Mike Brewer visits building of new classic Mini bodyshells

[BruceK]

There's a new TV program on the Motor Trend channel called "Mike Brewer's World of Cars" and a whole show is about the building of Mini bodyshells.   It's on right now and will repeat later tonight.

Very interesting to see the tools and methods used. 

[MiniDave]

It's also on demand if you have that, I saw it last week....there are 4 shows so far.

[Scargo]

I have enjoyed all of the episodes of this new series so far, much more than Wheeler Dealers.

[BruceK]

Ooooh.  Sexy Mk I brand new bodyshell. You can see the pieces added to make the rear window smaller.

[BruceK]

Taking a second look at that new Mk. I bodyshell above, some things look wrong.  The door frame on a Mk. I (and Mk. II) should not go so high up toward the roof, and the same with the rear side window, it should not be so tall.  It looks to be a hybrid of a Mk. III (and onward) bodyshell with some Mk. I features.   Is this the final product that is being sold?

[Scargo]

I feel this is a Mk 1 shell. The door and rear window openings appear to be held down from the roof gutter vs. continuing all the way up to the bottom of the gutter as on the Mk 3 & later shells.

On my Mk.2, the top of the door opening is about 3/4" below the bottom of the gutter and the rear window opening is about 5/8".

[BruceK]

Hmmm.  You're probably right.  It just looks funny to me. Here's a similar angle on a Mk I.  A shadow makes it difficult to see, but this bodyshell seems to have more metal between the top of the door frame and the bottom of the roof seam.  Same for the rear side window.

[BruceK]

And here's a Mk III bodyshell where the door frame and rear side windows go right up to the bottom of the roof seam.   

[94touring]

Red 67S and green mk3

[jedduh01]

These built heritage shells are for sure a mix of years of fit and finish. 

I also recall in some way these shells may ALL be Single bolt Late sub frames.  Don't quote me, but i believe they all take Late Sub frames and rubber mountings. NOT early twin bolt frames.  its just How they're built.


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[jeff10049]

I enjoyed the series so far as well.

I never really paid attention to the distance from the rain gutter to door window cool, another way to verify year of shell.

[BruceK]

I enjoyed the series so far as well.

I never really paid attention to the distance from the rain gutter to door window cool, another way to verify year of shell.

More trivia: Since they both have external hinged doors, a way to tell a Mk I shell from a Mk II shell (besides the obvious larger taillight openings), is the increased width of the rear glass on the Mk II.

[Jimini II]

Heritage had a selection of bare shells on display at the IMM 60 last year and I was not impressed with the for and finish.
Apparently Brewer has bought a 64? MK I Cooper S to restore and is using a new shell, he is getting a lot of talk from the purists in the UK.

[drmini]

I'm pretty sure the spacing between the roof and the top of the doors and windows is correct for MKI. If they left it at MK3 size they would create a bunch of problems. The first issue would be the tops of the doors would either hit the extra rain gutter piece or at least scrape it. The bigger issue would be they'd have to build special taller MKI doors and taller sliding windows. I think if someone only wanted to replace a rusty shell but had all the other bits that they would not like that their doors wouldn't fit. The front subframe and bulkhead are the 2 bolt type. Another issue is there's no cam hole in the rear seatback. I've heard that the boot floor and the floorpans are the late model pressings as well, but I haven't seen them. I'd love to see one up close to identify the differences. I'm particularly interested in how they did the roof and the interior metal above the doors. At the end of the day the new MKI shells may be an option for some, but the purists will turn their noses up at them and they won't be winning any awards in England no matter how nice the finished car is.