1968 Morris Mini Cooper S Mk1 Sedan

Description

The Mini is so much more than just a car - it has become a cult object, a phenomenon and a piece of 20th Century industrial design revered around the world. Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, the Mini was perhaps the first truly successful small car and the marvelous packaging endowed it with truly amazing load-carrying abilities. However, the Mini had other talents, not least of which was excellent handling and roadholding, two factors exploited by John Cooper, legendary builder of racing cars and the man who helped Sir Jack Brabham win his first World Championship. Cooper took a standard Mini and installed a more powerful Formula Junior engine along with front disc brakes and created a high performance variant - naturally enough called the Mini Cooper - in 1961 that was easily recognisable thanks to the distinctive two-tone paintwork. Early Mini Coopers ran 997 or 998 A-Series engines but the ultimate variant was the 'S' using the 1275cc version of the motor with 76bhp on tap. Australian production of the Cooper S began in September 1965 and around 5,000 were built by April 1969 using Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits - the local variety differed from its English cousin in having twin fuel tanks for better range, a laminated windscreen, a revised floor pressings to protect the standard Hydrolastic suspension on our harsh roads and three-point seatbelts. The Mini Cooper dominated tarmac racing and rallying both at home and abroad and regularly upstaged the local Fords and Holdens here in Australia. In the end, some 4,986 Cooper S Mark 1s were built between 1965 and 1969 in Australia, with surviving examples now regarded as genuine collector's cars.