After seeing a few old Minis around here in Doha and Dubai, I thought i’d share my memories of owning the British classic.
Having been luckily enough to be given my Nan’s ’69 MKII Austin Mini 1000 for my first car, i’d been gripped by the gokart handling and just the general fun of owning a Mini. I suppose in a way it’s probably the same for Phil and his affection for anything VW / Porsche. And, like a true Mini nut, I modified my Nan’s old car with many genuine 60s Cooper parts (head, carbs, exhaust, etc.) to make it go faster and be even more fun to drive.
But, in the end that just wasn’t enough, and I bought the Holy Grail of Mini’s – a MKI 1275 Austin Cooper S. So, take the jump for the full story behind my old Cooper S.
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Where it all started, Nan’s ’69 MKII Austin Mini 1000
Finding one…
Even back in ’91 the Cooper S was becoming a rare a car, so finding one was becoming pretty hard. I’d originally gone out looking for a standard Cooper of which there we’re a few for sale near where I lived at the time. One of them was even a fully restored genuine Radford conversion, which I seriously considered.
Then by chance I passed by a classic car dealer in Bedford who had this car. It was one of those moments after seeing it I thought to myself “I have to have it”. The noise, its looks and the fact it was a genuine ‘S’ ticked all the right boxes.
My chosen ride
The Mini started it’s life in 1965 as an Old English White/Black MKI 1275 Austin Cooper S that was sold via a BMC dealer in London. From here the owner had it modified by Mini tuners of the time, Downton Engineering. These modifications included twin 1.1/2″ carbs, exhaust, ST 731 cam, a modified head, a fully balanced/lightened crank and a cc increase to 1310. Basically they created a tiny car that was perfectly capable of cruising at over 100mph back in the 60’s.
Something I could never confirm though, are the interior and exterior modifications that were possibly carried out by Radford coach builders. These included, a fully de-seemed body and a highly modified dash with more dials & switches than you could ever possibly need. The quality of this dash, the body mods, together with the correct badges all pointed the right way, but unfortunately could never be confirmed. At some point during the early 70s the rear lights and front grill were also changed to the later MKII items, which I understand was the “thing to do” at the time.
I had the car for around four years and eventually sold it at the latter end of ’96. During which, I’d traced a lot of it’s history, bought many MKI period specialist parts, obtained it’s original registration number, had it featured in Mini World magazine and had many scrapped knuckles from maintaining it.
Hill climbs, sprints, classic rallies, track days, shows…
In keeping with the cars performance and pedigree I didn’t just use it as my daily driver. Come the summer weekends I ran the car to many a Mini owners meet, did a few hill climbs and sprints, competed in the odd classic rally and had a lot of fun tearing up various tracks – it even ended up on a drag strip!
Just after i’d bought the car I submitted it into this shootout. Basically, Mini World magazine was running a piece to find the Mini with the most hp. Unfortunately, it only managed around 80bhp despite it’s engine specification – apparently due to it needing a good tune and the smaller wrong spec twin 1.1/4″ SUs being fitted. The winner however had 120hp at the wheels, which did come at a price – it didn’t work well (if at all) below 2500rpm – so not really a daily driver i’d say.
Anyways after a new set of twin 1.1/2″ SUs and a good session on another rolling road, power was increased to around 100bhp at the wheels. Needless to say, it gave many a ‘hot hatch’ owner of the time a run for their money.
So, the Mini might not of been one of the most ‘original’ of Ss, but it sure was a hell of a lot of fun!
If anyone has seen it around or possibly knows where it is, i’d love to know
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