Found these holes in the passenger side rear of my SPO41. Are they related to its police service?

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1970 Cooper S SPO41

Yes. The two behind the B pillar were used to clip the lead from the roof mounted aerial. The other two are on a lot of SPO41 cars but I haven't been able to get a definitive answer on their use.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

I would guess cable guides/clamps for the aerial lead??? (so it didn't foul the door when opened etc)

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"Show me the Mini!"

Possibly, although I can think of neater ways to get the cable from the back of the B pillar to the floor and then under the carpet to the radio.

I've sent a message to a couple of retired police who drove the Cooper S to see if they remember anything attached to the bin.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Many thanks. Had a feeling that the holes on the B pillar may be related to the roof aerial. Will be interested to hear what you find about the bin holes

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1970 Cooper S SPO41

I have a Crystal White SPO S with the 2 holes on the rear of the B pillar and recently found out what they were for as well. Mine has 2 holes on the rear companion box too, but they are vertical, about 20mm apart and roughly in line with the front hole in your photo. I assume it was for a cable clip but installed by someone else!

Bill B, can't be a coincidence that both our cars have similar holes in the companion box. Most likely that they served some police related purpose. Given the two holes are relatively close I would guess that it was more likely for mounting something rather than for retention clips. Any word from your retired police contacts winabbey?

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1970 Cooper S SPO41

I ran/dressed RF cables for decades and it makes sense to me for an after-market aerial installation...please tell me all the neater ways you can think of to run an aerial cable from the roof to the parcel shelf?

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"Show me the Mini!"

Why clip the aerial cable to the bin? Wouldn't it be neater to run the cable straight down the B pillar to the floor then under the carpet and straight to the parcel shelf? Quite a deviation to clip the cable to the bin.

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1970 Cooper S SPO41

How about to hold a double male to female fitting so you could replace the cable between the radio and bin or aerial and bin if they were damaged during a pursuit, bingle, scuffle or someone's sized 12s crushed the cable underfoot

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"Show me the Mini!"

My S had its radio under the rear left side seat, not under the dash. See post:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=99775

So the bin was on-route between the aerial and radio.

Thanks Bill...my comments stand for both installations...

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"Show me the Mini!"

My earlier car now at Goulburn had different holes in both back bins and also on the rear seat base on the passenger side. Of course these could have been made by a previous owner after NSW Police







The two holes in the bin that started this conversation just don't look like they were for the same style and size cable clips used on the B pillar. They are too large diameter for an aerial cable clip in my view and probably too close together, but 9YaTaH has more knowledge on cable management for similar applications so I defer to his opinion. Based on the rudimentary mounting bracket for the Police speedo and rough cable routing for spotlights and tacho through the firewall I think the radio fitment would have been very basic and not approaching military standards.

Why didn't someone with a Box Brownie camera take lots of photos of the interior fitout back then? At Least Dana Jennings had the foresight to take a few external shots.

None of the police I've asked can remember the presence or use of the holes in the bin.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Where was the handpiece/microphone bracket attached on cars with the radio under the rear seat?

That makes sense, hadn't thought of it that way

Sent from my SM-A305YN using Tapatalk

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1970 Cooper S SPO41