Don't forget, Issue 15 of The Mini Experience for the full story on the Mini SS.

Clubman GT, Mini Clubman S, Mini S, SS, LS, 1275LS all had three gauges.

Mini Clubman, and Leyland Mini had two gauges.

Mini 1100 had single central speedo only.

Clubman GT, Mini Clubman S, Mini S, SS, LS, 1275LS all had wheel arch flares.

Mini 1100, Mini Clubman, and Leyland Mini had no flares.

Mini Clubman (discontinued April 1973) and Clubman GT (discontinued Dec 1972 or Jan 1973) had hydro. Mini 1100 (also discontinued at around the same time) had dry suspension.

See Issue 19 of TME (due out in about three weeks) for full story on Mini 1100 (and the Clubman GT), but it was quite different from the Clubman. Dry suspension, magic-wand gearstick, centre speedo, etc.

After closure of Zetland factory, Mini production continued at Enfield with 1098cc engines until stock ran out and replaced with 998cc, in mid-1975.

Different pressing in the firewall was for large air filter for the 1.5" carb.

There are literally hundreds of differences between early square-nose and late Minis. Lots of little things (some very important) also came in, like inertia-reel seatbelts, seat head restraints, handbrake warning light and brake fail warning light on top dash rail....

Now, just to upset the apple cart a little, here's a technical point on the name. If your friend said there is no difference between an early Clubman and a late Clubman, he is almost right. The Mini Clubman was only produced from mid-1971 to April-1973. All later models were called Leyland Mini with various models being denoted by Letters - S, SS, LS, 1275LS. The name Clubman was not officially used, but all square-nosed Minis get called Clubman, even though technically that is not correct.

The major changes in the period that the Mini Clubman was available were really only the fitting of seat head restraints and the steering lock/ignition switch. ADR26, which was the first ADR to cover emissions also came in from Jan 1972, but the A-series engines already were within the limits, so this had no effect. Various other ADRs for the same time also had no effect.

So, you could say that technically your friend was almost correct, as long as he is only talking about 1971 to 1973 Mini Clubman. But, I suspect, like everyone else, he was meaning all 1971 to 1978 square-nose Minis.

Oh, and no, the Australian Mini never featured the same UK grille.

Cheers,
Watto.