“The Little Book Of Mini”

Posted on by Ian C.

Just back from a short trip to England; saw MINIs basically everywhere there, but no GP! I left too early yesterday to see anything of the redesigned MINI but I did pick up a couple of nice little souvenir booklets called The Little Book of Mini (available with a DVD in England); here’s a few shots of it’s contents – click on any pic for a bigger version if you want to read it more clearly!

Quotes from the images:

… a target of an overall package ten feet long by four feet wide by four feet tall …

… John Cooper was officially commissioned to produce [a roadgoing Mini with more power and performance] … a bigger engine, up from 848cc to 997cc, plus a modified cylinder head and exhaust system, and twin SU carburettors … improved the gearshift and [added] front disc brakes … the BMC bosses agreed to pay Cooper a £2 royalty on every car they made with his name on it – the Mini Cooper …

… the Mini was marking time rather than changing significantly …

Top Twenty Mini Models:
1959 Austin Mini Seven & Morris Mini Minor
1960 Mini Countryman Traveller
1960 Mini van / pickup
1961 Mini Cooper
1961 Riley Elf / Wolseley Hornet
1963 Mini Cooper S
1963 33 EJB
1964 Mini Moke
1967 Mike Nesmith’s (A Monkee) Mini
1967 Mini Mk II
1969 Mini Clubman
1969 Mini 1000
1969 Mini 1275 GT
1970s…1980s Mini Limited Editions (I owned a Mayfair in the mid 1980s!)
1999 Cooper S Works
2001 MINI One
2001 MINI Cooper
2004 MINI Convertible
2004 MINI 1.4D One

“Mini In My Blood”

Posted on by Ian C.

Peter, an MA at MINI of Fairfield County, who has just recently (finally) taken delivery of his GP#1636, has been interested in Minis for a long long time …

He recently sent me a fascinating words & pictures history of his Mini life, which I’ve uploaded as a PDF (8 pages, 3.5MB), well worth downloading & reading if you enjoy that sort of thing 🙂

A few excerpts:
… Got some good grades and the next year, I was allowed to buy my own car if I had enough money to pay for it, which after a few summer jobs, I did. Well, I searched and looked all around, and found a well used (it had been rolled) 1962 (?) Mini Cooper 1071 S … Somewhere in New Jersey one of the tired flat-top pistons got a hole in the crown, and I became a moving smoke machine, much to the annoyance of any motorists near by. I finally made it home after stopping at every gas station for oil. The ensuing days taught me a lot about the inner workings of the Mini engine, and transmission …
… I was very successful in racing, winning the New England Regional Championship and the North Atlantic Road Racing Championship many times, and qualifying for the SCCA National Championships often …
… I had to wait 4 years to get my next real car, a new MINI. I have claimed on many MINI websites to be the first person in the US to place a deposit on a MINI, on Sept of 2000 …
… My next MINI, #19, will be a 2006 MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP kit, roof # 1636, is scheduled to be here by the time you should be reading this article …