Steve - you were correct! The R65 gearbox is made by a company owned by BMW!! Not sure of the name though. So BMW therefore can, in effect, have control over production at MGR. Absolutely Crazy! I heard that the B'ham newspapers gave them a hard time after 1000 workers were sent home for the day. I didn't know the gearbox was fitted to the new MINI. Suppose you learn something new every day!