1966 Morris Mk1 Mini Cooper S – Today’s Pocket Rocket Tempter

By: James Robinson, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 04.07.2017

Big power, tiny proportions

The Mk1 Morris Mini Cooper first came into production in 1959, and was built all the way through until 1967. However, locally the production of the Mk1 Mini kept going until 1970.

The Mini wasn’t just assembled in the UK and Australia however, it was also built in Senneffe in Belgium and Oporto and Lisbon in Portugal.

The Mini was the brainchild of legendary automotive designer, Sir Alec Issigonis, who designed a number of prolific cars for the British Motor Company, including the Morris Minor, Mini and Austin Maxi.

The Mini Cooper was a hotted up version of the standard Mini and came about as a result of the friendship between Issigonis and owner of the Cooper Car Company, John Cooper.

Initially, after approval from the bosses at BMC, 1000 Coopers were produced to meet homologation rules for Group 2 rallying.

The Cooper could be had in either standard Cooper guise or an even hotter ‘S’ guise. In fact, the Cooper S was such a quick performer that it was regularly used by the British Police and was even used locally in Australia by the Police as an unmarked cop car.

This particular Mini is an Australian made Mk1 Mini Cooper S with, according to the seller, matching numbers.

Judging from the photos it appears to be in excellent condition and retains its original paint scheme of Toga White over British Racing Green.

The Seller is asking $34,500 for this little, local gem and anyone interested can view the full listing here.

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