As the owner of an Innocenti Mini it is good to know that you can come across 'some problems' as you go. The - Italian - Innocenti, a company founded by Ferdinando Innocenti, produced, among other things, refrigerators, mopeds, scooters and cars.
License building
In 1960 a contract was concluded with the then British Motor Corporation to build the Austin A40 Farina under license. Well on the way, body builder Ghia was commissioned to develop a sporty convertible, the Spider 40, based on that A950. BMC finally also had success with the Austin-Healey Sprite and MG Midget? It became a beautiful and ultimately expensive car that only sold over 7.500 times.
Innocenti Mini
The next step was the Austin 1100 - known to us as 'Glider' -, which entered the Italian market as IM3. Due to the disappointing reliability of the car, this was not a success either. Ferdinando Innocenti died in 1966 and after that the company went downhill rapidly. In the meantime, they had the contract to produce the Mini under license under the name Innocenti exclusively for the Italian market. In 1972, the company was then incorporated by the then British Leyland to become part of DeTomaso in 1976 and in the Fiat Group's 1990.
Look for the differences
If you look at the photos of such a Mini, there are already a few differences. The grille, the headlight rings, the indicators with built-in city lights, the extra indicators on the mudguards (mandatory in Italy), but especially the draft windows! The Cooper version - because it was there too - has an impressive dashboard with many interesting, but also necessary meters. The boot lid was also different. Instead of an elongated space for the license plate, a square place. The rear lights from Altissimo or Carello ... The Cooper version was available with Rostyle-derived steel (Firsat) rims or aluminum rims from CMR. If you go 'loose' on such an Innocenti you will find that many of the parts used are really different. Such as the meters from Veglia, the headlights from Carello - including the 'lampbox', gas, clutch and brake pedal, horn relay from Fiamm, windscreen washer system from Intereuropa, the radiator from Ipra. And so there are many more differences, many more differences ...
I've had a few. Also red with a black roof. High oil consumption but also a high fun factor. Because they were fast. And with that beautiful dashboard ...
In the early years of 80 it was difficult to find a reasonable one. I remember that there were also dark blue with a cream-colored interior.
Really everything was different compared to the English Mini. For example, the hinges of the hood, which apparently were the same, were located farther to the center. The doors are very different in any case due to the triangle windows. But the tailgate also only had the same contours.
Now the real ones are already (almost) priceless.