MINI has introduced a new 3-door Anniversary Edition to celebrate 60 years of its Cooper model range and association with the Cooper family. The three-door hatchback pays tribute to John Cooper who passed away in 2000 and will be limited to only 740 units worldwide.
The Anniversary Edition will be available as the Mini Cooper, Mini Cooper S, and the Mini John Cooper Works. The luxury hatchbacks will feature three exterior colour options – British Racing Green, Midnight Black and Rebel Green with contrasting White and Piano Black accents. The classic British racing green tint pays homage to the early racing cars designed by John Cooper, which were painted in green with white accents.
The limited production vehicles retain the dimensions and styling of their respective standard trims but feature hood stripes and the number ’74’ on their doors. The number signifies the original model, which wore the same digits when it won its first race. Additionally, the special edition also wears ‘Cooper’ badging on the side scuttles and C-pillars. The whole frame sits on 18-inch alloy wheels, and the suspensions get frequency selective damping. Among the few equipment options are a Mini Sport aerial and tailpipe trims in carbon finish and punched and slotted John Cooper Works brake rotors.
The cabin comes with John Cooper Works sports seats wrapped in Dinamica/leather Carbon Black. The steering wheel also gets Nappa leather treatment. On the driver’s side, the interior surface features the signatures of John, Mike and Charlie Cooper. The driver’s door frame also flaunts an emblem with John Cooper’s signature along with the handwritten note “1 of 740” and the words “60 YEARS OF MINI COOPER – THE UNEXPECTED UNDERDOG”.
There’s also the red ring from the original John Cooper logo adorning the luggage compartment lid and the interior surface on the passenger side. Other highlights on the inside include an anthracite-coloured headliner, stainless steel pedal set and interior trim in Piano Black high-gloss. Moreover, to boost individuality, the automaker is also providing retrofit options from the original Mini accessories range available.
The engine and performance of the hatchbacks remain unaltered. It comes with the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine churning out 227bhp. This mini beast can zoom from 0-100kmph in just 6 seconds.
The now BMW owned car was first launched by the British Motor Corporation in the year 1959 and was designed by Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis. Then, it was just known as Mini. However, it was the year 1961 when Issigonis collaborated with John Newton Cooper, an English sports car designer and engineer. This collaboration gave birth to Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper.
The Cooper alteration helped the car gain massive popularity among people, thanks to the design and the performance of the vehicle. John Cooper, who was celebrated as a racing pioneer, revolutionized Formula 1 with his mid-engine sports cars, which eventually lead him to work with Mini to produce a small series of performance vehicles. The said vehicles had larger brakes and increased output from 34 hp to 55 hp. An even more powerful Mini Cooper S followed and laid the foundation for victories at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965, and 1967.
Mini is yet to reveal the pricing information and sale date of the 60th Anniversary Edition models. But expect it to command a little higher price tag over their respective standard trims. We expect official announcements regarding the same to be made in the coming weeks.
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