Just wondering if anyone could shed a little light on the aerial position (s) for a 71 cooper s ex NSW police car. Yes i have seen them mounted in the center of the turret . However my car only has the aerial mount hole in the center of the roof just in front of the wind screen. Any information and pictures would be great.
Cheers

_________________
71 MKII Cooper S

Not all of them received a roof antenna. You should be able to see the repair job under the headlining if your car did have a roof antenna fitted. I have seen a few roof antenna holes - some had a disc soldered or welded underneath and bogged over the top and others just bogged up to send them to sales.

I had a look through my pics the roof antenna was not in a set position. Here are 3 pics that show them in different spots.







Here is a pic by SuperCooper showing the roof repair on his mid 70 S.



Here is one that didn't have a welded plate underneath.



Winabbey may have more info.

My 1970 SPO had the aerial hole originally repaired/covered with a plug of body filler held in place underneath with a ball of steel wool!
The repaired hole was still visible as the paint cracked around it.
For a while I fitted a fibreglass aerial on the roof for the car radio. Then a car thief unscrewed the fibreglass aerial and used it to break into the car!
(Got the car back next day.)
I rebuilt with a disc soldered under the hole but the filler still cracked and is still visible. Patina.

Mine was the same as Bill's - centre of the turret with bog over steel wool. Likewise the paint cracked. Now restored and repainted

_________________
1970 Cooper S SPO41

Any significance to the comment accompanying the mini radar photo - "3rd month rego sticker"? I had heard that the cops registered their cars in March - true? My car has a 3rd month rego sticker (1984).

_________________
1970 Cooper S SPO41

I add comments to my photos and sometimes forget to remove them before posting. NSW Police minis always carried the 3rd Month rego stickers.
Here are a few more

Not just Police. I understand all NSW Government vehicle registrations were aligned to March back then. One hefty cheque per year rather than twelve smaller ones.

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

Thanks GTOGREEN and everybody for your info. Mine must be one of those cars that came out without an aerial hole.

_________________
71 MKII Cooper S

I think highway/country cars got the centre roof antenna. Winabbey can you confirm this?

Here are some pics of Police MK2s without roof antennas.

City based cars were less likely to have two-way radio. My blue car doesn't. I've chatted to Foxy about this.

In the last photo at the handover of new vehicles without aerials it's possible the cars had yet to go to the Govt. Motor Garage to have the Police items installed, which included radio.

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

Re: the photo of the Mk2 without aerial is also without driving lights. I'm sure I remember city Ss still had driving lights.

My S was stationed in Bega. We took the car back there a while ago. Spoke to a current officer who remembers the minis as his father knew several officers.
Country cars had radios (hence the aerial) but the base station was in Wollongong and the cars were almost always out of radio contact. According to this officer, patrolmen took a transistor radio with them and stayed tuned to a local radio station. If the base wanted to contact a patrolman, they phoned the radio station so the announcer could ask the patrolman to ring base. The patrolman would then find a nearby farm and ask to use their phone. The patrolman would pay for the call with cash or a voucher.

The fitting of an aerial and driving lights seems to be a bit unpredictable based on the evidence I've seen to date. You'd think driving lights would have been mandatory on country-based cars.

My previous red/white car had the roof mounted aerial but no holes for driving lights. My current blue car is the opposite - no aerial but driving light holes and switch still fitted.

Out of interest the Hella driving lights (model #1327) were fitted to the flat section behind the bumper. To minimise the effects of vibration the mounting comprised a large flat washer welded to a threaded hollow rod with another flat washer and nut below. One of these was still fitted to my car.





The push-pull driving light switch (also Hella brand) was fitted to the leading edge of the parcel shelf.

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

Thanks for that Doug.
Did the fixing stud of the driving light pass through this sleeve arrangement?

I haven't actually tried it but that's my assumption.

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

On mine there is a dent in the outer gutter seam on the passenger side just above the door pillar.
BXQ122 shows both the centrally located aerial and a ,I suppose an AM Radio aerial on the D/S. I reckon they may have mounted an AM radio aerial on the passenger side just to have background music
Cheers

_________________
71 MKII Cooper S