The Mini Cooper RSP was the Revival of a Legend
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- Опубліковано 4 лют 2023
- The Mini Cooper is probably Britain's most famous performance car, the Cooper name becoming synonymous with the Mini itself. But in 1990, the whole concept of the Mini as a chic character car came to the front of the stage, as Rover relaunched the Cooper following a twenty-year slumber.
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I need a mini so bad. My first one was a 1979 1100 Special. Just need anything mini now. As for you Ed, you need your own TV show…
Good video and factually correct. The production Cooper in 1991 (Project code Mini Tbi) was done after the RSV Cooper purely to support the Japanese market who were taking 20K units a year and to prevent shutting a production line down in Cab1 Longbridge. John Towers was the guy who instigated the project. It was also to keep the vehicle legal going forward with the fuel injection and other modifications. I was part of the team.
Very recently I went to the Lakeland Car Museum, and was in awe at a 5,000 mile British Racing Green RSP they had there, brilliant little cars.
As always, Ed, brilliant video! Your enthusiasm is infectious.
Thanks as ever Steven :)
Great video. I'm a mini geek myself, yet you included a lot of behind the scenes details of which I was unaware. Still need another mini in my life!
I had one of those! H153WMB was my pride and joy. It was *Wonderful* : the first car I bought with my own money. 😊
Brilliant video Ed, going to be really sad I remember the adverts for these when the first went on sale so that makes me feel really old now!
Spot on video. It’s hard to get every detail correct, but you did 👍 My Uncle bought a Racing Green which came out just before the RSP. My Mum bought a 30 Special which had the Cooper conversion. I had the RSP, which was the best of everything. It was a wonderful car.
Thanks Chris 🙂
A friend of mine has a Racing Green, which might make an interesting video someday!
Great story about a great little car, Ed. Love that red. I've never driven a Mini yet. Someday I will get the chance. Parked next to my Volvo 240 estate, the Mini is absolutely tiny! Superb job.
Thanks as always Michael :)
This was the Mini I wanted as a lad.
Never got it; my mum insisted on a second-hand Metro, in which I made many a memory.
Great vid. We have a 1990 Japanese market 998. It looks quite a bit like the one shown here with the chrome and arches. Interesting to hear how the market for the cars ebbed and flowed over the decades.
As ever, professional an enjoyable, but a shame you were not able to give it a test. Roll on next week!
Rob
I had the red GTA metro you pictured . Epic little car
A very interesting video with great detail. Marvellous!
Great vid . ❤. Everyone loves a Mini . It was a Starter car , a 1st car , a rally car , and a car of happy days for myself and many others. Nice one !
Thanks Martin :)
Hello Ed , fantastic we all love the mini, I raced them in the early 70s they were just amazing I had one engine ( 970 ) race prepared by Paul Ivy it was a real screamer . Thanks Ed really enjoyed the video.
Thanks Shaun :)
Hi Ed, I’d like to compliment you on this superb review. You’re a natural.
Thanks Philip, that's very kind of you to say :)
I went to see about one of those Mini's when they were announced. Unfortunately they were already sold out when I enquired.
One of the first examples of post-modernism in car design, I think. I remember the 'Car' magazine group test in 1990, when they compared the RSP to all the hot hatches of the day.
❤❤❤I had two minis when I was young - wish I'd never sold the second one!!
It's fascinating to think that we were so close to the Mini marque under BMW never existing at all.
had they killed it off in '87, there wouldn't have been the nostalgic resurgence that persuaded BMW to buy the company.
I thought I knew everything about Mini's and John Cooper history. I didn't know John Cooper prototyped his own version of a Metro.
Around 1991/2 i went to my local dealer in order to arrange a test drive in a Cooper. I was in a position to order it then and there if all went well. I was very disappointed when the salesman informed me that they had just sold the demonstrator, and he took my contact details to let me know when another was available. I haven't heard from them yet. This annoyed me, so I went to another larger main agent a little less conveniently located. Bizarrely enough i was given the same story, and duly left my contact details with them. I am still waiting to hear from them too. It makes me wonder how many potential sales the Rover Group frittered away in this manner?
A friend of my wife's had a Cooper, which she kindly allowed me to drive some years later. I was instantly in love! I still don't have one, but there's time.
That's really interesting to hear. I assume they didn't want to prioritise Mini production as they were expensive to build, but it's an interesting subject to do some research on.
Ed, may I ask you that at some time you could review the Wolseley 680 of which I know there are very few left but I have seen examples at Goodwood in police guise? They are interesting motors with a 6-cylinder lump WW1 engine, and was my first car when aged 17 as an indugent child.
