So why did Leyland Australia make the buttons and why do the flares have the notches for the buttons? (and why does my Cooper S (and quite a few others) have the holes for the buttons?)

They sold a flare kit as a hot up kit (as well as needing them for South Australia) these kits included the buttons, backings, clips, self tappers and the early flares.

I bought my late Mk1 Cooper S in 1969 in Victoria and the dealer had to fit the flares to get it registered, I watched them being fitted and they used the 'Black Button' thingos. They got knocked back on registration because the wheels protruded past the body work. A few months later the Mk2 was released.

i want to see proof that if i hit a person on the legs with my car that they will be cut off, lol

_________________
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying "Damn...that was fun!"

Where can i get these???

_________________
Tim
Dusk Blue
1964 850

Mini King or most good Mini places.

How many are you after?

_________________

Craig i told you to paint them Black,,, they look heaps better black,,, now get back down to the workshop & paint them black,,, you naughty naughty boy

_________________
No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I dont really know...
How many should i use????? 2 per flare?? i would probably want to put a rivet al each end of each flare, so two between them should be ok shouldn't it?
It seems as if some people don't worry about using these at all and just use rivets.... is that correct? will that work fine??

_________________
Tim
Dusk Blue
1964 850

I think i used 5 or 6 per corner. The correct clips hold down the flare but also hold down the silver plastic moulding. You must use the 'cooper s' side moulding as the internal profile fits over the clips. The normal moulding from an 850 wont hold down properly.

_________________
Dave K.
1979 Moke Californian + 1981 'Coke' Moke

I have owned several South Australian delivered Cooper S's, and none of these had the buttons drilled to the body.
I don't think any dealership went to this length when they fitted the 'required' parts (flares to meet roadworthy standards)

My Victorian delivered 1969 late Mk1 Cooper S had them dealer fitted for rego, and I remember the black buttons as I was there when they were fitting them.
I recall thinking what the hell are those for at the time. The Mk11 was released a short time later. So my 1969 S had them. It's the car pictured in my avatar.

So we have one group of people that say the buttons were never ever fitted and then we have another group that own cars that had the buttons fitted during the period.
So which group do you think is correct?

They may not have been fitted to every car but they were fitted to some cars.
There is at least half a dozen cars on this forum that had the buttons fitted.

When I went to collect my S back in 1969 (in Victoria not SA) the dealer told me they had run into a snag and the Motor Reg had knocked S's back because the wheels protruded past the body line, and they refused to register it, the sales guy said we have to fit a flare kit, never having seen the flare kit in question I asked what does it look like, he took me out to the pre-delivery area and they were part way through fitting the kit, the first thing that caught my eyes were the black buttons sticking out of the guards on my brand new Indigo Blue S, I thought what the hell are those ugly things, the sales guy said don't worry they will be covered and you won't see them. They did a good job of fitting them but I looked at them and thought hmm my wheels look skinny, I had a few mates with S's and they all had mixed feelings on seeing them, I ended up fitting a set of Dunlop Mags to fill them out a bit.

This should be in the "How To" section.

_________________

I need some of these can anyone help me out? Where can I buy the metal strips cheaply.