97 replies to this topic

[munkey26]

Loving the replies.
Consensus seems to be Minis with Limited Production run or those that haven't lasted well, I.e. rusted away or scrapped.
Also cars that have remained as per the original - un modified
I'm liking the ERA Turbo in silver and the Cooper Grand Prix
Thanks for the help everyone

[roofless]

I had a quick nosey on the 'howmanyleft' website..... only 36 rover mini convertibles licensed/sorn declared in the UK last year......I think they said they made 175 ?? or was it 350 ??!??

[GulfPetrolHead]

speaking of rare minis, this was from 'the mini 40 years of fun', and I have no idea as to how many were made ect but I have never seen another broadspeed converesion, or anything, like it. This is what made me fall in love with the whole de-seamed thing. Anyone have any idea, what it was called or how many were made?
 2013-01-22 18.48.25.jpg   47.75K   18 downloads

[littlemissmagic]

Very hard question to answer because it all depends..... whether you count how many left on the road/how many were produced/conversions etc etc..... lots of LE's are based on another model so although only a few produced does that make them the rarest? (Although I think I am in love with the grand prix cooper!)

I think personally - Rover cabriolets, ERA turbos, Early cooper s's........ and for me personally the first ever mini off the production line and the last ever mini off the production line (not counting the clubman that's recently been found)

[MaxAndPaddy]

Oh yeah for Max!!

I could confuse things and bring Paddy into the mix 1 of 25 John Cooper Le S Works

[Steely]

Mini After Eight, never ever seen one in my life! Yet I saw the brochure for one on the net.

[62S]

The After Eight was a limited edition for the French market - they were a fairly common sight over there in the 1990's.

[surfblue63]

Here's a few of the rarest of Minis. Over the last few years I have seen only one or two of the following cars.

Stewart and Arden Mini Sprint


Crayford Convertable


Viking Wolseley Convertable


Morris Cooper Traveller


Twin Engined Moke


Broadspeed GT


Wildgoose Camper


Radford Traveller


Beach Car

[A-Cell]

Agree that some of the LE's are rare today also 1275GT, Mokes, etc but they can be bought by anyone who can find the money?
The one's that never made it into production are the really rare ones, for example
ADO70 styled in Longbridge, only one prototype was built, the body was fabricated in GRP and a 1275GT donor used by Michelotti in Italy. The completed car was driven back from Turin. It did the 'rounds' and was abandoned by BL management. It was stored for some 8 or 9 years in the tunnels in Longbridge, before being resurrected and passed to Heritage at Studley. Finally ending up at Gaydon. It was very heavy being more a mobile styling buck than a running prototype and didn't perform that well! If it had made it into production.....

[java gt]

I have a CKD Irish built 61 van and there are 2 other known flat roof examples on the road.There may be more out there waiting to be discovered,mine was in a shed for 39 years before I got it.I also have a CKD 60 Austin Seven and a CKD 68 MKII.All rare due to small production runs and the old Irish tendancy to run cars into the ground before testing came in.There was also a LE Irish Mini called the Spree.

[cjg199]

The specials? or The thirty in black with either an auto or a sunroof as they made 200?

[cjg199]

That broadspeed Gt looks awesome!

[Steely]

The After Eight was a limited edition for the French market - they were a fairly common sight over there in the 1990's.

Cheers for that :)

[Vipernoir]

Anything 'Works', coachbuilt, prototype, development, limited edition etc etc is by definition going to be rare.
Therefore, I would suggest that things like the ERA, LAMM, Cabrio, Cooper 35 (only 200 made) or oddball stuff like the beach cars or the Goodwood Union Jack cars are ineligble for the title of "Rarest Mini" due to the fact they have always been and always will be rare.

My submission:
Standard City E with no modifications.

They have been the basis of so many projects that there are none left.

[oltonlad]

Anything 'Works', coachbuilt, prototype, development, limited edition etc etc is by definition going to be rare.
Therefore, I would suggest that things like the ERA, LAMM, Cabrio, Cooper 35 (only 200 made) or oddball stuff like the beach cars or the Goodwood Union Jack cars are ineligble for the title of "Rarest Mini" due to the fact they have always been and always will be rare.

My submission:
Standard City E with no modifications.

They have been the basis of so many projects that there are none left.

i agree, i cant remember the last time i saw a "totally standard" mini city E, well actually i can, my old boss had a std city E a few months ago, 12,000 miles from new....it got stolen 2 weeks after he got it and its never been seen since!