There is a dealer in my town that has an 07 "factory JCW" mini for sale that has a tuning kit badge and no body kit or wheels. They say its a "black edition" and was special built by the owner in Germany and brought back to the states. As I have done some research on the car no one can verify that this is a true JCW and the vin says its a hardtop S. The dealer went further to tell me that no mini prior to 08 can be distinguished as a jcw by the vin which sounds weird to me. Under the hood looks the exact same as my 07 mini S with a few differences on the interior. I called flow mini and they tell me its not and that factory JCWs do not have the tuning badge because it has more than the tuning kit has to offer. Can some help me with this confusion?

 

You know all coopers (except the gen1 gp, which had shells shipped from England in "white" to Italy) were made in ENGLAND.....not Germany right....
Sounds like a lie to get more $$ out of an unsuspecting buyer...
The mini dealer tells you it is an S....And why would you doubt it...tuning kit decal on a factory car...even sounds fishy....then add some obscure "black" edition....But that is my take.

 

So I think you are getting some almost correct info.

First. You cannot have a factory JCW until 2009 in the US model year. Prior to that it was a dealer installed kit, kind of. Doesn't make it good or bad. Just accurate. BMW didn't take ownership to the John Cooper Works company until Jan. 2007. So before then, your car left the factory as an S. After acquired and until the 09 MY the kit could be installed at the factory but the car still started as an S.

In the US, MINI USA has a record of the kit numbers. You may be able to verify that it is a dealer kit compared to a owner install. However, if it was done in Germany, not sure if they have any info to help.