1966 Morris Mini Cooper S Mk1 Saloon

Sir Alec Issigonis may have designed that cult classic of the Sixties, the Mini, but John Cooper, the renowned builder of successful racing cars for a variety of categories who helped Jack Brabham to his first World Championship, is widely credited for much of the sporting success that helped give the car valuable publicity and credibility.

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 - that was launched in September 1961. Initially powered by 997 and 998 engines, the classic Mini Cooper came with highly distinctive two-tone paintwork, 120mph speedo, a unique radiator grille and was soon terrorising both road and track, becoming a devastating weapon in the right hands.

The ultimate Mini Cooper was the ?S' variant with 76bhp on tap from the 1275cc A-Series engine and these vehicles were introduced to the Australian market in September 1965 in Completely Knocked Down (CKD) form, final assembly taking place at BMC's Zetland plant outside Sydney. These local Cooper ?S' cars differed slightly from their British cousins in having twin fuel tanks (with 50-litres capacity), laminated windscreens and three-point seatbelts along with a revised floorpan to protect the Hydrolastic system. From October 1965, all Minis were sold in Australia with wind-up windows as standard, pre-dating their English cousins, and just 5,000 Cooper ?S' in 1275 guise were built before April 1969, making them extremely rare. The Mini dominated the rally scene in Europe during the Sixties and also tasted success in Australia, regularly upstaging the local Holden and Ford opposition.