2000 Rover Mini Cooper Sport Saloon

Description

Announced more than 40 years ago, the legendary Mini Cooper was a collaboration between BMC and John Cooper, the noted race car constructor whose eponymous machines scored back-to-back victories in the Formula 1 Championship in the hands of pilots Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren. Cooper took Alec Issigonis’ Mini and added the necessary ingredients to properly exploit the inherent abilities of the superb chassis. Blessed with more power and better braking thanks to discs up front, the Mini Cooper embarked on a stellar motor sport career that culminated in outright victories in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967. The original Cooper (and subsequent “S” version) remained in production until British Leyland rationalised the range in 1971, although a version built by Innocenti in Italy remained on sale for several years. In the mid 90’s the car received new multi-point injection, plus a front-mounted radiator and several safety upgrades and numerous special editions were sold. In celebration of this famous little car, Rover released the 'Mini Classic' range (before the introduction of the BMW Minis) until Rover decided to cease production of the Mini finally on October 4th 2000 after 41 years. The pick of this range was arguably the Mini Cooper Sport. These were more luxurious cars, with full leather trim, an alloy dash panel, Sport Pack wheel arches and 13'' alloy wheels. These later models were proven to be particularly popular in export markets like Japan but never officially imported into Australia. The combination of retro style, modern performance, safety, and luxury features has seen demand for the last of the original classic Mini Coopers remains strong.