1966 Morris Mini Cooper S

Lot details
Registration No: JTA691E
Chassis No: KA254/892996
Mot Expiry: Jan 2011

Alec Issigonis' purest design redefined the small car, this masterpiece of packaging making best use of its tiny - just over 10ft - length to (just) seat four adults. In production for 41 years, more than 5 million were built, and the most special were the Coopers, named after their creator John Cooper, race car driver and builder extraordinaire, who was captivated by the little car's sparkling handling but frustrated by the lack of go from the original 34bhp, 848cc engine. Using experience gained from his Formula Junior BMC motors, his versions were soon producing a far more useful 55bhp, and a new car - the Mini-Cooper - was born. From 1961, the factory offered the hotted-up Cooper as a regular production model, with the still more powerful Cooper 'S' available from 1963. By 1964, the Cooper 'S' had grown to its definitive 75bhp, 1275cc incarnation, driven by rock stars and royalty and becoming a world-beating rally car.

This Cooper 'S' was the BMC display car at the 1966 Earls Court Motor Show, as evidenced by its Heritage Certificate dated 2nd December 2009. After the show, it was supplied to the Barton Motor Co in Plymouth and registered early in 1967. The owner points out that original Pathe news footage from the show, featuring the car, can be seen on YouTube "And it looks pretty much the same now as then, but without the whitewall tyres". Bodily restored some time ago, it retains its original and hard-to-come by reclining red and gold brocade vinyl seats and 3.5in-wide Cooper steel wheels. The engine is still the original, and has been slightly upgraded for more power with twin 1.5in SU carburettors, roller rockers and freeflow exhaust. The original rocker assembly and brake servo come with the car, with sundry other spares. The vendor describes it thus: "All in good order and drives very well indeed", explaining that the 37,056 miles recorded might possibly be genuine, as it has only covered 8,000 miles in the past 22 years. This is an unrepeatable opportunity to acquire an important, documented car, and it is sold with V5C, Heritage Certificate and recent MOT.

PLEASE NOTE: Since the catalogue went to press and in response to numerous queries we have received the following information from the vendor: "The mini has had 5 former keepers, and was registered to me in August last year. I've had it a bit longer than that but was slow to send off the paperwork.

The previous owner to me had the car since 1988 and for most of this time it had sat in his garage. Prior to his ownership it appears to have lived near the supplying dealer in Devon. When he acquired the car it had just been reshelled, presumably thanks to corrosion, and as Mk 1 shells were not available all the mechanicals, interior, wheels etc were transferred to a Mk 3 shell. Incidentally, he is confident that the mileage when he got it was correct.

As this is an important mini I wanted to return it to original spec. I sourced an excellent genuine 1966 Mk 1 Cooper shell which had been restored with new doors, A-panels, wings, floors and sills about 10 years ago. The original colours of this shell were also red/black, so it suited perfectly, and also retained its original boot floor with boot board brackets in place). I had the shell professionally converted to S spec, ie front panel with folded lip for oil cooler, and diagonal brace (correctly finished in black, not red), spot welded tabs under parcel shelf for tank vent pipes, correct RH tank strap mounting, and additional hole in boot floor for the second vent pipe.

A point of interest is that the boot lid is the double skin type which according to records was not fitted to Mk 1s until early '67, and of course this is a '66 car. The previous owner thought the boot lid was the original. My guess is that this lid may have been fitted for the showroom in 1967 to stop the car looking 'old spec', either by BMC or Bartons. Who would want their new mini to be a 6 month old ex-display car?! A good friend of mine who is now retired, but used to work on these when they were new, then reassembled it for me, with reference to an original workshop manual, John Parnell's mini bible, and another local original 1275 Cooper S. Important items like glass and wiper motor are all dated 1966, and the correct body number is in place on the slam panel".