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The King of the fakers returns!

After a few years of keeping his head more or less "down" the king of the Mini Fakers has made a reappearance. Greg Hales the legendary Mini forger is back in business!

I recently purchased an item that was advertised on ebay by a seller h1275 someone who according to his ebay profile is beyond reproach.

Foolishly I offered to buy an number of "Downton" items away from ebay and a price was agreed. When they arrived I was disappointed, but in all fairness not entirely surprised to find that not all was as it first appeared. In amongst the items I bought were the two invoices reproduced to the right. These are in all fairness excellent forgeries. The heading is embossed just like an original, it has an official looking Downton stamp at the bottom and the paper looked fairly aged. However, if I had been able to read the text I would have run a mile. Just check it out. Finding something original like these is a one in a million shot and any seller who didn't have something to hide would realise he had a very valuable document that was worth making a fuss about, not hiding it witha vague description and poor grainy picture.

How to identify these as fake documents:

The paper is stiff and has been aged in a fairly amateurish way, the marks and stains are merely surface deep, scratch the paper and it is pure white WATERMARKED copier paper. I am sure that some of the staining actually tastes of coffee :-) Compare the type face to that used on original documents reproduced in the DOWNTON ARCHIVE and although it is similar it is not identical. Downton only had one typewriter throughout the companies existence. Most of all, if someone is offering documents like this with poor images and a vague description RUN A MILE!

The Rocker cover:

Also included in my "deal" was a black crackle rocker cover fitted with a "Downton" badge as I have previously described further down this page, the rocker cover badge had been rubbed with sand paper to make it look old.

It's to a great extent my own fault, but learn from my mistake:

The reason I fell for this scam was Mr. Hales was appealing to my personal greed, I convinced myself I was getting a bargain so was prepared to take a chance and fall into his little trap. that's my own stupid fault. But I hope that by admitting own my stupidity I may be able to save you a few bob.

If you REALLY know what you are purchasing, go ahead, but I believe in letting someone track record speak for itself. Mr. Hales, has a very long and disreputable record as far as him offering items that are nott all that they first apear to be.

If by any chance GREG HALES OF COOKHILL in WARWICKSHIRE reads this and feels it is anything but a fair and accurate representation of his past and current business practices.

Please feel free to take me to court where I will defend my position most vigorously and prove beyond reasonable doubt that you are a con man and fraudster. If needs be I can also supply a host of witnesses who have experienced your dishonesty first hand.

Downton Boot / Rockercover Badge

By far the most common fake Downton item is the famous Downton badge. These were given away to purchasers of complete tuning kits and were also available as a seperate item.

The ones pictured here to the right are all out of the same Japanese catalogue dated 2000-2001. Regularly offered on ebay and by certain dealers and invariably described as genuine, these repros are mercifully easy to identify once you know what you are looking at.

Original and absolutely genuine Downton badges are pictured below, they will display the following features.

I have now identified 4 variations of the original Downton badges that I will soon be describinhg in detail, as I believe the incomplete descriptons in this section may have caused more confusion than they have solved. I am sorry for this.

Unlike the fakes the actual badge is approximately 1.2mm thick, most of the repro ones are between 2 & 3mm thick. The silver lettering on the originals is plated metal (either silver of Nickel depending on the period). The silver ones are partucularly prone to loosing their original silver finish and exposing the brass underneath. The repros are usually (if silver coloured at all) plated with Chromium. The genuine badges invariably had two parallel painted black highlight lines, above and below the DOW & TON, although these are extremely prone to rubbing off, the fakes usually have the same lines highlighted either in solid metal or edged in metal, apart from a single example, I have never seen an undoubtedly genuine badge display this particular characteristic.

Having spoken to a number of former downton employees, I can confirm that upper badge depicted here is of a type used before 1963, this was the same in general apearance as the lower (described) example but had solid upper and lower highlight lines, not the simple black painted ones described below. The two badges are the same size, the difference is down to my scanning methods.

The green background should be simple green paint, almost all the repros use some form of cold enamel, this feels slightly soft if you rub it with your teeth, the surface is also uneven, this is particularly well illustrated by the middle badge. An origianl will be perfectly smooth and will invariably have some of the paint missing unless it has been repainted. Repro badges are available from a number of outlets including Mini Spares Centre & Sommerford, needless to say these reputable outlets sell them as repros for a sensible price. These repros would make a nice addition to a 60's style car, but do look totally wrong when compared to the originals.

