Reader Ride: Rally Bred Austin Mini Cooper
Time for another edition of DT’s Reader Ride
feature, also known as a festival of fuel, fire and Fieros! It might be my imagination, but these cars keep getting nicer! This next feature comes
from reader Todd who not only provided us with photos and formatted text, but also put it on his own website to make it easy. Whatta fellow! Oh, did I mention the car is everything you’d ever want in a classic Mini?
Year / Make / Model / Trim ?
1962 Austin Cooper 997 modified to S spec, but titled as a ’64 because you never know with minis.
How long have you owned it?
3 years and 4 credit cards.
Why did you buy it?
After searching for a year I bought it incomplete after smelling blood
in the water from the previous owner who was getting wiped out on the
restoration. He had completed bare shell body and paint and some
assembly. So then the rest wiped me out.
According to the Heritage certificate the car was rallied in Wales in
the sixties and they sent this old photo. We don’t know the owner’s
names, just that it was rallied by someone in the Wakefield &
District Motorsport Club. Since you can’t make out the driver names in
the photo I just used my kids’ first initial and middle names on the
fender.
For you rally buffs, it competed in:
- 1966 Knockagh Hillclimb
- 1966 Rally of the Vales
- 1967 Cilwendeg Rally
- 1968 Cilwendeg Rally
- 1968 Mullard Trophy
- 1968 Shenstone Rally
- 1969 Leighton Hall Speed Hillclimb
No info on how it placed though. It likely would have had the original
tiny 997 engine and terrible 7″ brakes at that time as all the non-S
cars had. “Cooper” is a trim level designation, so it had the same
interior trim as the S cars, but not the better brakes, engine, dual
tanks and other smaller upgrades. These have been done since.
What do you use it for (commute, fun, racing…etc)?
It’s my DD with the express goal of causing traumatic PTSD to Prius
drivers. The big mystery is never having been pulled over; it must be
the small size because I should be in a dungeon by now. On the freeway
you have to be careful not to sneeze with 10-inch wheels and an 11-inch
steering wheel.
Is it stock or modified? If modified, please list some modifications.
The engine is a super-torquey new build from Minimania. In mini
parlance you actually call it a Power Unit because the tranny is
underneath the crank inside what amounts to a deep sump. Sprites and
other A-Series engine cars that were not transverse had a conventional
longitudinal tranny and bell housing.
- Stage 3 1330cc .060″ over
- Aluminum big valve head from Pierce Manifolds
- Keith Dodds 1:1.5 rockers
- Russell pistons @ 10.4 CR
- Minimania/Elgin 103 torque cam
- ARP studs/lower steadies
- Late 5652 A+ tranny, 3.44 FD, 4-pin diff
- Jet Motors Pertronix ignition, 60KV coil
- Maniflow LCB header, center megaphone, RC40 center exit exhaust
The interior has a whopping three switches – for lights, wipers and
heater blower. The wipers do not come with a return switch, meaning
when you turn them off they just stop in the middle of the windshield
where you turned off the switch. After some practice you can time it
right though.
The door latches are a simple lever by your shoulder. It was a popular
option to rig a cable from the lever towards the front of the door and
to get out you pull it down just like on a bus when you want to get off.
There are no inner door or interior panels – just vinyl decorative
inserts pushed up against the outside sheet metal.
Chassis mods are as much as you can do without spending astronomical
sums at British race mini builders making titanium subframes and carbon
shells. Minis are a very popular race class in England, with debtor’s
prisons conveniently located by the tracks.
Minis grip so hard it is not uncommon to roll over even on flat
autocross courses. And the brakes are almost unbeatable – the small
wheel diameter means that even a tiny 7.5″ disk has very powerful
leverage. Being so nose-heavy some race drivers even disconnect the
rear drums that do very little except lock up. With a 1360-lb empty
weight you will stop like a brick wall, and better check your mirror for
Priuses behind you.
Minis don’t have springs. They use a rubber cone about the size of a
softball that the suspension arms squish like a spring. These work
surprisingly well but after several years they start to flatten out and
the ride is like a tiny little motorboat going up and down on the waves.
Don’t eat a big breakfast.
- Cooper S 7.5″ brakes/hubs
- EBC carbon race pads
- Camber 2.5/1.5deg. F/R
- GAZ adjustable shocks w. Hi/Lo
- Adjustable arms/tie rods
- Superminifin rear drums
- KAD rear camber
- Jet Motors sway bar
- Ultralite 10×6 wheels
- Yokohama 032R soft compound
The horn is a Vespa unit that many export cars got – the same as the
motor scooters. Trouble is that you turn it on by grounding it with the
horn button on the wheel. So when it rains the ground wire decides to
party and you get some nasty looks. Except from the Prius drivers,
since reacting would require them to be conscious.
What was the most memorable day in your car (proposed to wife, 3rd child born in back seat…etc)?
When Paddy Hopkirk drove it for his 50th jubilee. Hopkirk won the 1964
Monte Carlo that put the mini on the map and was a top rally driver
through the 60s and 70s. He was in California for a documentary for Jet
Motors and drove it around the country club while the local Mini guys
were snapping pics and losing their minds. We were amazed at what a
gracious gentleman he is. People brought shift boots, glovebox lids etc
for him to sign, and he went over and signed my dash and sun visor.