I enjoyed the Mini Cooper but, as said, it was sad you could not fully test it when you were acting as sales agent for the seller - Lol!
Whatever, on behalf, I am sure, of all your loyal followers, may I say what a joy each Sunday is when the latest video hits the internet. Thank you and trot on!
Robert
Learned to drive in a Mini. Had a 1275 GT for nice days for nearly 10 years until recently. The last Rover Mini Cooper's looked ace. Why oh why couldn't Rover produce a car that didn't rust it's self to death by the 90's
I have one of these, great fun, I am surprised as to how much they are fetching four years on from when I acquired it, (mine has done around 25,000 miles), I might decide that I should sell her and get that Alfa 4C that keeps turning my head.
I still remember my Dad buying a new Mini Cooper from our Rover dealership back in 2000 when I was 18. Tahiti blue with a white roof and bonnet straps. I loved that car!! It also had the all important 12 inch wheels. I personally think the bloated arches and 13 inch wheels ruin the look of the mini!!
There was somebody doing the sane school run as me that had one if these, looked well used, I'm not sure they realised how rare it was. Hope it survived
The full production version was very similar. Only difference in engineering was a single point fuel injection system, but outside there were four differences. Rear badge was the same as the front one, rather than the wreath decal. Door mirrors were white rather than body colour. The bonnet stripes didn’t have John Cooper’s signature. And the wheel nuts were oriented differently compared to the spokes on the wheels. Apart from that, they were identical!
@@TwinCam yet again, I wish my memory was more complete!
@@TwinCam Don't forget the Mainstream carb Cooper between the RSP and Injection Cooper's. Similar to RSP except without the oil cooler, sun roof, different air intake and didn't have body coloured arches and rear number plate light, and black carpet and crayon fabric interior. Spots and bonnet stripes were options.
Is the car now already sold? It's a really nice example, down to the original Minilite wheels with the holes under the spokes instead of between the spokes like the later models.
Not as far as I know, you just have to scroll down the stock list to find it!
The video was recorded a long time ago, but Tim at Stockley has been using it as a weekend car so didn’t list it for ages!
Great Video
But the BMW isn’t a 21c mini. It’s just a small BMW
The R50 MINI wasn't engineered or styled by BMW. It was engineered by Rover and styled by Frank Stephenson, who was working independently.
Had an Inca Yellow 1275 GT, 68 Mark 2 Cooper and s 92 Neon . Would love another but there is rubbish out there.
It's crazy to think they would ever want to "subdue" the mini and take away all its chrome
It seems crazy that the Cooper wasn't around for so long. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing. I loved my 1275GT. It was a great little car and then I sold it. Yep, I'm an idiot. As I said, hindsight. Oh well. . .
Me too. £900. If it survived it’s probs worth ten times that now…in fact there it is in my avatar!
I want that car, but I live 5296 miles away.....
You young man should have your own show, or at least involvement in the motoring mags and media.
The dash buttons haven’t aged well, special limited edition but without matching quality! 😅
Unusual video - not sure it works as well as your normal approach - i.e. where the presenter? Interesting perspectives though, as ever.
This video was originally recorded in 2020. The original presentation was dated. It needed cutting out.
@@TwinCam understand, I think it’s more noticeable now as your presenting is really quite slick, and adds real value to each video you make.
I learnt in. j reg brg Cooper 😈
Sorry to be picky, but how can the special editions be 'ever more unique'?
Surely something is unique or it isn't?
The special edition Minis began with the Stripy in 1976. This was just a normal Mini 1000 with stripy seats from the MG B. It wasn’t very unique.
By the Mini 30, it had unique colours, decals, bumpers and trim, badges, carpets, steering wheel, and seats. They grew from being easily confused with a normal Mini to being clearly unique.
I was querying the choice of word rather than the development of the special editions, a question which you answered with your usual skill.
Perhaps 'distinctive' might have been a better word than 'unique', as it allows for comparatives? I think that still says what you wanted to.
I wasn’t aware that unique could only be used as an absolute, though distinctive would work just as well. Because even the Stripy was unique, thanks to its seats. But the 30 had many *more* unique features.
It should only be an absolute - either something is unique or it isn't - but somehow it's used in the sense of 'uncommon' rather than 'one of a kind'.
Your use of the word in the last comment was perfectly fine.
@@MakerfieldConsort This young man provides an insight to the history of British motoring. Whether its as you say "unique" or "uncommon", (Semantics), is not a problem, he is putting forward his knowledge, time and effort into showing the history of British motoring, and doing a great job showing younger motoring enthusiasts the history people do not know about. Just let him do his work. . Cheers 😁