One currently for sale

A series 1 1275cc Cooper S that has been restored over an unknown period of time is up for sale at classic car dealer Blue Butts Chequered Flag for £49,995. The price reflects the high standard of the rebuild and the originality, reckons the company owner Tony Wood. 

“Everything has been done to keep the car as standard as possible,” he says. “Lots of these cars have been modified over the years, but my mind tells me that original is better than modified these days, and it’s quite rare to find one like this.

“When it came to us we had a new floor fitted at considerable expense and it really is a delightful car now. The seats have been re-trimmed in what we believe to be the original fabric, as has the roof lining, and the carpets are new but as they were when it left the factory.”

What it doesn’t have, admits Wood, is much in the way of history, save for the bills for the work commissioned by Blue Butts and a V5 registration document plus a heritage certificate with matching numbers. 

“Like so many Minis there’s next to no history with the car,” he says. “No one bothered keeping the paperwork back in the 1970s and ’80s when the cars were more or less worthless. Provenance can be a nightmare with Minis.

“From a sales point of view, a prospective owner will either like it or not. Someone looking for a Mini will see that it is a properly correct car. It’s a nice standard thing.”

Blue Butts Chequered Flag, Clitheroe, Lancashire. Tel: 01200 446893. classiccarbluebutts.co.uk