Collectible Classic: 1967-1971 BMC Mini Cooper S - Automobile
This logic doesn’t compute for Bob Rath, who, after almost 40 years of a love affair with Minis from the Countryman wagon to the industrial Pick-up, finally nabbed the model he’s always wanted. Mini Cooper S has always been about exceeding expectations since it first came to the U. S. in 1967, and it’s still full of surprises decades later, even to a Mini maniac like Rath. The Mini craze hit Rath, like many others, during the 1960s while he was stationed with the military in Europe. He bought his first Mini in 1966, falling quickly for the car’s road-holding and lively handling. “Two of my Air Force buddies had a Sunbeam Tiger and a Triumph Spitfire, but the Mini won me over,” recalls Rath. Committed to the notion of the Mini as an everyman’s car, Issigonis initially resisted the idea of tuning the car for racing but eventually yielded after seeing a prototype from race-car builder John Cooper. (Cooper’s Formula 1 cars had won the constructors’ championship in 1959 and 1960. ) Cooper S production began in 1963. Rath’s 1969 Mini Cooper S is one of only 6,329 Mark II models that BMC built with the long-stroke, high-performance 1. 3-liter... Source: www.automobilemag.com
