Moss Motors, Ltd

Hi all.  I'm new to this forum and could use some information.  I have seen a Leyland Mini, but I am somewhat stumped by this car.  I have researched and from what I can gather, it was post 1967 and sold in Canada.  The car has a small squarish emblem on the bonnet with the Leyland symbol on it and on the rear lid it has a retangular emblem above the license plate light housing that says 'mini special'.  It has conceled hinges and roll up windows with a center binnicle instrument cluster and rocker switches below it.  The engine is a 1275cc and it has drum brakes all around.  The tail lights are large rectangular ones and there are two very small round reflectors under each one.

Thanks,

hatterhead

 

Hi there and welcome to the forum. From the sound of you discription the car is not what it's supossed to be! a 1967 would have had sliding windows and external door hinges! the lights indicate a later model as well. A 1275cc engine in a mini with drum brakes is IMO dangerous!  Someone has messed around with this car as it's not a 67! personally I would walk away.

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Oz Cooper
Classic Mini Guru UK

OzC@Moss:

Hi there and welcome to the forum. From the sound of you discription the car is not what it's supossed to be! a 1967 would have had sliding windows and external door hinges! the lights indicate a later model as well. A 1275cc engine in a mini with drum brakes is IMO dangerous!  Someone has messed around with this car as it's not a 67! personally I would walk away.

Thank you for your comments.  Your comment about the drum brakes with the 1275 does interest me however.  In my youth, I had a 67 and a 71 MG Midget, both with 1275 engines and drum brakes and for it's time it seemed adequate.  Is there some other considerations I should be looking at in regards to the brakes, or is it just that they really do not perform as well as a modern braking system?  Also, is there a disc brake conversion that you are aware of that would be suitable to install.

 Thanks, Jim

Jim,

It does indeed sound like this car is a "mutt". That is not so unusual in North America for minis. I've seen many many backdated, forward dated, and maybe even sideways dated cars! Many had real mixed and matched equipment. Disc brakes on the front would certainly be a plus, but I have a couple of customers with stock 1275 motors in drum braked cars, and they don't seem so bad. What OZ has to keep in mind is that his is an ANIMAL!!! It could use SIX WHEEL DISC BRAKES!!

Also, if you had a stock '67 or '71 Midget, I assure you they each had disc brakes on the front. I've NEVER seen anyone backdate the brakes on one of those, and it's seriously unlikely.

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

motorbill66:

Jim,

It does indeed sound like this car is a "mutt". That is not so unusual in North America for minis. I've seen many many backdated, forward dated, and maybe even sideways dated cars! Many had real mixed and matched equipment. Disc brakes on the front would certainly be a plus, but I have a couple of customers with stock 1275 motors in drum braked cars, and they don't seem so bad. What OZ has to keep in mind is that his is an ANIMAL!!! It could use SIX WHEEL DISC BRAKES!!

Also, if you had a stock '67 or '71 Midget, I assure you they each had disc brakes on the front. I've NEVER seen anyone backdate the brakes on one of those, and it's seriously unlikely.

Alas, I guess my memory is not what it should be, but I really don't remember having disc brakes on my MGs.  Of course that was in the sixties and I really don't remember much of anything from that time of my life.

It has nothing to do with my car Bill lol if drum brakes were adequate for the 1275cc engine BL would have left them on the cars fitted with 1275cc engines! I have personally driven a few cars that have been fitted with 1275cc motors and when the drum brakes fade it's not for the faint hearted...hehe in fact its damm right dangerous.

I would seriously look into changing over to disc's! No one on the market currently does a drum to disc conversion as the drive shafts are NLA now! If the car is fitted with 10" wheels and you want to keep them then only the Cooper S disc's will fit under the 10" wheel. So a good used set is going to be pricey! however if the car has 12" or above wheels fitted then the choices are a little cheaper and availability is much better.   

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Oz Cooper
Classic Mini Guru UK

Thanks, that makes me feel better. I bought a '61 mini in April '09 with ABSOLUTELY NO MINI experience. Turns out it was a canadian "Leyland" car built in 1976. 998cc though, and all drum brakes. everything on the car was re-tagged as something else. The '61 did save me some cash at the tag office though, so I didn't tell! lol! Now that I know what I've got, I'm kinda glad it is what it is, instead of an older model. Don't bother with a new gas cap though, for some reason they won't fit on canadian filler necks. 

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-adam