1970 Morris Mini Cooper S

With just the one former registered keeper, ‘WON 615J’ is a fully restored Morris Mini Cooper S, making it a Holy Grail of the Mini Cooper world.

And it gets even better because the seller’s father knew the Mini’s original owner, so the family have been aware of it for the past half-century, so when it became available in 2013, albeit as a restoration project, they knew they had to have it.

His father did the bulk of the work over a 10-year period, and given he won a Best in Show award for a Rolls-Royce he’d previously restored, it’s fair to say he knows how to restore a car to a very high standard.

Which is exactly what this MKIII Mini Cooper S is. Utterly sublime and finished to a nigh-on concours finish, it benefits from the later Mini’s factory wind-down windows, larger doors with concealed hinges, a 130mph speedometer, twin fuel tanks, and a 76bhp 1275cc engine that means it can crack the ton (with a following wind) after passing 60mph in just over ten seconds.

Look, it’s a freshly restored Mini that’s within an inch of being a concours winner so this is going to be a short section because you don’t want to have to wade through a list of comments that end in “like new”.

So, we will restrict ourselves to telling you that it really is a very, very good restoration thanks to the seller’s father spending an awful lot of time and effort to get the panels to line up as neatly as they do before applying a top-notch orange paintjob to the finished bodyshell.

And as for the colour, we’re told that it left the factory painted this very shade of orange, but the car was later changed to a non-standard shade of blue. Keen to keep it as original as possible, they decided to reinstate the original colour when it was resprayed, a decision we applaud.

The pair then invested even more time and money in carefully bolting all the various bits and bobs that turn a naked shell into a fully finished, road-legal vehicle.

We’ve spotted what look like new rubber seals, badges, lamp lenses, chrome, and numberplates – all of which has been perfectly judged and left as the factory intended; there are no pinstripes, auxiliary lighting, racing roundels, or, god forbid, inappropriately wide wheels and tyres.

Because those wheels and tyres are a diminutive 10-inches in diameter, fitted with excellent chrome hubcaps, and a full set of recent and matching Blockley 145R10 tyres.

We will never get tired of telling you that experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly.

As for flaws, while there aren’t any per se the badge on the boot lid has a couple of minor scratches, the sucker for the rearview mirror has yellowed, there a paint run on the offside front wing, and the rubber seal around the rear screen isn’t to the same high standard as the rest.

It never ceases to amaze us just how much space there is inside a classic Mini – and we’ve been further amazed by the condition of this example.

The carpets are like new, as are details like the rubber gaiter that shrouds the gearlever. The gearknob is also immaculate, as are the instruments, which might be few in number but nonetheless cover all the important information.

There’s plenty of painted metal on display, and this is all finished to the same high standard as the coachwork; no skimping here.

The headlining is clean, taut, and still looks like new. Ditto the door cards and boot trim.

And what a surprisingly capacious boot this is because there is easily enough space for luggage for a couple to take an extended holiday – and that’s even accounting for the twin fuel tanks and the spare wheel and matching Blockley tyre that also live in there.

There is a little work to do though, if the Mini is to fulfil its considerable potential. The driver’s seat is patinated with a rumpled cover, a hole on the back, and cracking alongside some of the seams on the bottom cushion.

The passenger seat, by way of contrast, is much better with just a few minor marks marring an otherwise excellent finish. The rear seat is excellent.

The handbrake too could do with rejuvenating, and there are white marks to the padded fascia above the switch panel.

The engine bay is glorious. Beautifully detailed and immaculately presented, we can’t see anyone, no matter how fastidious, finding much wrong under here.

We especially like that the old information plates have been retained and re-riveted on, and that the engine number is clean and easily read.

The underside is painted, so it’s open to scrutiny rather than hidden behind a thick layer of underseal. Again, it presents very well and shows only a few signs the Mini has ever been driven.

There is a little surface rust on some of the steel components and some verdigris on the copper brake lines, but both could be easily sorted if that sort of thing bothers you.

The seller tells us that “the previous owner converted the car suspension to rubber cone suspension. This was a common upgrade which we have kept.” Again, a wise decision, we think.

The only problem we are aware of is a leaking heater matrix, which sends steam into the cabin. We’ve been told this is a straightforward job, but as the problem only developed after it was dropped off with us there hasn’t been time to get it sorted before the auction ends, so the Mini is being sold ‘as is’.

The Mini’s MoT certificate is valid until June 2025, and it was, as you’d expect of such a high quality restoration, issued with no advisories.

We don’t know how much the seller and his father have invested in this Mini Cooper S – and we doubt they do either because it was a shared passion, a labour of love rather than a commercial proposition.

What we do know it that our estimate of between £25,000 and £30,000 probably barely scratches the surface once you factor in a modest per-hour labour rate on top of the cost of buying it and the parts that were needed.

Which means you’re essentially getting the Mini Cooper S for free – and being able to use Man Maths to justify your new classic is always nice, isn’t it?

If you’re still struggling to justify buying it, you could rationalise a bid by arguing that in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis being able to whizz around on a teaspoon of petrol actually makes this a very sensible buy…

In fact, given the Mini started life as a way to beat the oil crisis, you’d be doing your bit for the environment AND our heritage – and put like that you’d be a fool not to bid, eh?

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