Ok so heres the deal.
I am the highest bidder, is the part worth that much, hell no!
I have a cooper s in as good if not better (as I have all the original parts) condition than the one for sale at throttle shop at the moment. Over the last 3 years I have slowly restored this car to perfect original condition and thought i had finished, until i checked my fuel pump breather!
So I have a car worth anywhere between $30-40K, is $500 too much to spend on that last part..I personally dont think so. If there was still 100 other things to do would $500 be too much, indeed it would.
As for any others selling for the same price I couldnt see it. Luckily for the seller there happened to be 2 cashed up bidders at the same time, you only have to look at the comments in this thread to see that the wider mini communtiy wouldnt pay anywhere near that for the part.
Last year I paid over $1200 for a set of SU carbs fully rebuilt, they wernt worth it but attached was an original mk2 air cleaner, thats the part i wanted. The same bloke has tried selling similar set ups for around the $1000 mark after that auction and no one has bought them.
So dig out your old breathers if you must and hope the moons align, the wife has her tuesday knickers on and your holding your mouth just right and maybe you might make some cash. If I see mmalleck bidding on it ill throw a few bids in to get the price up like he did with me
Now with new owners: