1963 Austin Cooper BMC Works Replica project

[Armycook]

Hello Im Dennis. Its my first post and Id like to share my humble project. Please be nice and constructive criticisms only please :)

This is my 63 Cooper. I got this one January this year 2015. It was a straight trade deal with a gentleman in North LA. He liked my 73 Australian Clubman and so he offered one of his Mk1 for it and thats when it all started.

This is what the car basically looked like when I got it. It had tint, 7" old discbrakes, no carpets, no front and back seats. It came with a bumper. But thats because the clubman didnt have any interior but its still a great trade since it is a real mk1 Cooper. It took me hours that day calling and texting people but in the end Im glad I did it.

[Armycook]

Heres more from January 2015. I hauled it to my truck and went to North LA getting ready to say good bye to my Clubman.

[94touring]

Both of those are sweet rides, really digging that stripe on the clubby too.  I would have gone with the mk1 as well, you didn't make a bad decision there. 

[Armycook]

The Clubman was a great car. New paint and you can really tell it was really done right. Ive had a few cars and know a lot of great paint shops and at first glance you can really tell. No bondo. However the mk1's paint was alright. The PO had it for a very short time. Its sort of a brighter red with a slight orange tint to it. Not tartan red but I like it. The paint is cracking on a few areas. Theres a crack on the driver side pocket close to the door hinge area. No rust so its good. I wasnt expecting it to be as perfect as the clubman but its wishful thinking and its a daily driver so its ok.

The day I got the Cooper I was reallyyyyy feeling a bit anxious. I couldnt get over that I gave up a really nice clubman. But its all good. I didnt know what I would do with the Cooper at first. Then I just decided to turn it into something like an old Italian Job car/ Rally car. I thought id be using it to start conversations with clients and friends.

[Armycook]

Got myself a lot of extra parts so I traded some and got myself these upgrades. Im going to jump and post some new pictures.

[Armycook]

Sold the 10x6 wheels and got myself a nice 10x5 Minilites replica. Added the leather bonnet straps, Imitated a Lucas 5-pin driving lamps cable and used a regular trailer hitch 7-pin cable (had to dremel the ears so it still look round like the Lucas one) Im just a student and I cant afford the $500 Lucas cable lol. Still looks good though. I also made myself some front mudguards. It has a thick aluminum plate in the back. Also made my own light bar. I got the shape from the 69 Italian Job mk1 minis. The driving lamps are two 7" Lucas stem mounted and 1 Marchal 7" spot lamp. The rear has 1 reverse light rear mount Lucas 576 (no electrical connection yet)

[Armycook]

Got my number on the door. Courtesy of Minisport Ltd. They like my car and told me theyd like to feature it for their October 1st facebook page. Pretty cool :)

I'll post more later!

[MiniDave]

Good looking car!

Welcome to the site, too!

[Air2air]

Dennis it's so funny I posted here just last night that we had to get you on this forum, and now here you are.

This is a great forum.   Everyone is way more chill.  Now you have to tell the Boison stalking story.

[Armycook]

Well it started when I bought my very first mini last year. It was an impulse purchase and I thought the project was way too much for me so I posted an ad on craigslist and offered it to the public. Lot of interested folks inquired and there was a guy from Arizona that happened to like the car. I gave him my address because he said hed want to check it out but we did not agree on the price so he decided not to come over. He also claimed that he used to live in SD. This is the original Robster. I call him Rob. Later on I sold the car and a few months later (late last year) I found the pink mini for sale on Craigslist. But I end up not buying it because its over 1975 so it will require smog in CA and I dont want that. I got the 73 Clubman frm Redding instead and did another trade for my now 63 Cooper. So around early this year I started talking to him again on text because he was asking advice about the pink mini (if he will buy it or not) He end up buying it. We talked more but he insisted we would use Viber because he doesnt want accumulate text charges because Im from California. So we started to get along and became friends on text. And until one Saturday morning while I was about to work on my Cooper here he is. Rob from Arizona. I didnt really know what he looked like but I was really shocked this dude drove from Arizona to stop by without telling me lol

I do get few strangers here and there inquiring about my mini so at first I thought it was another dude asking to buy my car lol. But yeah It was Robster in the flesh. He was nice but I was kind of thrown off a bit lol. Its funny this Rob I know is really different compared to Boison online. Boison usually will ignore me and totally will talk to me like we dont know each other while Rob on text is very friendly. Weird..

[MiniDave]

What is his  nationality or ethnicity?

He comes across online as English is not his first language.

After some of you started posting about him I went to MM and read a couple of the threads.....he's definitely on his own planet.

[Armycook]

He's filipino but Boison online claims he is Malaysian. Which is weird. Tonyboy Pineda sounds filipino to me. (Westernish first name with Spanish last name which is always filipino)

[MtyMous]

Nice looking cars. Got any more photos of how the mirrors are mounted on the clubman? I have the same mirrors, but I've not seen those base-plates you're using. I just have the small cupped bracket on the pivot-ball. I haven't mounted them yet (no reason to yet as they'll just get in the way) and I want to get it right the first time.

[Armycook]

Mtymous: I had to drill new holes for the f1 style mirrors. I wanted them a little bit lower but if I do that then the original holes will be visible. Would've looked better if the mirror would line up with he cars lines.

[Armycook]

Some more photos of the front clip

[John Gervais]

Looks nice, though a bit too clean!

[Armycook]

I'll let time bake it lol

[Mudhen]

Wow is that gorgeous.   :-\

[Armycook]

My front clip is complete! Got the headlight covers but black leather is still out of stock so I ordered the red one. Wiped the leather with acetone and redyed it black. It worked!

[Willie_B]

Sweet. 4.gif

[sxsman]

So what's the next project  ?
Different power plant  ?

[Armycook]

That is the plan Jonathan. There's a local dude here the one that sold me the auto centre roll bar has a 1275 from a metro for sale. Gotta rebuild it.

He has two 1275 Austin America motors without cylinder heads or transmissions:
1. Core motor as taken out of a care not run in years. It might get away with new rings and a hone but may need to go up a size. I believe it is standard now. $350 as is.
2. Motor he built a long time ago. It is currently apart so could be inspected. It is +0.030 oversized. It would need new rings or go up a size with pistons and rings. Not sure what cams It has but probably want to spec a new cam and lifters. $750.

He also has 1 Austin America cylinder head but it needs refurbishing as a valve seat came loose. $100

Cheapest find so far. I'm gonna jump on it. Wish Jemal is closer to get this whole thing rebuilt by him. I'd hate to spend a few hundreds to get it shipped when I can use the extra money to buy parts.