Thursday 28 September 2017

317, 321, 333 and 339 Rally Mini Coopers

'Monte Carlo' Mini Coopers were issued in 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967, as well as a Sun International Rally edition in 1967.

The first three seem to be pretty straightforward, with just one version of each!

The 1964 issue was 317, with Morris Mini Cooper on an early base. That base was also associated with fixed shaped wheels but I think all the 317s would have free spinning wheels.




Some make a distinction of a pinkish roof as opposed to white. 

The 1965 and 1966 issues were both, confusingly, numbered 321. Fortunately they are easy to tell apart with different racing number transfers and different sets of jewelled fog lamps too. The 1965 edition had quite a different front end, with two fog lamps included above the grille in the casting.




1967 saw two Rally Minis. In February the 333 Sun Rally edition and the Monte Carlo 339 followed a month later. The 333 started as an Austin-badged type 1 casting and shaped wheels, surprising as cast wheels were generally available at that time. When the second cast type was used for this model it gets the Morris badge. There may be Austin-badged cars with cast wheels but I have not yet found any.







In a similar manner to the 333 model, the 339 Monte Carlo edition spanned the period when cast wheels became the norm and the change of casting to type 2. In addition, paper labels were used for the racing numbers on the doors, making it important to examine these models carefully! I am not sure whether Austins did appear with the paper variety as these had a comparatively short production life but good quality reproductions are available that tend to confuse matters!

For an explanation of the different types, please see my article titled Minis - the different types in September 2017.



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