• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

A mini question

Share this page

regularman

regularman

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
I worked on a lot of minis when I was stationed in the UK in the military because thats what a lot of people got for cheap and drove as a banger car for a couple years. My question is this. It seems there were austin minis, healey minis, morris minis, etc. Why were all the ones here in the states coopers. Whats the history there? Just wondering. Are all the new minis coopers in the US and europe as well?
 
There were not Healey Minis but as you state, there were Austin, Morris, BL, and Rover Minis. You can also throw in Mokes, Hornets, and Elfs that were Mini variants. Succintly, Austin and Morris merged to form BMC and the joint company introduced the Mini and marketed it under both names. Later mergers resulted in British Leyland (BL) and eventually Austin-Rover. The prefix name of the car is in part an indication of its age and what was going on with the parent company at the time.

Not all Minis that reached the U.S. were Coopers. The problem over here is that everyone calls them "Coopers" whether they are or not. Think of it as a future generation referring to all Camaros as Z28s.

The 850cc Austin version of the Mini was probably the most commonly imported to the U.S. It started life here as the basic car and by the mid-1960s I believe it was called the "Deluxe" which was a basic Mini with the 3-gauge binnacle and a few bits of fluff. The Coopers had the slightly larger 997 (and later 998) engine along with disk brakes. The Cooper-S came shortly after that with different (typically 1071 or 1275) engines and larger disk brakes.

I can't comment on the trim level of the new MINIs being imported. Where in western NC are you?
 
Just a detail for Doug's post - Wolseley Hornets and Riley Elfs (or shouldn't that be Elves?). Don't think they ever branded one as BL, though it was so badged. Could be wrong, though.
Did the 970S ever make it over here? Best little 'A' engine they made in my opinion.
 
Sorry, I should have mentioned Wolseley and Riley. I know that shortly after the BL merger those names/marques died. I don't know if there was a BL Elf or Hornet.

The 970 was only made in small numbers. Maybe some did make it to the U.S. but I have yet to hear of one in a running car. I know of a couple of people with parts to build 1071s but I don't know of anyone driving a Mini with one installed.
 
[ QUOTE ]
There were not Healey Minis but as you state, there were Austin, Morris, BL, and Rover Minis. You can also throw in Mokes, Hornets, and Elfs that were Mini variants. Succintly, Austin and Morris merged to form BMC and the joint company introduced the Mini and marketed it under both names. Later mergers resulted in British Leyland (BL) and eventually Austin-Rover. The prefix name of the car is in part an indication of its age and what was going on with the parent company at the time.

Not all Minis that reached the U.S. were Coopers. The problem over here is that everyone calls them "Coopers" whether they are or not. Think of it as a future generation referring to all Camaros as Z28s.

The 850cc Austin version of the Mini was probably the most commonly imported to the U.S. It started life here as the basic car and by the mid-1960s I believe it was called the "Deluxe" which was a basic Mini with the 3-gauge binnacle and a few bits of fluff. The Coopers had the slightly larger 997 (and later 998) engine along with disk brakes. The Cooper-S came shortly after that with different (typically 1071 or 1275) engines and larger disk brakes.

I can't comment on the trim level of the new MINIs being imported. Where in western NC are you?

[/ QUOTE ] In between Asheville and Hendersonville. I worked on a bunch of Austin minis because that is what there mostly were over there in the late 80s. There MOT inspection is pretty tough and it took a lot to get them to pass. Good thing was that they were all about the same, all those LBC parts would interchange on most things. I could have bought a field full of minis for what they are going for on Ebay over here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif
 
BL never sold the Riley Elf or Wolseley Hornet, they were made only under BMC. In addition, with BL, the car became the Mini, without either Austin or Morris badging, and the "radiator" grilles, which used to be different for both Austin and Morris, became one universal type.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Near Mountain Home perhaps?

I have a friend who is active in the British Car Club of Western NC. Since you're in the general area you may want to look them up and see if some of their activities are of interest to you.
https://webpages.charter.net/mini1000/bccwnc/about/index.html
They have a car show every fall that may be of interest to you as well:
https://www.autumninthemountains.org/

[/ QUOTE ]I go though mountain home every day. I work real close to there. I will check it out. I still have quite a ways to go on my midget restoration.
 
Okay...

In Canada & the United States:

Mini sales started on this side of the ocean soon after it was introduced in 1959... And there were two versions, the Austin Seven (Mini) and Morris Mini Minor (Mini), soon to be basically just called the Mini anyway...

By the mid-1960's during the heyday of the Cooper and Cooper S, sales of the standard Mini seem to have dropped off, at least in the United States. By the late 1960's all official sales of all versions of the Mini ceased.

Meantime in Canada:

Sales of the Mini (either Austin or Morris) continued, with a higher sales volume than the United States, however the Austin Mini 1000 replaced the Mini 850 for Camada, around the late-1960's. And throughout the 1960's all variants of the Mini were offered (basic saloon car, woody wagon, all-steel wagon, even the delivery van and possibly a few pickups).

In 1969/70 all references to Austin Mini/Morris Mini were dropped, with a single marque called Mini being introduced.

However for Canada, sales of the "Austin Mini 1000" continued throughout the 1970's right up to 1980. Although by now just the two-door saloon car was offered here. Sales were quite strong, with about 2,500 per year finding new homes. Any Canadian who was around back then can attest to seeing lots of them during the 1970's

Alas, 1980 was the last year they were sold here...

Is that enough information for you all /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif And feel free to correct me if I got any facts wrong...
 
I still don't really understand thw whole cooper thing. I mean cooper motors was into racing and made hopped up minis sort of like shelby did some ford mustangs. I thought all the new minis were either going to be plain minis or the hopped up cooper S version, but no all were going to be coopers. Kinda confusing. Just reading the history of cooper motors on this sight explains some. Cooper motors site
 
To bring the New Mini into the question... In terms of European sales, my understanding is that a standard Mini is offered along with the Cooper and Cooper S

However for North American sales, they aren't selling the standard Mini, just the two Cooper models
 
[ QUOTE ]
To bring the New Mini into the question... In terms of European sales, my understanding is that a standard Mini is offered along with the Cooper and Cooper S

However for North American sales, they aren't selling the standard Mini, just the two Cooper models

[/ QUOTE ]Eh, the new mini is too big to be a real mini IMHO, heck its bigger than the Austin Maxi.
 
Back
Top