BACK in the 1960s, if you were a rally icon, there’s a good chance you were driving one of Britain’s great sports car legends, the Mini Cooper S.
By 1963, under the guidance of John Cooper, the engineers at Mini’s BMC competition knew what they were doing, and in 1964 the humble Mini won the Monte Carlo rally outright, then again in 1965 and 1967, against the likes of Ford V8s, Mercedes, Saab and Volvo. How this little cabbie with meagre output managed pull that off is a storied tale.
The front-wheel drive layout of the Cooper S, with minimal weight, specially cast engine block, nitride steel crankshaft and rugged durability, the car entered the halls of instant fame that has endured up to today. Nowadays, collectors the world over…
