my B.M.C. South Africa - Wolseley 1000

Hi,

my name is Gregor and I live in AUSTRIA / Salzburg.
One of my next projects is the Wolseley 1000 which is currently
on its way from S.A. via ship to Europe.
He is car Nr. 292 of 457 ever built of this type.
According to the top expert in S.A. there are only 16 cars known
in 2010 worldwide. Mine should be number 17 now!

I will post more when time comes........

Welcome to the forum! Enjoy

Welcome to the register.
Great car. Looks as though it has a standard early Mini boot. I like the front opening quarterlights, very similar to the Australian Mini. A very rare and interesting car. Post some more photo's when it arrives. Do you hope to restore the car to it's original specification, what ever that may be or do you have other plans?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

indeed, this car has australian doors, which were invented in 1967 to most of the S.A. models.
As there is only very few information from the factory left about this particular model in S.A.,
and now the only reliable information is provided by a guy named Ryno Verster, I will try and follow
his advice to get it to a standard that is quite original.
Currently there is no engine with it, but I got one from a Wolseley Hornet made in 1967, so that
is quite a good basis.
The original colour under the present yellow seems to be a light blue, kind of speedwell blue.
Most of the cars had a two-tone paint, but there were some mono-tone cars reported.
Have a look on the upper dash ! It´s much wider than the standard Mini one, thats original !
Till I start this project I´ll have to sell my Cooper S, finish the S.A. Mini Traveller 1000 (1967),
help a friend to build our Marcos Mk1, and then .......

Wow!

Unbelivable rarity!
Congratulations!!!

Let us know abot the car as much as possible!

for everybody that is interested in a photo story on one of these cars.
Here it is, and its more than 20 pages long.....

http://www.minimania.com/web/SCatagory/Fun%20Things/DisplayType/News/DisplayID/684/ArticleV.cfm

Welcome to the forum Gregor.
Fantastic looking car keep the pics coming.
Best wishes
John

Hi again,

thanks to all your friendly comments

This is the original rocker cover from my second car, the S.A. Mini Traveller 1000.
Wonder if I can get a second one for the Wolseley....

This one was at Mini Meet East/West last year. My understanding is that it is one owner removed from Ryno Verster. Very interesting car. Too bad they didn't do one with a Riley grille.

WOW!

nice car!

hope you can get it back to its former glory!

Since I'm kind of hanging around here, now, I thought I'd bring this one back to the top, and maybe catch Gregor's eye for an update.
The tan Wolseley in Red Riley's photos is my car and I loaned it to Ryno to drive to the 2009 Mini Meet while I drove a South African Estate. (The trip was a little jaunt of 6,000 miles.) "Biscuit," as the tan car was named by Ryno (because of the cookie color), has made two cross country trips, also being present at the 2004, 45th Meet. That year Ryno drove another of my Wolseley 1000s, a white over grey one.

You are not afraid of Your own shadow Sir! (hun proverb)

Chuck,

you are right with what you´ve said. It´s time for a litte update now.
Today I´ve got the pix from the cargo company in Joburg, so he´s on his way towards AUSTRIA .



Obviously a hydrolastic car.....
No idea what has happend to the crossmember


I love that wide upper dash........

Thanks for the update. Keep in touch with Ryno. He'll be able to help with details and parts. I can to some extent, but Ryno's the man.
The upper dash was only used on the W-1000s as far as I've been able to tell. It's not the same as those used on any other Mini. I remember speaking to one notorious English restorer when he was looking over one of my 1000s. He noticed the dash and said, "Oh, that's how that fits. We had one of these cars shipped to us and the dash pad didn't look right so we binned it."
The small, round reflectors (white front and red rear) are getting very hard to find as is the proper 1000 badge. The seat upholstery, again, used only in the W-1000s, may be the same as a period similar MGB, but I haven't been able to confirm that. It certainly wasn't used in any other Minis.
Bet you didn't know that the sides of the fuel tank were carpeted!
You're in for an interesting learning experience!
Oh, and the bulkhead butchery is usually from someone fitting a carb on a non-standard manifold...one with the wrong tilt.

