In May of this year The Car Connection posted pictures sent in by a reader in L.A. of two disguised MINI Coopers, one an S, one a regular Cooper.

At the time it caused a little stir, what were two disguised vehicles doing out and about when the new MINI is already on sale. They were not MINI Clubman test cars, they looked for all you could see pretty regular. Much head scratching took place in the MINI Community (see this thread on the MINI2 forums for some of the conjecture at the time)…. But then they were all but forgotten.

Until now. MINI2 member ogeneo spotted and photographed the very same MINI Cooper S shown in the original Car Connection photographs (still showing on their site), on the Southern California Pacific Coast Highway.

Which once again begs the question, what is this car all about? What are MINI doing with this test Cooper S (apart from pulling off tail pipe trim!)?

Strange goings indeed!