24A2158CHROME the chrome version was first used on the 1961 Morris Cooper and then on the Cooper S 1070 from 1963, then 970/1275 until about 1965 when the stainless steel version 24A2158 was fitted as an alternative material for longevity, both having the lower grille bar extrusion with pointed ends. 24A2159 is a stainless steel alternative for owners with internal bonnet locks such as later cars with Retro MK1 looking features for for looks and appearance. 24A152 which has the lower grille bar with non pointed ends which first appeared in January 1966 is made in chrome only, the last shape used on Mk1 Morris Cooper until introduction of MK2.

HISTORY on our manufacture on Morris Cooper Mk 1 grille.

Mini Spares Centre were appointed by Tim Knott as the first Mini dealer by BLH in January 1981 when we were at Bowes Road N11 which coincided with my hunt for tooling on the 24A2158 grille. Tim Knott was the MD for BLH (now British Motor Heritage) with one of his tasks as selling off surplus material, but was able to get names of suppliers on any part no longer being made. As manufacturers only had to keep tooling 10 years and often done a large last run, I knew time was running out.

My further letters and correspondence indicated that the tooling scrapped was not originally made for large production runs as BMC considered the project to be a small run of cars initially but the cold roll formed bars were cut with hard tools, then trimmed hence the different shape and length of bars on some original cars. This stalled my search for a while until doing a car rebuild with BLH now renamed BMH by then at the NEC Classic Car show where I mentioned my dilemma to Graham Paddy, who advised me of a company called Settform and their MD Ron Lanaway in Brighton. I sent a sample of my grille to Ron around late 1984 and waited patiently but for various reasons not much seemed to be happening until I chased Ron who had sub contracted the turning of the rolls (cold roll formed as original) to his brother Bob who had just moved to Cornwall from Brighton in June 1985. Bob then had to go back to Burgess Hill and turn them for Settform on their own lathe, which would have been late 1985 or early 1986. The backing plate parts and the grille were made from BMC original drawings by Bob Lanaway to assemble and produce the first of many parts he would later produce exclusively for Mini Spares.  I delegated Chris Wooden to go down and see Ron Lanaway in 1987 although he had only started with Mini Spares on 17/3/1986 and decided to carry on production with the automotive type 403 stainless steel version as it was not only more viable financially but a stronger and better material for longevity. Our first adverts showed them for sale in May 1988 along with the 24A198 Austin Cooper version also at £45. In August 1994 Mini Spares paid an extra £995 plus Vat to have the Morris grille modified to take 2 spot lamps 8B12506. In May 1997 to satisfy the owners of later cars who wanted the Retro look but who had internal bonnet release, the 24A2159 was introduced. Rover now in the control of BMW since 31st January 1994 had Mini Spares listed as a past supplier for grilles and surrounds so they rang us in mid 1994 about supplying parts for their new accessory range campaign as they wanted our Austin Mk1 14A7299 wavy slat grille made for the latest minis. I also tried to get the Morris Mk1 grille 24A2158 and surround supplied to them as Japan loved the retro fit but they only wanted the Austin wavy type as they already had a wide slat grille ALA6669 fitted as standard. During the homologation/safety tests they also checked our 24A2158 which they said would just pass with the surround fitted but the later 24A152 with shorter lower bar would not as it was an area where fingers could get caught when washing a car. This test was done with a small wooden ball (a bit smaller than a tennis ball) rolled over all the protruding edges which left me confused with what the drawings showed but the notes from Rover stayed with us and caused confusion when used later. Whether either would have passed 1995 tests is of no relevance now. The new wavy grilles in Mk2 -7 guise had to have the bars pushed down slightly at the front so the underside of the slat edges passed the wooden ball test and were suppled to Rover in August 1997 as DHB102330 and our number 8B12507 along with many other brightwork parts such as badges, overiders and corner bar kits with or without bumpers.

For ALA6668 MK2 Cooper grille story -See Old Historic Part numbers article.