It was done in the late 80's when nobody cared about this stuff. Back then a cooper s was a mini with a big motor, discs and a couple of badges.

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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

Are you saying we should all take the ugly option?

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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

"As Oz is apparently now the nanny country in this world, how long before the dills in power pass a law forbidding use of upmarket badges on cars that are not legit. Whether the owner bought or built it a fake/replica, or not."

I would suggest the nanny state had nothing to do with it. Sounds more like a civil case. The buyer discovered that he had bought something contrary to that represented by the seller and simply asked for his money back.

The seller responded with something like "no way, see you in court.." So the court looked at the facts and made the seller give the money back - and by the way you owe him for the expenses involved in not doing what you should have done in the first place. Doesn't say but I'm guessing they got the car back. Up to them then to repeat the cycle - but not much sense in that - it seems they only paid a few grand for the unrestored car in the first place.

Sounds very much like the "Coke Car" case - a red and white "replica" S built in Canberra about 25 years ago.... except that the seller did know - and was sentenced for fraud....

No problem with building a replica - but when you start welding on ID plates to change the vehicle identity - that's when the boys in blue start getting interested....

Cheers, Ian

PS Ask some of the old school about the Ss that were transformed into Ks or Deluxes because of insurance issues back in the late 60s/70s. I wonder how many Ss went to the tip wearing (genuine) S identities....

we all know since 1966 everyone has wanted a real XR Falcon GT which was coming out in 67 or Cooper S no matter how it became one....

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"Show me the Mini!"

I agree with the buyer beware to a certain point; but peoples emotions take over if they see a great looking car and their subconscious kicks in and they dont want to check it so thoroughly so these people need protection. We need better vigilance in our mini community.

Some will know that i was adamant about further improvements to the Cooper S Register and the publishing of the fundamentals which we have. When this gets to the appropriate level (at the present aiming for 1000) it will provide better information to prevent scammers or to better identify the replicas. We are nearing 700.

As a professional heritage conservationist (my job), I was recently a little pleased to discover a company which retails re-stamped Mini id plates was quite guarded about reproduction and requested verification of a particular genuine Cooper S that had lost its plate somewhere in its life. Good stuff.

I could bore you shipless with the correct protocol on proper conservation practices but i think suffice to say here and now there is a move afoot in the mini circles to be better informed about getting it right. As values increase so will importance.

Lets face it a good replica can be a great car, and the value recognized appropriately. IMO there is no need to be deceitful about the life of a vehicle. The more known and documented for the future the better. In buildings we do a Conservation Management Plan. But i'm not losing sight of the value differences and the relevance.

I recently identified a 'replica' Cooper S and I discovered the owner has no idea its a fake whatsoever! its a great Mini, and its value would certainly exceed $20K even when the proper identity becomes revealed. I bet he didnt pay that for it some years ago so in this case no harm will be done.

Piece by piece we will weed out the very well done fakes. While the legal suits far exceed the value of our Minis we have an excellent chance of rehabilitating our market for Minis. We are on the track to the 'certificates' Coopers or not.

You can sell a fake easily I know of someone on this forum who was unfortunately duped when buying a supposedly genuine S the police didn't want to know and it was too expensive to take court action .

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That's why it's good to be.............ME