I have been pondering an old story that in the late sixties/seventies, second hand Cooper S's were almost unsaleable because of high insurance costs probably. The story goes that used car dealers would snap these up cheap, strip the discs, motor and box etc, fit a 998 and rebadge the car as a Deluxe for sale. I presume the idea was to make a profit on selling off the S parts and the now more saleable "Deluxe" Mini.

What I am curious about is whether there is any truth to this legend, or is it just apocryphal?

Has anyone ever come across a Deluxe that appears to have features of a Cooper S? I am guessing that things like boot board brackets, Rh fuel tank mounts etc would have stayed even if the parts were stripped.

Come on, tell us your stories?!

Yes...it certainly happened and probably happened more often than people would think...

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"Show me the Mini!"

It was a profitable sideline for several Mini specialists. I remember a well known ex-racer castigating himself for the number of Ss he'd "terminated"... Although, the spares were useful to those of us who did own Ss

I wonder what happened to a Canberra based yellow K that had been "upgraded" with twin tanks and oil cooler (which included all the proper brackets) etc..

Cheers, Ian

Adding to the John Smidt quote, there was no need to alter any ID plate or stamped number on a car because your annual NSW registration certificate did not contain the VIN/Chassis No. or body No. The only form of identifying a vehicle was the engine number on the rego papers until some time around 1994 and it was straightforward to legitimately register the new engine number if a motor was swapped.
Also, the rego papers did not indicate that the car was a Cooper S - just "Morris Sedan".
So it was all very easy to do.

Yes, it was a pretty common thing and mainly because of the insurance changes that came in that put the Cooper S into the Sports Car category (that was the case in Qld as I had a Cooper S at the time and could not afford the increase). A well know mini workshop in Brisbane was well known for doing as described in the posts above and clearly admitted that.

If anyone owns a Deluxe I would check the inside on the back drivers side quarter in the boot to see if it has a piece of metal welded or glued in there to cover the right hand tank hole.

We must remember that back then the Cooper S was just another car.

John

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1965 MK1 English Morris Cooper S (Downton)
1967 MK1 Morris Cooper S
1972 Clubman GT (6/72 Cadiz)
1968 MG Midget

To add to what Bill has said, engine reconditioners and engine swaps were plentiful and common (not so much with another type of car necessarily as it means these days but a good used engine from a wreckers or a rebuild)...

Having said that, hot rodding was also common...like the early Simca Aronde with a stove hot grey six that lived near me...Morris Minor Ute with hotted up Cortina driveline etc...

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"Show me the Mini!"