Hi Chuck,

thanks for your interest and your support!
I knew a few thing you mentioned and some others are new to me.
- the reflectors, I don´t know if I want them, they are original
but as you said, I´ll probably only get them in S.A.
I will speak to Ryno about that.
- about the badges
isn´t the 1000 script the same as the Morris Minor´s?
I´ve got one on my S.A. Traveller and it looks quite the same.
The Wolseley script seems to me the same as the Hornets used to have.
- Seat upholstery, good hint, I´ll check that with some friends in GB.
- The fact that the sides of the tanks were carpeted is absolutely new to me.
If you would have a decent pic of an open boot, I would be more than help!
- Thought so, the bulkhead could be modified for some Webers or so,
but it looks quite brutaly made.

By the way, they didn´t have a heater, did they......?
What was the gearstick made of, chrome or black, did they have a special knob?

If you send me your email address, we can take some of the details off line so we don't bore anyone! After all, the 1000s are neither Hornets or Elves and this is an Elf/Hornet board! cheleker at aol dot com

I have some photos of the boot showing the carpet covered tank and the carpet for the boot floor. There was also carpet covering the outside of the door pockets.

The 1000 boot badge would be the same as on your Traveller. (What year is the Traveller? I have a late 68 built S.A. Countryman and I'm not sure when/if Morris versions were made? Another topic for off this Board!) Whether the 1000 is the same as for the Morris Minor or not, I couldn't say. The only thing I know about them is that the designer went on to better things! The badge does look similar but different.

The Wolseley script is the same as for the Mini Hornets.

There are Mk I and Mk II versions of the W-1000s and many minor differences between the two. It looks like yours is a Mk I, but I can't be sure from the photos and I don't have the chassis number lists. Ryno could confirm.

The magic wand levers were almost certainly black and not chromed. Both of mine were repainted by Ryno and it doesn't look like paint over chrome by examination of the few scratches. Again, Ryno could confirm.

To my understanding, the heater was either not available or optional...or both depending upon build date. Ryno will know.

Gearshift knob was the standard, black Mini one.

Oh, one more thing. The 998cc engines were painted a hideous almost pink color. Just as bad, if not worse than the late English built yellow things!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Why take this offline? The SA Wols might not be an Elf or Hornet, but it deserves to be at least an "honorary" member of the forum. I find it very interesting as well.

I agree with Brian on this. Please do keep it on the forum after all it is up to the individual to choose what they read or ignore.
I too find it interesting.

Doing some more digging, the heater issue is covered in Ryno's book (everyone has a copy, right?!) and there is discussion of a South African Elf that was in the plans. It wouldn't have started as early as the W-1000, but it would have come about when the W-1000s (and the South African Cooper S models) were discontinued. The Wolseley, Morris, Austin names were being dropped and, like the UK, the name became Mini.
So, there was going to be a Mini Elf. The first generation would have had the 998, a round nose, and the extended tail. That car went into production as the Mini Mk 3 (NOT III). The Elf name didn't make the cut supposedly because of conflict with a truck already having the Elf name.
The 2nd generation Elf was to go to a standard 1098 and retain the extended rear, but the nose was to be Clubman style! The third generation was to retain the interesting Clubman/extended boot body but was to use the unique to South Africa, big bore 1098, as it was called. Neither the 2nd nor 3rd generation cars made production

I agree with Brian and Tony!

Keep the thread here!!!! It would be lovely to see a Wolseley 1000 on one of the Register's club displays one day, don't suppose that will ever happen though so definitely deserves it's place here as I'm sure Big Al will agree....

Jase

Ryno's book (everyone has a copy, right?!)

Chuck,

Do you have a link to Ryno's book so I can get a copy?

Bill

Does any on You have any info on "bigbore" 1098?

It looks close to 1071 spec. Does it have any connection? Were the block made in th UK, or in SA?

Elf trucks???? Never heard of that one.(only Nissan maybe?)

ERF trucks were made in Sandbach , Cheshire. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe I'm wrong

Isuzu Elf. But I think it is a newer modell.

Bill, For UK and Europe sales, Ryno has a friend in England who has books in stock to save postage from South Africa. See: http://www.minisa.co.uk/ (I think this will also get you to the guy's Apache information, if you haven't seen this South African version of the ADO16.)
If anyone in North America's looking for a copy I have a few left from those Ryno brought over last year before our trip.

CamelotR, South Africa was the only country outside of England that made their own engines. They started in 1964. The big bore 1098 came about around 1971 and used the 1275 bore, but a stroke just slightly longer than the 1071 S.

Can't help with more information on the Elf truck. It was likely unique to South Africa. I'll ask Ryno.