Once you have replaced the handle OR the head its not the original.

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The bitterness of poor quality (or Crappy Workmanship) remains LONG AFTER the Sweet Taste of Low Price is forgotten.

So if I buy a really rusty S and replace the front guards, it's still original.

If I then replace the sills, floors, rear panel, rear guards, roof, A pillars and even the front fire wall (because the A pillars rusted into it as well), is it still Original.
Actually it is, because all those parts didn't come with an "identity" being a body shell number.

However it would be a damn sight easier to cut the stamped section out of the rusty fire wall and weld it into the donor shell and reattach the build plate

Rebirthing only happens when the replacement she'll has an ID that you are removing.

If you bought a complete reproduction shell without a body number, you would not be rebirthing, just replacing a LOT of second hand panels ?

My 2c worth.
If the numbers match and all of the correct parts/features were there I'd buy it.
How would you prove it wasn't the real thing.

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Find a job you love and you will never have to go to work !

BMC years ago could sell you a `body in white'. Ford and GMH probably did too. Sadly, no more.
I know of a Mini K that was reshelled this way when it was only a month or so old and got totalled. Body number on its rego is the shell part number.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Mine is reshelled, the guy I bought it from 10 years ago told me straight up. He even provided photos of the original car. There was alot of rust in that mk1 body but it was repairable. He scrapped it though. I am now the owner of a reshelled mk1 S.

I guess it's great to see any Mini on the road & being looked after, however I think it's dishonest to knowingly pass off a non genuine Cooper or S to an unsuspecting buyer.
If the buyer is aware of the car's beginnings, that's fine, but I have seen a few people arrive with their new "genuine Cooper S" & I haven't had the heart to enlighten them!
There are a lot of rebodied cars out there that are better than the originals & deserve just as much respect, as long as the owner is aware...

And as long as they get a new chassis number issued by the transport dept / police.

I reckon you're right, - if the (aware) owner of a non genuine car was to pass away, what's to stop their estate selling it as genuine, they wouldn't know...
Replacement chassis numbers are a good idea.

I really do not get this whole argument, I mean once the original fuel is used and replaced the car is no longer original, the oil and fuel used now is not the same as when the cars were new so that's not original blah blah blah, the fact is you could re-shell a car, in the past and in some placed still can, so if a re- shell was then imported to Australia from say NZ... the the argument goes on....

What would be nice is if there were full and honest disclosure at time of sale, if there were records keep by state on a cars history. but we live in a real world not fantasy and those for whom absolute originality is paramount are in the tiniest of minorities compared to the greater unwashed. While it would be nice if everything were easy and clear cut, it isn't and in some ways when you have a small group of people prepared to pay a premium for what they perceive to be something special then you will always get a criminal element prepared to take advantage of that. And you will also have those wanting to argue the detail of what is and is not special, while 99.9% or people don't care

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"Show me the Mini!"

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Jenk.