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Probably the biggest single revision to the Mini range was the
introduction of the Mk III bodyshell. Although the Mk III Mini had
been introduced in the autumn of 1969, Mk III S production did not
commence until March 1970 and the first cars were not dispatched until
the beginning of May. This is allegedly down to legal wrangles because
BMC and John Cooper had an agreement for Cooper S’s to be produced for
five years from the middle of 1966 and Cooper refused to be bought off
by BL when they were trying to dispose of all such agreements in 1969.
One thing that did carry on with the Mk III S was hydrolastic
suspension. Standard fitment were ‘silver’ units which were, in
effect, competition units. These are considerably stiffer than the
standard ‘green’ units found on more mundane models and much reduce
the seesaw effect felt under acceleration and braking. It is said that
the Mk III S has the best ride and handling of any production Mini.
When the Mk III S did finally appear it was a virtually
indistinguishable from a Mini 1000, the only external clues being the
twin petrol tanks, wheels and boot badge - all easily missed by the
untrained eye. Gone was the different grille, two tone paint and
different badging. Internally the main clue was the 130mph
speedometer. One thing that was unchanged was the level of
performance, despite the lack of an EN40B crankshaft which was dropped
on cost grounds, power output was still quoted at 76bhp. This made it
an ideal Q car and Liverpool police confirmed their faith in the S by
taking delivery of 27 Glacier White cars in early 1971.
Because of the short production run changes were relatively minor, the
main one being the fitment of a locking steering column at the end of
1970 and some colour changes. When production ceased at the end of
June 1971 only some 1572 Mk III Ss had rolled off the production line
which makes it a limited edition by modern standards. That it sold as
many cars as it did was a testament to the Cooper name as BL never
advertised the car and even the sales brochure was only a retouched
version of the Mk II S brochure.
Good original cars are getting harder to find but a surprising number
of cars have been with one owner from new. Because of the external
similarity between the Mini 1000 and S the Mk III is one of the easier
models to recreate and with prices for good cars are still holding up
well buyers should always beware. Thanks to co-operation with British
Motor Industry Heritage Trust at Gaydon the register has identified
virtually all Mk III S cars produced from their chassis numbers. The
MCR would always recommend that you check out any car with the
relevant registrar before you buy.
To contact Simon Wheatcroft, the Mk3 S registrar
Email
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