There are 4 holes in the LH side rear seat panel. I'm wondering what they were for.
The car is ex police (1970-71 in Bega); don't think the previous owner would have put anything there and I've had it ever since.
I thought it might have been a radio?
A fire extinguisher would have had evenly spaced holes? The front holes are 200mm apart and rear ones are 240mm.




Anyone know what might have been there?

Some police cars had their radios mounted under the back seat. I have seen picstures of a GT with it mounted under the back seat.

Thats looks correct to me for a radio and similar to the pic I saw (should have stored somewhere)

You should have a couple holes going up your b pillar for the cable.

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Thanks. That was a quick reply.
Can't find any holes on LH "B" pillar except 2 little ones on the companion box that I didn't put there. And the top of the "B" pillar is blanked off completely.

I seem to remember Winabbey saying the radio was under the front parcel shelf - can't remember whether LH or RH.
Was under the rear seat for a booster unit of some kind?
I know that police cars in the Bega area were outside radio range from their base in Wollongong.

Doug will probably have more info when he sees this.

I had an ex highway patrol mechanic look my police GT over and he said about holes under the back seat as sometimes the radio was mounted there.(mine are under the dash).


Usually was under the front dash.

The pocket holes I believe would hold the hand unit

Doug will confirm and add more info I am sure

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This is the mounting cradle for the AWA 25M radio used at that time. The holes in this one are 234mm apart, although there's nothing special about their position or spacing. Holes in a different position could easily have been drilled by the GMG workers to suit their need at the time.





I understand in the Mini it was usually mounted under the parcel shelf on the passenger side to give easy access to channel, volume and on/off controls, although I seem to remember one ex-STP driver saying it was under the rear seat on his car, like yours.



There's some photos of supercoopers car showing the aerial hole in the roof and the two holes at the rear of the b pillar used to clip the aerial cable. My red car had these as well.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=87372&p=957106#p957106

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

My red car now at Goulburn had similar holes in the rear seat shelf.

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

A "booster" would not be much use given the terrain and foliage between Bega and the Gong...even if the poor little Mini had an aerial with decent gain you would still most likely have to find some high ground to have any hope...

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"Show me the Mini!"

Thanks all.
A minor mystery sorted.
Found the 2 little holes on the back edge of the B pillar. I was looking for a hole big enough for passing the aerial lead through it.
Also found 2 little holes where the fire extinguisher sat on the LH wheel well.

Bill - have you identified holes in the driver's side flitch panel for the siren?

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

Here's my inner guard with slightly different hole patterns -esp for the siren area.
I notice we have matching stress fractures around the lower Booster hole (have welded them up in photo).
Didn't some police use added air horns, too?

Not to my knowledge with the Cooper S. But there's probably a lot we don't know for certain about all the happened back then.

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