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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50687

1:1 cars have got in the way of scale stuff over the last week - "Odious" (Mondeo 3 2.0TD) has gone, breaking my 20-year, 7-car run of only red cars. In his place is "Graham", a 1.6 petrol Mini Cooper in metallic British racing green.

Wheelbase is 300mm less, overage length over 1m shorter, width is a mere 19mm less, which surprised me. Nominal BHP output is about the same, 0-60 is a bit quicker on paper, but it doesn't feel it (it may weigh 300kg less but has only half the torque). All the power is at 5000rpm & above, couple that with impressive grip & it's surprising you don't see any being driven very fast/badly.











No photo adequately shows the tiny boot ... TBH any more than two sheet of A4, landscape, & you're in trouble ...




This generation of Mini seems to have a real problem with the glue or surface treatment on the cloth/part leather seats ... either that or they're very popular with the dogging community :S Either way, I dodged dubious looking stains by getting a car with full leather. I'll attempt to deal with the sagging/stretching at some point... that, & a few chips if you look very closely are the only signs of it being 8 years old.










:)
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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50689

This bmw mini looks very nice. A friend of mine, (the first owner of my patrol) had the first bmw cooper with aerokit. And sold it to buy the cooper s. He still has it. A very funny car. And the engine was puted in the ds3.

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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50690

You climbed on your house for a shot of the car roof? Don't fall! ☺️
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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50691

I like them, but actually never driven one.
Also know Lars used to own one too.

EricTheCarGuy on Youtube is doing one now, he does not seem impressed with the spare part price tags lol being a BMW.

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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50692

Very nice ride, Jonny. An such a classic livery :y:

Also know Lars used to own one too


I still own it. A 2006 R53 Cooper Checkmate with more or less all extras. Great car to drive, but the rust is currently killing all three doors...
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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50700

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Rust ??
Is that BMW staying authentic to the original English version.

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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50701

:D A mini is a mini....

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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50702

Ah yes, "proper" Minis - where the floor and both front & rear subframes have to considered consumable items with a maximum 10 year service life ...

These are a couple of the minis that were in my family: "Snowy" (a 1977 1098 saloon, on the left) I consider my second car , but in reality ended up being shared with my sister, a system that worked _so_ well that I went out & bought my 3rd car (A Vauxhall Cavalier Mk.II (Opel Ascona CC)) only a few weeks later :whistle:




"Poppy" (right, a 1986 City E) belonged to my dad, then became my sisters 2nd car.

Sadly I think both cars are no more, online records say neither are taxed, insured, or have a roadworthiness certificate (MoT) - "Snowy" was resprayed blue at some point, and the last tax record was in 1999, Poppy's last tax record was 2005.



These aren't the only Minis that have been in my family, my parents 2nd car after they got married was an 850 saloon with an "FN" numberplate, and is still referred to as "the FN Mini". There is a family photo of me "driving" it while still in a nappy (diaper); the "FN" numberplate on the "new" mini is a big part of the reason why I bought it, despite being the "wrong" colour.

My Mum also had a 1971 1275 Mini "Countryman" (in British racing green, with bilious green vinyl seats) in the early/mid 80s, I think my strongest memory of that car was going airborn every weekend on the bridge on the way to horse* riding (for the whole few weeks before my parents got bored of that fad).


* I say "horse" as I remember "Puzzle" as being enormous, but I saw an old photo of me on him recently
and he was clearly a pony (albeit as big/tall as a pony ever gets) - my feet can't have been much above 60cm of the ground in the stirrups ;)
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Last edit: by Jonny Retro.

Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 9 months ago #50703

I am an absolute fan of the first gen mini. But prices increased since some years that is more expensive than aspartam... :D

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Meet "Graham" - early Mini R56 Cooper 5 years 1 month ago #54088

2004 (Gen.1) Mini Cooper R50 for my goddaughter - also in a variety of British Racing Green Metallic with black leather interior, but this time with a black roof with panoramic glass, and only 5 speeds. I stress I didn't find it or pay for it - it was just here for a few days, mostly for storage prior to the "reveal" (apparently that's a thing now :whistle:) but I did fix a few minor niggles with it. It's still very straight, clean & quiet with very little to show it's age and mileage.

I do have some white stripes for the bonnet (hood) but the February single digit temperatures, sleet, snow and wind aren#t really conduicive to fitting them.

Although superficially very similar to my later R56, seeing them side by side showed me just how few components they have in common. TBH I couldn't say with one I prefer :)








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