Mini Cooper 35th Anniversary

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The original Mini Cooper was launched in 1961 with a tuned 997cc engine that produced 55bhp. A real giant-slayer, its extraordinary agility meant it could easily humble far more powerful cars both on road and track.

It quickly became the ‘it’ car amongst the rich and famous, helping to establish the Mini’s credibility, dispelling any notion that it was too small to be taken seriously. By the 1980s the Mini had gone into something of a decline and new owners Rover resorted to a bewildering array of special editions to try and keep the sales figures above water.

The timely re-launch of the Mini Cooper in 1990 brought about a genuine revival of interest in the brand, particularly in Japan. The new Cooper had a 63bhp 1275cc carburettor engine and an even better fuel-injected version was introduced in 1991.

Come 1996, Rover were looking to celebrate the Cooper’s 35th Birthday and introduced a limited edition version that numbered just 200 cars. All were finished in Almond Green with a white roof and were powered by a fuel injected version of the 1,275cc A-series. They came beautifully trimmed in Porcelain Green leather, had lots of Cooper logos, a matching steering wheel and a highly polished walnut dash housing cream-faced instruments. Sitting on 12” Minilite rims and with four spotlamps fixed to the nose of the car, they looked a million dollars and were snapped up within minutes of their announcement.

The very nicely presented 35th anniversary Cooper on sale today was bought by the vendor in 2008 as a Category C, ‘damaged repairable’ project to restore for his wife. The vendor, a retired engineer, states that the repairs amounted to little more than fitting a new grille, front bumper, headlamp and new bonnet. A series of photographs recording the damage are on file along with seven old MOTs.

The repairs appear to have been carried out to a high standard and the car looks extremely smart. We are advised by the vendor that the indicated 28,700 miles on the odometer is correct and that the car has just been serviced and will carry a full twelve months MOT by the time of the sale. After seven years of happy ownership, this rare limited edition Mini is only being sold to make room for a newly restored MGB Roadster.