Market watch: BMC Mini Cooper

By: Cliff Chambers

Date: 27.04.2023

It is 1968 and kids leaving school all around Australia wanted a Mini Cooper S as their first car

Insurance companies had other ideas, with premiums at up to half the cost of the car itself. So those kids waited, sometimes until their own children had left home, to acquire that Cooper.

By 2010, the new-car cost of $2385 had climbed considerably. However, it also came with masses of competition heritage including three Monte Carlo Rally wins, an outright Bathurst 500 victory and class wins stretching into the 1970s.

The Aussie Cooper S was built around a 1275cc version of BMC’s A Series engine. Early cars were 1071cc but that motor had been superseded by the time local assembly began in 1965. Our S was different in other ways from British versions too, with locally developed wind-up windows, Hydrolastic suspension and dual fuel tanks with a total capacity of 47.5 litres.

| Reader Resto: Mini Cooper S Mk 1

Mark 1 cars developed a raucous 56kW but weighed only 665kg. Acceleration matched the pace of Dad’s 186-engined Kingswood but feed the Cooper S some bends it would be gone.

One problem was wider wheels with chunky radials poking out from beneath standard arches. Especially embarrassing if the Mini was one of the many used for traffic duties by various Police forces.

Fixing that from 1969 when the Mark 2 Cooper S arrived were flimsy plastic wheel-arch extensions that would break if impacted by a sharpish stone. The seats were improved, colours brightened and the price increased. 1971 brought a new Clubman GT which hardly anyone liked and demand for used Coopers soared.

| Buyer's Guide: 1965-1971 Mini Cooper S

Considering how many were crashed and their vulnerability to rust, the Cooper S survives in surprising numbers. Cars in standard condition will generally be more valuable than those which changed colour or have undergone mechanical alterations.

In recent years, demand for early versions has increased, pushing typical Mark 1s past the price of ‘flared arch’ cars in similar condition. A Mark 1 in excellent condition auctioned early in 2023 attracted feverish bidding and a hammer price of $64,000. Plentiful parts and the rudimentary design will help surviving cars remain viable for many years yet.

How the prices moved

From Unique Cars #477, April 2023

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