I friend of mine was going through some stuff and came across this the other day


By gtmowog

and so to answer your question




By gtmowog


By gtmowog

A friend of mine owned this Van for a number of years from about 1982
until about 1985. We used to go to work together in it. We didn't really
apriciate what it was, we just looked upon it as a factory hot van. It was
brown in colour (you'd think they'd pick a better colour than that!).

I have heard rumous of Cooper S vans and I did have one pointed out to
me once, but I was not in a position to look to see if it was the real deal.

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snap

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

I've been trying to get one of those programmes for ages to go with my Bathurst mini models.

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Flute - 68 MK I Cooper S
Member: VMCI #2474
Member: International Mini Model Collectors Club

Who wrote that, and what is the source?

I could say that Leyland made 500 Clubmans with P76 V8s in them, but it doesn't mean it's true. Is there any other supporting evidence?

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"I'm sorry, but a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!"

It says that most of the Hi roof vans were used for parts delivery by BMC and their dealers and I know that is bull.

It looks like a story written by a car club for club members. It is very short on facts.

So how could you tell a GT Van? What would the prefix on the compliance plate say?

This is true i had a mate tell me of this ages ago and most people laughed it off. Wait till brown clubman gets on here, he knows about it but i will let him say


Was a van to Gt specs ie 1275 and discs and the all elusive gear knob.

Not sure about body number, but a compliance plate with van body number and a 1200/ engine number would be the identifyer.

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The compliance plates never had an engine number.
In my view it is just a van with a lot of extras.
I bet the compliance plate is a normal van plate.

The Compliance Plate was a YG2S8, however the seating capacity was 2.
The Number on the cowl matched up to the compliance plate.
Body Number (behind the master cylinders on the firewall) M2 / 23.
The Engine Prefix was 1200.
It had 120 mph / 6500 red line Tacho.
Electric Fuel pump, with the breather attached to the body.
Hydrolastic, with a modified fuel tank (dam thing would only take a little over 4 gallons).
GT Wiring Harness with the white wire in the front and rear sections for the fuel pump.
Basket Weave trim, I recall it had some trim in the rear too.
GT Grill Badge.
GT Rear Door Badge.
GT (Cooper S) Gearbox.
GT (Cooper S) Gear Shifter.
GT Gear Knob.
Oil Cooler with body brackets.
Twin 1 1/4" SUs with thin style air filter box (and a Uni-part sticker on it).
7.5" Disc Brakes with booster.
Stepped Rear Drums.
Was on ROH Rostyle Mags. I have no idea if this was how it left the factory.
The Van shell was a window type.

It was a factory Clubman GT Van. I was sceptical but it checked out. Years latter I met a guy who worked in the experimental dept of BMC and later Leyland and he confirmed it and made comment on the colour. My mate bought it as a novilty as it was advertised in the Trading Post as a Hydrolastic Van, not as a GT, so he snapped it up for $900.00 although the sell was asking for $1000.00.

I have no idea if it still exists today. It did get a little knocked about in the time my mate had it, most from the inside with stuff moving about the rear of it.

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yep.... I'd call that a GT van

This may sound a bit ignorant, but isnt that what all cars are? Varients of the one that came before it?
isnt a cooper is just a mini with (a lot of) extras on it with a guys name attached to it?
A holden HR X2 is just a HR with extras on it, but extremely rare and sought after.
So I answer, is it just a van with a lot of extras? Or just that little bit more than that?
Just my thoughts.

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

One of the mini shops here in perth told me years ago he came across a van with cooper s specs. Thinking it was a van with cooper s parts he cut it in half for the cooper s front end and in doing so apparently found papers to say it was a special build from the factory.

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1965 Riley Elf
1974 Ex Army Moke
1997 Rover Cooper
2002 JCW Cooper
2003 JCW Cooper S

Mini World featured what they claimed was the only genuine Cooper S Traveller in the world. When you read the article, it was a normal 850 Traveller that was taken from the line, fitted with all the Cooper S bits and then documented and registered as a Cooper S. But it still had an 850cc Traveller body number, and I'd bet if you got a heritage certificate for that car, it would list it as an ordinary 850 Traveller.

I'm sure the factory made lots of one-offs. But loads of GT bits attached to a van does not make it a genuine GT van really. It comes down to the history and documents.

I know in Oz, we have no Heritage Certificates. I'd have to see photos of the aforementioned body numbers or some sort of factory doccumentation before I'd accept it was more than just someone being creative.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I remain skeptical.

Cheers,

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

IMO, the Matching Compliance Plate and Body Numbers are the clincher, especially since the compliance plate stated the seating capacity as 2, GT Sedans were listed as 4.

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Yes, and if I saw a photo of that compliance plate and those body numbers, I'd believe it and rejoice in the magnificence of it.

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

I'm with GT!
Everybody hears great stories of great rare cars, why is so hard for some to believe that they actually exist?
I've never seen 10 billion dollars in cash before, so noooo, it cant exist!

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Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!