WTH??!?! Have you seen this item on ebay.

[colonel mustard]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165882034743 ... %7Ciid%3A1

Pair of reproduction microcells with head rests and subframes.

[gs.davies]

I think these are 997 pads.. someone was looking for 997 bits the other day I think.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304772693160 ... media=COPY

[minijosh92]

AEG312 thin flange block I have just listed on ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325506524573

[UHR850]

https://www.2dehands.be/v/auto-s/oldtim ... 45826d5acd

Mini Sprint

[WMU 211G]

'Mk3 S' with no R/H tank etc...

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1538812

[Old English White]

I think my lawnmower has as many genuine Cooper S parts as that has

['S'-type]

There can't be any other marque that suffers so much from the possibility of people adding a bullshit piece of paperwork to make out a connection, no matter how tenuous, to the term 'Mini Cooper S' purely to add value to whatever they are selling.
No wonder those old log books change hands for so much money. It's been going on for years, but far from dieing out it seems to be becoming more prevalent. While the cogniscenti can easily spot the fakes, there seem to be enough suckers out there to get caught up in the fakery.
I don't mind proper period re-shells, 'evocation's or replicas or even bitsas that are better specce'd than originals,so long as they are declared, but there's so many chancers trying to gain financially from claiming some kind of provenance in heaps of shit with a Cooper S log book neatly converted into a V5.
You could say it doesn't matter. The buyer get's their 'Cooper S', the seller gets their £30,000 everyone's a winner. But it's the deception that get you.
There can't be any other marque where the deception is so prevalent and easy.

[Stopped-again]

Yep, here we go again Mk3 Cooper S my eye, the usual hexagonal pedals, non opening rear windows and, although we can’t see it, I’d like to bet it’s a single bolt subframe. It’s all very well the “buyer getting his Cooper S and the seller getting his £30000” but what happens when Mr Innocent buyer tries to sell it in a couple of years time? But why should we care, none of us will be buying it will we, but I’d really like to see Old English White’s lawnmower, how quick does he cut his lawn?

[tweedy998]

I think my lawnmower has as many genuine Cooper S parts as that has

That certainly made me chuckle, but you're absolutely right.

There can't be any other marque that suffers so much from the possibility of people adding a bullshit piece of paperwork to make out a connection, no matter how tenuous, to the term 'Mini Cooper S' purely to add value to whatever they are selling.
But it's the deception that get you.
There can't be any other marque where the deception is so prevalent and easy.

Agreed. I'm seeing so many of these 'creations' lately, it's starting to get really tiresome. As you say, many of us are able to spot what's a fake and what's genuine, but there will be many folk less knowledgeable who are potentially sucked in. There's been a number of cars come through a particular online car auction site in the last couple of years, and every time I've done some digging it's unearthed something dubious about the cars in question, and not just Mini's either. Recently a previously stolen car, well known in the owners circles appeared on the site with no mention of this part of it's history - which is very well documented, it was highlighted through the comments and eventually taken off, the owner claiming innocence... hmmm.

[Costafortune]

There are as many dubious provenance AVO/RS/TC Escorts out there - but the big difference is that those who do it build the car up properly so they are pretty much detail correct.

Minis seem to be done so shabbily by comparison but the real shite seems to pop up at auctions.