What are your thoughts on people getting a written off classic car of worth. For arguments sake a Mk1 Cooper S and re-shelling it. So taking every piece off that Cooper and putting it onto a non-cooper Shell. Do they have the right to call it a Cooper S?

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1971 Mini Clubman 1100
1968 Morris Mini Deluxe 998

http://www.facebook.com/geelongminiclub

"Everybody should drive a Mini, everybody should own a Mini at some point, or you are incomplete as a human being." -James May, about the classic Mini.

Yeah, here we go again!!

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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

You should be able to call your car what ever you want.

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http://www.flickr.com/by_dan
Current: 1970 Mini K 2014 Focus ST
Past: 93 Rover, 64 850, 97 Rover, 66 Deluxe, 66 Moke
81 Austin Estate, 2006 R53MCS, 66 Deluxe, 1978 Clubbie
2014 Land Rover Defender 90

Here we go

Might be best to do a search as its a very hot topic.
And in a word No. It should never be called a genuine Cooper S.

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WD40'll fix it!
If it don't, use a big hammer!

You might get away with that in the UK.
If it's not in a real S body in this country, it is an S replica.
Nothing wrong with that (we owned a good one)- just don't represent that it is a real S. This is fraud.

A good S replica is probably worth around 1/2 what the real thing is, hence why people dud them up.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

good to see most agree, i was having an argument today

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1971 Mini Clubman 1100
1968 Morris Mini Deluxe 998

http://www.facebook.com/geelongminiclub

"Everybody should drive a Mini, everybody should own a Mini at some point, or you are incomplete as a human being." -James May, about the classic Mini.

" Genuine " , being the operative word !

Nothing wrong with the idea.
I would rather drive a faithful replica then the real thing any day.
BUT to sell it as a genuine S would be simply wrong....very wrong.
Any person doing this, just put yourself in the position of the buyer......How would you feel finding out later it had been re-shelled.

Here is another side to it...

Should the owner part the bits out to other Cooper S owners to restore their cars so the remaining ones are able to be kept more genuine?

Might make a change from the real vs replica vs fraud debate.

I'm on the "no" side by the way...

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Cheers
Alec
1275LS - July 78 - XNFAD18Y/102918

Very wrong.

Deceit (fraudulence) is a criminal offence.

I think it's extremely wrong and as far as I was aware, illegal.

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Ryan Filippi
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

when is a replica
not a genuine car ?
is it made of plastic or metal
basically all our cars are genuine
just that some have been assembled in a slightly different form .
some have more bits than others
some have different sized motors ,
some have different brake systems ,
if you were to start from a bare basic shell
and assemble all original parts ,you could say you had a genuine cooper S
just a new build.
for example (slight different track)
using old plans new timber build a boat
is it a replica ?

how many "works race cars "
are the ORIGINAL car as built in64??
just my thoughts.

but then again a reshell is not the original car and a clone is just that.

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65 panel van Sprog
73 panel van Iggy

If you started with a NEW bare shell it won't have any ID numbers on it.
And (in this country anyway) it's illegal to then stamp the numbers on it from your old car to reshell it.
But I think that is legal in UK, and it definitely is legal in California.
Just not here- in the land of convicts and felons.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

It's still a bit of a grey area though. Suppose I get a cooper S write-off. If I replace the fenders, doors, bonnet, roof, sills, floors, boot and side panels, it's still a cooper s. When does cutting pieces of a non-genuine shell and welding them onto the genuine one switch the other way around? If I cut everything off from the bonnet back and weld on a non-genuine, is that still genuine?

I'm of the opinion you can call it what you want, but if it isn't the original shell (grey area!) then it should be sold as a replica.

It's not legal in the UK to restamp the number. The new Heritage shells come with a number that identifies it a replacement shell. However if a reshell is done legally the DVLA still see it as the same car (when told about thew new VIN) and it retain's its original registration number.

The UK has silly rules too. New parts count as original, but used parts form another car don't even if it's the same part. So if you use the old shell from car A, subframes from car B and engine from car C and the DVLA find out, then the car loses it's identity and is issued a "Q" numberplate like a kit car.

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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