The final type of fairly common Downton badge is illustrated by the one opposite. This is etched brass and is painted with bright green paint. While in most ways it is better than most, the actual lettering is not italic and the black lines are also missing. (I ripped this picture off ebay, the guy selling it made it clear that this example was a reproduction).

The badge fitted to the boot of UHR 850 the Downton Racer owned by Gaydon

Some reproduction items are sold in good faith, others are out and out fakes, designed to deceive, follow the link to see a really bad one, possibly the worst example I have ever seen.

To see the listing click the image

To see the listing click the image

New Downton Centre Caps & Bonnet Badge.

These items are totally Bona Fide, they are available from the current incarnation of Downton.

NEW DOWNTON BADGES

They however have nothing to do with Downton Engineering Works of Wiltshire, that was owned by the Richmonds. Should you want a set I suggest you buy them direct, rather than bidding for them on ebay. One of ebays finest recently sold a set on ebay, the spiel went something like this;

"DOWNTON These are original classic downton badges, used by the downton factory on their 'Downton' Converted cars Prodominantly Mini's Mini Cooper's and Cooper 'S' Variants they were also used on Downton Converted MG Midgets, MGB's and the famous MGC's There is a full set of 4 up for grabs here, carefully removed and cleaned from an Ex Downton Show Car High Quality Enameled not a scratch nor a blemish to be found !! 33mm in diameter"

The only badges ever fitted to "Original Downton Cars" were the well known

Brass plated body badge!

Downton "Foil Stickers".

Another "Genuine" item offered by Greg were these stickers. Printed on aluminium foil they are of good quality and look nice. They are however brand new and not original in any way. These stickers are occasionally sold through ebay as genuine. After you have read this page, You know better.

Downton Rockercover & Badge.

This is just a standard rocker cover that has been repainted and fitted with a repro Downton badge as pictured above. OK for what it is, but notice it is a very late cover and as usual the badge itself is WRONG!

Downton Alloy Rockercover.

This is a reproduction of a rockercover that is usually refered to as a Downton Alloy Rockercover. With its distinctive smooth shape it really does look fantastic on any old engine. The truth is, this style of rockercover has little or nothing to do with Downton. Although I have seen a number of similar rockercovers fitted to Single seater Formula Junior A series engines, the fact that they occasionally find there way onto Minis is purely coincidental. As far as I am aware, the only alloy rocker cover supplied by Downton was the standard HRG item offered by a variety of tuning companies. (Picture to follow).

Downton "Works" Rockercover.

Another Greg Hales original! Just some old standard rockercover that has been fitted with a Trefolex badge claiming to be "Downton". These have been available as "Originals" but once again are just repros made up to fool the unweary.

Downton Catalogue 1969.

A very reputable Mini parts supplier had a number of very good reproductions of this catalogue produced a few years ago, if you are tempted to purchase one of these REMEMBER to ask if it is an original or not.

There isn't really an easy way of telling the repros from the originals as they are pretty good copies. The only real pointers are that the photographs in the repros are not as clear as you would expect for a first generation original and their contrast also seems to be a bit off. The best pointer of course is does your copy LOOK like it has been around since 1969?

There is an easy way to tell real from repro. On the cover, where it says "M0RRIS" the original "0" looks like this, the reproductions "O" looks like THIS.

Downton Miniature Pin Badge

Once again these small pin badges (approx 35mm in length) are offered in Japan and some make there way back to the west as "Original items" They definately aren't! They do make a nice Downton style touch, but have nothing to do with the Downton of the 60's.

Downton Keyrings

OK, I'll admit it! I was got by these when I first saw them. I purchased 2 from Mr Greg Hales of S.F.E (Safety Fast Engineering) in the late 90's and was absolutely delighted with my purchase. That was until I saw the exact same item in a number of Japanese catalogues. I am by no means the only person who purchased one as genuine, and it is reasonable to assume that some of the purchasers still believe theirs to be correct. By one by all means, but don't think you are buying a genuine item. You are not! The badge on these key rings is one of the ones pictured above.

The all metal version pictured here is also a newly produced item.