G'Day bubbacluby, Thank you for your email. You do have some valid points and I Thank you for bring them up. Actually this a Mk-III car which is a better (later model) vehicle then a Mk-II. Mk-II came out with same doors, rear lights and seats just like mass produced Deluxe model. Only Deluxe never had the same performance specs as the Coppers cars. Mk-III came our with "Clubman/Leyland doors" same as Mini K had them. The rear lights confirm a Mk-III car. All matching numbers including, engine, racing gearbox and all running gear are genuine Cooper S parts. Now regarding the custom made fiberglass front end it was never an original factory feature of this car. It simply was made by the previous owner because the car was being build for racing purpose. So I guess he may have tried to reduce the actual weight of the car at the time. There has always been a lot of talk about what colour and what doors and many other aspects of classic mini cars among mini enthusiasts and mini owners, and most of the people were only confirming the actual car they may have had on hand. However, mini is known as one of the cars which has had so many variants during it's history production. For instance when BMC had sold their company to Leyland Australia during their transition of change over they were still selling available mini cars on hand to customers who knew nothing about change over. So when they were assembling cars together at Zetland (NSW) they would bundle for example a Deluxe with what ever colour interior they had just so they could get the car out sold. I have a number of mini cars and enjoy talking to mini owners and enthusiasts about their cars, mini history and peoples mini projects. If you wish to have a friendly chat about this amazing classic cars you can reach me on my mobile: 0412 222 181 Cheers Alex (Mini World Australia) http://www.miniworld.com.au

well the late coopers did come with clubman doors after the adr changes in 1971 maybe just had a rear smash and put a clubby rear on

It's not like he is the first to mistakenly believe his car is a Cooper S. Dave

It's his car and he can describe it as he wants.

Its also a Leyland body number.....

Someone who owns a mini website and promotes minis should have a better idea, I would have thought.