makes me worry about my mini

[mini25]

my uncle came round to look at my mini while i was out and i had taken the keys

so he unlocked it with the key from his gilbern invader (a triumph based fibreglass car)

[Elfie]

My wolseley 16/60 didn't come with a key and I used a small screwdriver to lock doors, start ignition and everything for about 2 months. Only thing we couldnt get into was the boot.
Eventually found a key off an old landrover that fitted

[Daveuk]

thinking twice about security and locks now.......!!!!

[OllyD]

For those now concerned about the security of their car, it's a bit late for that isn't it?! You could have the most complicated barrel in the world, and someone could still make off with a mini in about 60 seconds if they wanted. Just gotta rely on a wing and a prayer!

[davidh]

I always fit a deadlock too......
someone determind will steal it no matter what, but every little helps deter the casual ned