Mini Cooper and Cooper S

The Mini Cooper was the high performance version of the classic Mini, created after the racing car builder John Cooper, owner of the Cooper Car Company, saw the competition potential of the small car and persuaded BMC management to back it, against the first reluctance of its designer Alec Issigonis. The Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper appeared in 1961 as two door saloons with a longer stroke 997 cc engine of 55 bhp, twin SU carburettors, a close ratio gearbox and front disc brakes, first built as a batch of one thousand cars to qualify for Group 2 rallying. The more powerful Cooper S followed in 1963, and from 1964 the range was built around the 998 cc Cooper and the 1,275 cc Cooper S, which stayed in production until 1971. Mini Cooper S cars won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967, and Innocenti in Italy and Authi in Spain later built their own versions.