44 replies to this topic

[blackbelt1990]

Just after as many pictures and as much info I can about this car(s) which are from the Cooper Car Co.

Thanks, Ryan

[pogie]

That's the car I based the look of my RSP on, ISTR it's owned by one of the leading lights in the Mini Cooper Register.

I've seen it a few times at the annual MCR Beaulieu show and it's one of the Cooper Car Company, British Saloon Championship circuit racers from the late 60s and is a MKII 1275 S. It has an 8 port head with mechanical fuel injection but apart from that I don't know too much about the spec of the engine. I took quite a few photos of it as I was going to get the stripes and sign writing made up by a local graphics firm, but when my car came back from being painted I decided I preferred it plain. Also with my cars door handles being lower and the side indicators on the front wings would have meant that the stripes would have had to cut through both. Rover had a similar stripe set as an option on the MPI Coopers. Also my car is black and the one above is a deep green with maybe a hint of metallic in it.

The photos are tucked away somewhere but I haven't got access to a scanner at the moment, I will scan them and put them up when we have finished decorating and I get my desk back.

My car -

Attached Files

•  Mini_Ins_Pics_007a.JPG   121.47K   63 downloads

Edited by pogie, 28 March 2008 - 11:52 PM.

[THE ANORAK]

basically the cooper car co. was john coopers company from which he ran the saloon car teams. they had unofficial BMC backing from 1962 and official backing from 1964. when the works budget was slashed in 1969/1970 cooper went on with the cooper-britax-downton team (yellow cars).

cooper sold ownership of the name to Marks and Spencer heir Jonathan Sieff, but remained a technical director. after it all closed down Cooper opened John Cooper Garages in Ferring.

there's not a lot documented about the team to be honest. i guess the basic look of the cars should be like this....



but they varied slightly over the years depending on the sponsorship so you can play with the look quite a lot...



the 1998 cooper sports LE did have a set of decals based on this look and a few genuine sets of these stickers were available from mini sport over the last few years, i wasn't aware that they were available as an option. you can see another cooper car in the rear of this pic with a toned down look. the important thing to remember is that the bonnet stripes go all the way up to the window, a feature seen on all of John Cooper's personal cars



this has also come to light recently. its one of the prototypes for the rover cooper. basically a Mayfair with an MG metro engine. this also features decals similar to the Cooper car co. ones....

Edited by THE ANORAK, 29 March 2008 - 10:56 AM.

[Dan]

The British Vita Racing sidestripes weren't an option, they only came on the special edition mentioned by Anorak. The only optional body side stripe kit for the MPi was the zipper set.

Cooper Car Company was more than simply a saloon car (the predecessor of the Touring Car Championship) racing team, they raced in many classes including Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Formula 1.

[THE ANORAK]

yeah, i was sure the stripes were not on the options list, anyway you could buy a set of the original rover stripes from mini sport, they were far too thin for the original look but they did feature a rather nice rosette with a Mini Cooper laurel wreath in the centre.

and just so you know, they look naff on red cars (yes my poor car did have a set fitted for a few months)

EDIT: they may have looked a bit better if they were actually straight

Edited by THE ANORAK, 29 March 2008 - 10:58 AM.

[blackbelt1990]

Thanks guys... ordered my own pinstripes and laurells... cheaper to buy it like that than try and find a complete set... also means I've got wider pinstripes... helps match the original look but also allows me to cover up where the dodgy SPi stripes were! lol

Don't think I'm going to put the bonnet stripes on...

And I've found someone who can knock me the writing up... going to photoshop a Cooper laurel as all but one of the letters are there!

Ryan

[THE ANORAK]

well the original style had BMC rosettes, not laurel wreaths but you can do just about anything you like really, and the space between the stripes should actually be black

make sure you post some pics when its done

[THE ANORAK]

wow, look what i found. check out the pictures on here ..... cooper

[blackbelt1990]

well the original style had BMC rosettes, not laurel wreaths but you can do just about anything you like really, and the space between the stripes should actually be black

make sure you post some pics when its done

Will do... I've ordered Special tuning rosettes i mean lol... to cover up my cooper laurels which some previous owner had laquered over! hence why I've bought the wider pinstripes... I didn't notice the similarity between the early cars and the later John Cooper LEs... which is funny because I wanted an LE a while back! lol

Will let you know when I've done it... the stuff should be here by monday

Thanks again, Ryan

[pogie]

yeah, i was sure the stripes were not on the options list, anyway you could buy a set of the original rover stripes from mini sport, they were far too thin for the original look but they did feature a rather nice rosette with a Mini Cooper laurel wreath in the centre.

and just so you know, they look naff on red cars (yes my poor car did have a set fitted for a few months)

EDIT: they may have looked a bit better if they were actually straight

Are you sure the stripes were not an option? I have a Rover Approved Accessories brochure from 1999 (part No. AKM 647) and it has a picture of the side kit as fitted to your car.

They are called Sports SE Side Decals and was to,

“Give your Mini that Sporty look with this decal kit. Set comprises of two side decals, yellow triangle over side indicator with three rosettes (one on each side on one on the boot)".

The part number for the Sports S.E. Decal kit is VUB 105010 and was £77.76 inc vat or £99.99 inc vat fitted. The brouchure also show an Avengers decal kit which I have never seen fitted to a Mini on the road.


I decided to go for the Cooper Car Co look when I saw the 6x12 Rosepetal replicas in Avonbars brochure, and I had the bonnet stripes painted on to compliment the look. I wanted to fit a MKI-II boot lid, I tried two but they fitted so badly that I took them back and had to fit an original Rover one. I put the hinged number plate hanger on and it actually doesn't look to bad, but I would have preferred the earlier boot lid.

Attached Files

•  RSP_back.jpg   127.47K   32 downloads
•  RSP_front.jpg   199.17K   27 downloads

Edited by pogie, 29 March 2008 - 11:10 PM.

[THE ANORAK]

well you may be right.

all i know is... i paid £10 for my set

[v8mini]

i'm sure i've got a brochure somewhere for a simular car done by a company called Paul Huxford who did cooper replicas before rover started doing them

Edited by v8mini, 29 March 2008 - 11:39 PM.

[pogie]

well you may be right.

all i know is... i paid £10 for my set

Good result.

My cars respray cost me the price of the paint plus a crate of Bud and a curry for my mate who did all the panel work and spraying.

[THE ANORAK]

i'm sure i've got a brochure somewhere for a simular car done by a company called Paul Huxford who did cooper replicas before rover started doing them

yes your right, but then they got in big trouble for using the cooper name

this is another one of their adds but unfortunately the car does not have the stripes fitted, strange because most of their cars did ???

[v8mini]

you can just see them on the green one behind the bloke playing with the carbs