The hood on my r56 2nd gen is rusting all around the front head lights, the local wrecking yard has a gen 1 cooper s and I was wondering if the hoods are interchangeable.

 

I don’t think they will. I have a Gen 1 and had a gen2. The headlights of the gen1 are in the hood unlike the gen2 where they are attached to the body.
and the more I think about it body lines are different and I want to say hood latches are in different spots.

 

Nope, too much work. Now some people do the same years and swap Cooper and Cooper S front hood and bumpers.