You've come to the right place for lots of info, and lots of attitude ...LOL ... be prepared for the "use the search engine" reply from people who don't want to re-hash common questions.

I'm a comparative newbie out here as well, though I've had my car for five years. I would suggest you look thru the Articles on this site, particularly the "Most Popular". There is a wealth of info out there.

As far as your question about the "Cooper" designation. The Cooper is a sub-set of the basic Mini. I think I'm safe in saying all Coopers are Minis, but few Minis are Coopers, although many basic Mini's are often mis-badged, mis-registered and mis-advertised as Coopers.

Awesome. Thanks for the info! I am new to these.  So they were made in England, have extra emissions garbage and different dash. I could tell you anything you need to know about Vespa and Lambretta ( I work at the oldest scooter shop in America) but mini is new to me. What is the difference between clubman and flimsy UK bumper? I have also noticed things where they refer to cooper and other mini models. Or cooper and non cooper models. What does that mean? Are they referring to other models being the clubman or are the smaller available engine just mini and bigger engine mini cooper

Yes that option was dropped on the later wood dash cars.

Mine has that dash also....fake bottom glove box, but working small one on top.  Also has a "key hole" flap inside the glove box that is connected to the AC...open it to let cold air in to cool your beverage etc.

Yes Richard that is just the evaporator cover, your dash should have the black plastic one that opens and fits above the dash rail.

Japanese dash (that is not a working glove box, it is only stamped into the plastic)

None of the Jap spec cars had the useless immobilizer/alarm system installed that became a factory install on all spi and mpi UK spec Mini's. All the Mini's shipped to japan were shipped as complete running cars no ckd units. There are a few differences on 998cc J spec Mini's the emissions systems are different with extra stuff under the bonnet and some wiring differences with a warning light for the catalytic converter. The a/c wiring on 998cc carbed cars was aftermarket probably done by astro air. The bumpers sometimes used were the Clubman type from the German market Mini's but often have been changed out for the flimsy UK market ones. The dash is unique to J spec cars (has a/c vents and a smaller glove box) whether it is the usual plastic early ones found on the 998cc Mini's or the later version found on the 1.3 spi wood ones.

I'm not sure youo can generalize. Most of the Electrical drawings I've seen have an alarm circuit. My Jap did not have any alarm components. Fuel trap is in engine compartment instead of inner fender. With the air vent in that fender, there would be no room for the trap.

I didn't mean yours was jap. Mine is Japanese. I am importing it and it will arrive soon. I was just seeing if there is any model info I could get from the jap vin. That is the vin they gave me but I figured they were shipped as ckd and maybe they have UK vins somewhere. I am trying to figure the difference between UK and Japan 1000 other than the A/C

Late 80's and early 90's Jap spec Mini's sometimes used their own vin numbers which usually start with 99X stamped usually in the boot floor. All jap spec cars afaik were shipped with UK vin numbers usually SAXX which is either in the boot floor or under the bonnett on the inner wing depending on which a/c system it has (no room with the later a/c set up). I have seen them with both numbers intact which can be a problem when registering the car as there is no Japanese 2nd vin location to verify and they still have the original two UK vin locations.

Nope. Those are Rover Japan. There isn't any Japanese on the plate, but there was on the stickers on the lower side of the bonnet. Maybe it varied in other years.

That is the english vin numbers. The Rover Japan vins are different. Mine is 99xa1-14940-AR

That VIN only refered to the front fenders, hood, firewall, and front panel. The front sub-frame camb from another. The engine from another. The doors came from another one, and the roof, bed, tailgate, rear fenders, and rear sub-frame are original.

Electrical harnesses are home-made. Seats are Toyota. Most of the rest is aftermarket.

Big AL

Since I put the front half of the Japanese one on my 75 pickup, I had to fill in that secret VIN so it would look like a 75, where none was used.

Big AL

Here is the VIN from the Japanese front half of mine. Stamped on the plate and the drainage canal under the bonnet, in front of the windshield.

Is there any relevant info that could be gleaned from the japanese vin. I have searched for any sort of info. THanks!