34 replies to this topic

[jonny d]

I bought one of those chrome ones (not dipping) and it didn't have the sucker and it vibrates like hell

[mintom]

Saw one or two this morning in autojumble at Castle Combe... (the dippable mini rear view mirrors that Asphalt mentions)..they're about if you hunt..

Edited by mintom, 26 September 2009 - 06:24 PM.

[jkjaxor]

if you want somthing realy special you could look aroud for an auto dipping mirror and make a mount for it to fix to. all it needs is a power feed and when you get dazzled it auto tints.

[Dan]

The original equipment dipping mirror was mainly used in the estates and one or two special editions. Interesting to read above that there's one in a Flame. I assume that's an earlier Flame because there wasn't one in my Checkmate. As said above the MPi one mounts differently. The mirror currently sold by X-Part and the Mini specialists is just a generic stick-on replacement. I have one in the garage that I did have fitted to the car but it's old and looks really tatty. If I can improve the look of it I'll put it back in. The ball joint on the back of the dipping type that you can buy in most places like Halfords is the same size as the Mini original. If you can work out a way to get the stalk from the Mini pressed into the socket on the replacement mirror without cracking the glass then you're doing better than I ever have. I tried a few times and broke a few mirrors in the process.

No special MPI screens...

MPi Minis do have a specific screen, but not for the reasons you might think.

[shorty]

well its and f reg 1989 flame registered in february.

it was there when i bought it so i could only assume it was there as standard.
unless one of the previous 8 owners added it in

[Dan]

Sounds like it's from the early run of Flames to me. The Flame Red and Racing Green were available two years in a row but as two distinct special editions, for the second year the Checkmate was part of the same model line. It'll either be registered as Racing/Flame or as Racing/Flame/Checkmate.

[shorty]

racing/flame

comes up with racing when registration is put down in insurance websites

[Dan]

It's from the first batch then. So they had dipping mirrors? I've never seen that on a spec list for them. Still the next batch had alloys as standard, I think that's a fair trade for a dipping mirror!

[shorty]

mine has both

but again the alloys could have been fitted in the 20 years its been on the road

[Dan]

They were optional on the model rather than standard. They could have been there from new but whoever ordered the car paid extra for them.

[mintom]

massaging the topic again, I found this..Mini production dates
.. if we scroll down to Mk4 1976 onwards it says "In 1977 reversing lights, reclining seats, dipping rear view mirror all became standard across the range" ... so at some point it became un-standard again??

If this is the case, it kind of fits together, as I originally got my dipping rear view mirror from a 78/79 T reg Mini that was being stripped for salvage.

[shorty]

They were optional on the model rather than standard. They could have been there from new but whoever ordered the car paid extra for them.

cheers for that always nice to know interesting things about my mini.
i knew alloys came optional with some of the minis

never knew about the dipping mirror though

[Dan]

"In 1977 reversing lights, reclining seats, dipping rear view mirror all became standard across the range"

I wouldn't trust everything you read on t'internet. It's listed in the 'fiche as being for the Clubman, GT, HL, HLE, Special and Mayfair only from '76 to '85 and standard on all models '85 to '96. As I said though, I'm sure my '90 didn't have one. My wife's '84 (imported '84, suspected of being an '82) Mayfair didn't have one when we got it and finding them second hand in auto-jumble is uncommon. I suspect it's one of the many parts where Austin Rover fitted whatever came to hand at the time. Quality products these Minis you know.

Edited by Dan, 26 September 2009 - 10:48 PM.

[mintom]

I don't expect any kind of sense from any source at this time of day, but again you seem to have pulled it off Dan.

[Brams96]

If anyone is still reading this and is interested in a solution to the original post I found something that should work.

I picked up a dipping mirror from a scrappy from a late model ford escort which attaches to the window. I used one of those halfords sticky pads and it works great. All I need to do is test it at night now.
See pics here

Hope this might helps someone