henry the mini wrote:
Dident know that Sport 850 where not a "model" but some sort of "accesories pack" added by a few dealer.
Really makes it nearly impossible to prove how genuine a car is.
Is there no difference in the number, ie: on the car and on the engine, are they simply 850 number?
What morris means is they never had their own model number but were a factory approved performance version . The sports850 with the badges the same as the one you saw were only converted and sold by Peter Manton Motors in Melbourne and P and R Williams in Sydney . There was a kit produced at the same time with a round badge for the grille saying "sports850 conversion" sold by other dealers but the one you saw was not sold as a kit , only as a converted car .
They came about as Peter Manton was racing an 850 with twin carbs and being knocked back on protest as it wasn't a production model , he asked BMC for the cooper to be imported and sold here but they declined saying the cooper was "too advanced and too expensive" for Australia . Manton offered to make a performance 850 to prove there was a market for the cooper and BMC agreed so they were factory approved and covered by the factory's warranty . Because there was no seperate model number they are hard to prove tobe genuine or not genuine unless they have their full history (when you call in here Louis I'll show you the original books for mine , a friend who did his apprenticeship at P and R Williams and also converted them has verified the signatures in the service book as being the people there at the time) . The difference from a standard 850 was the twin carbs , chrome rocker cover with sticker , "sports exhaust" and optional white paint flashes front and rear . The badges are a pressed metal and not cast like most people think so that's one way to check originality .
