91 Cooper

[stillwellminimad]

Hi Everyone

Ive been offered a 91 cooper ? at a reasonable price
can anyone tell me how to tell if its really a cooper
what letters should be on the chassis plate
what letters should be before the engine number ?
Any other ways to tell if its a genuine Cooper
its a carb model

Tom

[dayoungfella]

I have a 91 Cooper, carb model.

Has the one you've been offered modified in any way?

On the outside, it should have 12inch alloys, white roof, white stripes down the side with cooper laurels, white bonnet stripes, plastic arches, 2 fog/spot lamps in front of the grill, winged badges, and a cooper laurel at the top of the boot aswell.

On the inside, it should have black cloth seats with a red/green pattern in the middle, black vinyl door cards with red piping, cooper steering wheel, 3 clocks behind the steering wheel and I think thats it.

Ask the seller can you look at the log book to double check that it's a genuine cooper but I'd say it is based on the info you gave.

Neil

[Mini 850]

should be 1275cc too
have a look on the net for A-series engine numbers and find what a 91 coopers engine number should resemble.
or better ask dayoungfella!

[stillwellminimad]

Thanks for the info
There are no mods that i can see
Exept the usual few holes from the dreaded rust bug
could you have a look at the chassis numbers and engine
numbers on your car and see what letters and numbers
are in front of the actual serial numbers
mine are chassis SAXXNNAMBBD *******
Engine 12A28G01 *******
The log book is not available at present but will be before i
buy

Thanks

Tom

[dayoungfella]

My chassis number starts with the exact same letters as you've posted.

Didnt look at the engine numbers but I know that if it starts with a 12, it's definitely a 1275cc.

[stillwellminimad]

Thanks very much for the help
Looks like it is a proper Cooper then
Merry Xmas
Tom

[Heinzy]

are fake Coopers common?

cheers

OH

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Lots of Mini's are Cooperised, but does that make them fake?

[Heinzy]

are they sold as Coopers?

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Not really, check the log book and the chassis number stamped into the bonnet channel.

[stillwellminimad]

I think that quite a few Minis are made to look like Coopers which is fine if the sellers makes it known when they are selling on . I've heard of plenty of people who bought "Coopers" only to find out later they have 998cc City
The carb Cooper is 1275cc has more power than ordinary 1275 Minis and is a lot easier to tune than the injection engines. I also think that in years to come genuine Coopers will be worth more than lookalikes ?? T

[92Coop]

but surely any 90's mini isnt a 'real' cooper. its only in the eyes of insurance companies i thought.

(oh i own a 90's one)

[stillwellminimad]

I'd agree its not a real cooper like a mk1 or 2/3 but theres very few of them left either, most have been rallied raced crashed reshelled whatever
the few that are left around would be out of the reach of most people if you could actually find one
so i suppose most will have to make do with the modern version at least it got the cooper badge in the factory not via minispares ------ ??