Most satisfying was when he swatted me in the head with a rolled up
magazine when I asked if he was comfortable driving a manual. There
will always be an England.
What was the most catastrophic failure of parts/components?
Completely detonating the old engine north of the golden gate bridge.
Every time my entire family of four gets in something bad happens. I
couldn’t hear the pinging and when it finally stopped I saw the coolant
bubbling out of the head and thought hey it’s just the head gasket.
While waiting 4 hours for AAA I got to bond with the Homeland Security
guys patrolling the bridge and learned what they look for – and how many
attempts there have been on the bridge we haven’t heard about.
Then just last month I was rear-ended in SF with the whole family inside
while stopped at a light. At least the hipster kid apologized
profusely with the excuse that he was texting his girlfriend. So hey,
it wasn’t really his fault. I got a whole new rear end out of the deal.
What makes you want to keep owning this car?
The reason I want to keep owning it is that most everything has been fixed. Great, I just jinxed myself.
Will you ever sell it?
I will sell it – after my ashes have been spread inside. Perhaps mixed in with the undercoating.
DT: What a car!! It looks ready for a vintage rally, Targa California, La Carrera Panamericana, or just daily driving duties. Fantastic car for sure!
Got your own ride and want to share? Send us some pics to tips@dailyturismo.com. You can just free form your words,
or follow this questionnaire .
Year / Make / Model / Trim ?
How long have you owned it?
Why did you buy it?
What do you use it for (commute, fun, racing…etc)?
Is it stock or modified? If modified, please list some modifications.
What was the most memorable day in your car (proposed to wife, 3rd child born in back seat…etc)?
What was the most catastrophic failure of parts/components?
What makes you want to keep owning this car?
Will you ever sell it?
Neat car with a cool history and Hopkirk story. I'm glad the hipster wasn't able to kill it. Was he driving a Pious perhaps? Thanks for sharing it with us DT-ers
Beautiful car todd. It has to be so much fun to drive.
On my bucket list for sure.
Great Article. Awesome Car.
Gianni, Sean and Andrew thanks, much appreciated to hear from real car guys. And thank you to Vince and the DT crew for giving us all such a great blog for those of us out of the BaT price range …:)
Todd, your Mini is awesome and it must be a blast to drive!
It is even more awesome that it is being driven regularly. Yeah Baby
You may sound like a Texan in real life, Todd, but you've got "the typical British understatement" thingy down pat. As an ex-pat Brit raised in Canada I both recognize and appreciate the ''dry wit', and please don't be insulted by the Texan moniker, to the Brits of my era all Americans were Yanks and all Yanks sounded like Texans or John Wayne.
This is a wonderful Mini build, amongst the many mods incorporated when was it changed from RHD, as shown in the racing photo from Wales to LHD, was this when you purchased the completed bare shell and decided that you'd still prefer a right-handed gear change as ordained by Henry Ford ?
Daily Turismo mentions that you have a web page with more of your Mini story, I've scoured above and can't find a link. Would it be possible for you to post it here ? A hobby of mine is collecting both photos and the story of cars that interest me, usually classic stuff, I start a folder and place any .jpegs, plus a copy of the description (story) on a "Notepad". I've already started a folder for your Mini, so any further photos and info would be an added bonus.
Here is my email bberesford AT cogeco.ca (change AT to @ and remove the spaces) please feel free to send me your web page address and/or any additional photos or info about this wonderful Mini of yours.
cheers….JeffH
ThanksRene and JeffH.
It's a great compliment to be called a Texan after living in the people's republic of california your whole life. This car I've only had 3 years and don't know any of the history besides that Heritage certificate stuff, so don't know about the RHD swap.
This was only a $15K car which is mid-market for minis, It was a bare-shell resto in 2008 and the PO had reassembled it with the old parts, much of which I had to replace as DD use requires. Jeff, the webpage I made was just for this story, it's the same content. However here's a more detailed writeup of Hopkirk's event here: facebook.com/todd.dunning/media_set?set=a.10152784766365884.507915883&type=3 hope the link works.
Thankyou very much Todd, I had a look at your photos and saved a few more in your Mini folder. I couldn't help but notice in your Paddy Hopkirk section a photo of him racing a Mercedes sedan, interestingly enough, BaT (Bring A Trailer)is auctioning one of those vehicles today. It is a car that they've rallied and they used that very same photo to highlight the type of license plate included with it ! Small world.
cheers….JeffH
Really fantastic write-up, Todd. Perusing the details over my cup of coffee made my Sunday morning; that and a big plate of akee and saltfish.
One question: what is that adjustable bracket for in the pic of the rear wheel well, just behind the leading edge?
Doctordel that's a race adjustable camber bracket for the rear swingarm from KAD in Kent. Turns out you don't really need them. It allows you to slide that large outer swing arm bolt up and down to adjust camber, through those grooves in the allen bolts. It is mounted to the normal swing arm attach point on the body. After installing it I read that a lot of Brits instead just Dremel some clearance in the top of that attach point that lets the big bolt slide up about .25" and presto you have negative camber. I am running 1.75 deg. in front, 1 deg. in back, both with zero toe. Caster is 3.25 and this setup works great.
The rear is so light – the tank is only 7 gal – that some racers even run positive camber in back to get the rear end out for some trailing-throttle oversteer.