Worms and cans come to mind....

In the mid 70s it was quite possible to buy a new S shell from a dealer.

On the other hand, Terry Sheil once lamented to me about the number of Ss he had "disappeared" in the late 70s. Because of insurance, (not so) old Ss could hardly be sold. He would buy them strip, out the S mechanicals,for which there was a ready market, and "rebirth" the shell as a Deluxe. So that's another source for a body.

Many years ago i bought some bits from a guy breaking a very suss looking K.... oil cooler with genuine mounts anyone?

To someone buying the car today I guess it would be important to know which option was used.

Of course the real problem is for subsequent buyers. There was an interesting court case several years ago where the "second" owner of such a car made a nice wedge by failing to disclose certain details to the third owner. Unfortunately for him the third owner then (quite accidentally) bumped into the original builder.... and obtained his revenge through the courts.

Cheers, Ian

There is now a bunch of white Clubby owners out there quaking in their boots!!

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"Show me the Mini!"

Ha ha, actually I think the minis were drab green, surely someone here will correct me if not. I did holdens, fords and at least one Chrysler and they were all white. A Toyota T18? Which came in black. It's funny to think back now, doing such work on vehicles now days would be cost prohibitive, it would cost about $50,000 in labour to reshell a new Bommadore. We did it in about a week all up.

You might be surprised! A while back I saw a British 4WD that had had a big front end hit...undergoing repair for that order of dollars...Its just a big game with the "insurance" companys

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"Show me the Mini!"

Yet if you park your Falcon in a foot deep puddle, they'll write it off.

Parking a new Falcon in a foot deep puddle might write it off!!

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Don't listen to what I am saying... just understand what I mean.

In more recent years, most manufacturers would sell a replacement shell, generally called a 'body in white' which came with all hanging panels. Apparently you could order them in another colour from most manufacturers but would have to wait for it with the time frame dependent on production demand for complete cars. White ones were often held in stock as a spare.

I recall an interesting discussion regarding the supply of these 'body in white' and the registration issues. Ford's justification for supply of the 'body in white' as a spare part effectively 'over the counter' to anyone was that the registering authorities allowed them to be used (even though Ford did not want cars to be reshelled), while the registering authorities (who did not want them used because of the problems they caused) were struggling with the fact that they were freely available as a spare part so how could they prevent their use!!
My comment at the time was "So, don't allow them to be used"

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Don't listen to what I am saying... just understand what I mean.

Not many at all. I recently found another famous race mini after a few years of searching, which I will post up here once I collect it. The body on this one is absolutely gone and although I am the greatest campaigner for keeping the original shell in this case it is just not possible. It leaves me with no option but to re-shell and be completely open about it, whereby the identity continues to exist or just scrap it and its gone forever. I have no doubt it would be worth less than if it were the original shell that ran around the track even if it was to be re-bodied with an original Cooper S shell. This is the first time I have been faced with having to consider this but do I keep a piece of history such as King did with the black Manton mini or let it go to the Gods.

Mike this isn't an easy one but any time there is an "issue" with a car, it hurts the value. How much will only be determined by the market. Tell them to put it on ebay and see what they get. Let the market determine the price.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

An interesting thread. My restored '67 Deluxe is running a lot of Cooper S parts for performance reasons. It is NOT intended to be a replica Cooper S and I like my Morris Mini Deluxe badge on the boot lid! If however I decided to weld in a few missing brackets, fit a fuel pump breather etc etc does it potentially become a "reshelled" Cooper S? I think not.
Alternatively, if I purchased that basket case mustard yellow barn find Mark 2 'S' that's on ebay and rebuilt it using my body shell, cut and pasted body numbers etc, do I end up with a genuine Cooper S? Again, to be honest, I think not. Just my thoughts...

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67 Deluxe
Dry suspension
1293cc, 11:1 comp, RE 282 camshaft, 45 Weber, extractors etc
4 synchro close ratio gbox
Cooper S brakes, no booster
Stealth box, as Doc says "goes harder and idles!"
RH tank cos I needed it crossing the Nullarbor etc..

I agree. They will be going to the market however it may not be on Ebay.

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ex 1976 Mini 'S'
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - ex Police
ex 68 Morris Cooper S Mk1
ex 70 Morris Cooper S Mk2
1970 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - '73 Bathurst replica
70 Morris Cooper S Mk2 - under resto

agree

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....you just lost him his insurance bonus!

997

Every things restorable Greg!! Just depends on the size of your wallet Just look at the English minis But seriously it must be bad if your thinking of ditching the body

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It is illegal to put ID numbers from a wrecked car even on a brand new shell even if it is supplied by the manufacturer. I dont know why . It is allowed an many other countries.
A friend bought a late model Holden Monaro from the Auctions which was stolen and recovered all damaged in every panel thinking it will be a straight forward thing to buy a brand new Body from Holden which you can buy (For $5500) and comes all Ready painted BUT no numbers. He didn't realize he was breaking the Law so transferred every thing from the wreck and when he went to register it he nearly got arrested for stamping the numbers from the original car on to the new body. After a lot of bother hey ended up issuing him a surrogate number.

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DID I MENTION THAT I AM THE BEST SUPPLIER FOR MINI ELECTRICAL PARTS AND REPAIRS?
"Let us remove your "SHORTS"

What is the line for rust cutting then?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=93352

If I'm carrying on like a pork-chop, I'm having a great time.

If I go very quiet there's a very good chance I broke something.

Everything but the radiator panel - apparently.