PH Heroes: Mini Cooper
Low power, small engine and front-wheel drive? That's all the Mini Cooper needed to become a hero, writes Ollie Stallwood
And whereas fashions have come and gone (and come and gone again) over the last fifty years – platform shoes, bellbottoms, short shorts and tank tops – somehow this little car has remained as stylish as the first day it was built. Many iconic cars have had their moment in time but the Mini has had so many moments it would be impossible to list them all.
It is almost inconceivable now that a car like this could win the Monte Carlo Rally, but it did three times. Steve McQueen had one, as did the Beatles, and Peter Sellers bought one for Britt Ekland. Minis were the stars of the Italian Job and Enzo Ferrari had one. Mark Boland even crashed one into a tree in Barnes, West London, killing himself.
The early 997 or 998cc engines were hardly going to set the world alight, and ‘1275cc four-cylinder’ was never going to win you a game of Top Trumps. But the combination of a light weight and the wheels-at-each-corner platform made it a giant-slayer.
Mini designer Sir Alec Issigonis didn’t originally want his friend John Cooper meddling with the car and making a performance version, saying the concept relies on a simple, basic design. But Cooper won and set about creating the Cooper and Cooper S which had front brake discs, something that was almost unheard of on such a small car.
Tens of thousands of Mini Coopers were sold and became an unlikely performance icon, before it was effectively replaced by the 1275GT, although that wasn’t as sharp as the Coopers. Then, throughout the eighties, when small performance cars were exploding onto the market, the GT and Cooper versions of the Mini disappeared.
It was only in 1990 that the Cooper returned, with a similar spec engine to the MG Metro, and in 1991 it gained fuel injection to comply with emissions requirements. Thanks to various bits of John Cooper Works clobber that could be further added, the Mini Cooper was back at last.
When I was young I was never a fan of the Mini, I probably associated it with the kind of car supply teachers would drive at school. My friend had one of the nineties Coopers and as a 6”2’ passenger it never seemed that much fun. But the more and more I see the old Minis the more and more I like the look of them, although before today I’ve never actually driven one.
There are all sorts dotted around, some with bulging wheel arches, others with the more traditional skinny Minilites, and Anthony and Grant from the centre make me a cup of tea and talk me through all the different variations. It’s fascinating and Grant tells me that Mini-owning celebrities such as Paul Weller often pop in to chat about the little car.
I’m handed the keys to a red X-reg 1.3i Cooper - it is totally standard apart from a cheeky middle-exit exhaust that gives it a rasping note. Once you’ve got the seat right and are in the slightly ape-like driving position, slouched over the wheel, it actually feels quite roomy and comfortable inside. It’s an interesting blend of Spartan and Rover 75, but I forget that within seconds of setting off.
There is so much basic, honest feel from the wheel that you become totally engrossed with the experience. I can’t think of another car I have driven that makes you feel so part of the process of getting down the road.
After a few miles you know exactly what it’s going to do, intimately in control of the car. Squeeze the throttle and there is a crisp response, and while 70lb ft of torque may not sound a lot it’s plenty for such a small car, meaning that power is always readily available.
63bhp isn’t much too but it’s enough to give the little tyres a workout as you fling the car into another bend. You can find the limit easily and then push a bit further, confident in the knowledge that the Mini won’t catch you out.
It is utterly addictive and so simple you don’t want any driver aids, the steering wheel and three pedals will do just fine, thank you very much. This is what motoring these days is so often missing. In the Mini it's all about having fun and finding a car's limit at normal speeds, not at the helm of a 500bhp super-saloon while you drift around the 'Ring.
I could spend all day just ripping around London, and there’s few cars that would make me want to do that. The go-kart analogy is far too overused and I really wanted to avoid it, but it’s the best way to describe this thing.
This car is said to have come about because of the Suez Crisis and ensuing fuel rationaing, so people wanted smaller, more economical cars. Strange then that in the current climate, with gridlock everywhere and petrol prices going through the roof I can’t think of a better way of getting about town than in a 50-year-old car.
spell check worth its wait in gold!
sorry
[edited 'cos I forgot the
smiley doesn't work without spaces before 'n aft 
]Occasionally they can be a bit
. Working on them is nightmare if you've got big digits/w*nking spanners and the rust monster needs to be kept at bay with regular waxoiling. They need a bit of TLC, but are enormously rewarding to own/drive.Most of the time they are
Tuned ones are
I can't think of another car I've had such a laugh in...
Cult Car.
Great in the corners and went off the clock on the motorways.. a real street sleeper but looked standard.
Put a fair few people in there places who thought they had fast novas.....
Man I miss that car.....
Well overpriced though and rust like hell, I'd have another one.
Never got round to owning one of the later Coopers, but have had the pleasure of tooling around in three different "proper" Minis. Brilliant little cars.
And I can't believe the prices that the Coopers still command.
I inherited it from my sister who had it as her first car and when I took the keys in 2000, it had been stood for something like a year on our drive and had mould in the seats and headlining and moss in all the gutters. It was a bit of a state but I spent 6 months lying on my back with some mould remover and a scrubbing brush and by the time I had finished that headlining was like new. When we bought the car in '98 it was 14 years old and had done just 14,000 miles with one lady owner. It still had the original cushions in the back and everything!
I stuck a small alloy steering wheel on it and a new gear knob and then a stage one kit and then enjoyed nearly 20-odd thousand miles in it in all weathers. It was a pain when cold as the alloy wheel and gearknob were freezing, and in the rain the distributor got wet and had to be cleaned using WD40 but I adored that car. I even took it out over the west pennine moors in the snow, beating range rovers up snow bound hills just because it was so light and on skinny tyres.
The girls loved it, and so did my mates, especially when I showed them the principle of lift-off oversteer! That car taught me how to drive, not the driving instructor two months previously. I had a few near misses in it, like the time I threw it into a 90 degree right hander a bit too fast and then nearly didnt catch the resulting slide, and I showed a few faster cars what cornering speed was all about.
It eventually had to go when I went to uni and needed something a bit more suitable for the motorway so I sold it to a mate for £500 who promptly got done for driving with no licence, MOT, insurance, tax and was speeding
Muppet.God bless the Mini!!
Skimming around town at SUV-exhaust-height does not sound like my idea of fun... it was bad enough in my old Polo!
Original FIAT 500 - and family - is fit for tall guys like us as well.
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