1997 Rover Mini Cooper 1275cc Mpi.

 

 

The car was my daily driver clocking up 10K miles over 14 months and it never faltered once during this time. The car to-date has covered a total of 13K miles and has required minimal servicing. The modifications to the car since I purchased it as a standard model have included a set of 13x7 anthracite super light alloys wrapped in Dunlop SP2000 175/50/13 tyres, a stage 2 Maniflow LCB and Stainless Steel Fletcher big bore exhaust, clear side repeaters and wavy grille, walnut interior handles to compliment the dashboard and door cappings, a K&N air filter and replaced the original Rover cassette player with a Sony head unit.

 

1998 Rover Mini Cooper 1275cc Mpi.

The next purchase was a Tahiti Blue 1998 Rover Mini Cooper 1275cc Mpi in March 2008 for £900. It came with 58K miles and 4 previous owners including 3 months MOT and 6 months TAX. The main purpose for this car was to become my new daily driver to reduce the mileage and damage on my Almond Green 1997 Rover Mini Cooper.

• The Tahiti Blue pearlescent paint finish cost an additional £265.
• The Webasto electric sunroof cost a further £795.
• The Sports pack kit that included 6x13 inch wheels and arches totalled £795.
• The car was fitted with light stone beige Monaco interior.

 

Since I took ownership of the vehicle the engine and gearbox have been rebuilt by Green and Whites due a previous owner or a specialist making an ass out of the engine rebuild! The modifications include a stage 2 Maniflow LCB and stainless steel big bore exhaust, wavy grille with quick release grille buttons, over-riders and refurbished 7x13 super light alloys wrapped in Yokohama 175/50/13 A539 tyres.

The car has been my daily driver since buying it and has covered 10K miles on the newly rebuilt engine, driven in all weathers and the Webasto roof comes in handy for 'Non-Mini' shaped objects!

 

 

1999 Limited Edition Rover Mini 40 1275cc Mpi 

 

My newest purchase, and by far the best Mini I have owned to-date, and the closest I'm going to get to owing an 'new' classic Mini from the dealership is a limited edition 1999 Rover Mini 40.

This limited edition commemorative model introduced in 1999, created to celebrate the 40 years of Mini production was available in three colours; Island Blue, Mulberry Red or Old English White. A total production run of 250 models were manufactured for the UK market, priced at £10995 and went on sale from 5^th April 1999.

• 150 finished in Mulberry Red.
• 50 finished in Island Blue
• 50 finished in Old English White

The car combined styling elements from the 1960s with modern technology. Sitting on 13 inch sports pack alloy wheels with body-coloured wheelarch extensions, the Mini 40 LE had twin spot lamps and a large bore chrome tailpipe. The car came with a factory chrome 'GB' badge on the rear, an anniversary gold 40^th decal and single pin stripe and a gold-plated Mini 40 badge on the bonnet!

The interior boasts red leather seats and top dash rail with contrasting cream piping and the same leather treatment extends to the handbrake and gearknob. An alloy dashboard only available to this car prior to the Cooper Sports and incorporates a factory fitted high-quality ICE system complete with CD player and Goodmans ICT speakers. Additional facia-mounted instruments with chrome detailing and 'Mini 40' branded clocks.

I purchased the metallic pearlescent Mulberry Red 1999 Rover Mini 40 1275cc Mpi model in June 2010. It had covered a mere 12491 miles from new!!

THE 40 STORY

I spotted the car advertised on eBay and travelled 190 miles to North Wales to view the car! The route planner calculations showed a journey time of 3 hours 22 minutes. What could go wrong?! We hit two major traffic queues, a turned over jeep and an air ambulance landing on the M6! We finally arrived at our destination in North Wales at 20:18....better late than never!! Slightly bemused by the pronunciation of Welsh road signs and our long journey, fatigue has started to set in!

The Mini 40 looked immaculate sitting on the drive, far better than we had expected considering some of the low mileage examples we had previously seen! To my surprise the car belonged to the original owner.....WOW!!

We had tea and sandwiches, chatted about the car's history, followed by the faultless test drive and general inspection of the car before parting with my cash! It was really nice to buy a car from a lovely family who had cherished the Mini from new in 1999.

The story goes...purchased brand new in 1999 after walking into a Rover dealers to buy a normal car and spotted the stunning Mini 40 so the husband purchased the car as a present for his wife, Olive. The car was rarely used and covered 30 miles in one year! This is the kind of stuff I like, just makes it more interesting to get an insight of what it was like to walk into a Rover dealers and buy a new Mini.

The car still retains the original tyres, Rover tax disc holder and service windscreen sticker along with the private registration on a 'Colwyn Bay' Rover dealers plate.

I was also given the accompanying presentation pack housed in a metal brief case with a 60s style log book which has been stamped by Longbridge then due it being a non-official document it had to be stopped! Pesky pen pushers! It also contains an unopened model of '621 AOK' (the first Mini in '59) and the original Rover letters specifying it's authenticity No. 63 of 250. Pictures to follow.

The car will make its debut at the Tynemouth Mini Club show.

The 190 miles back home was horrendous to say the least. However, the car performed faultlessly cruising all the way home and we finally arrived back home at 2am!! We had doubts whether the car would drive that distance without being used and it was a shame watching the milometer get closer to the 13K mark.

It was intended to be my daily driver but I don't see that happening now! Was the 380+ miles worth it?

Thanks for reading. (if this is the wrong section, just move it)