Just because the November Assembly is celebrating the Noughties with Collecting Cars, that doesn’t mean the only Minis welcome will be BMWs.
Production of the original crept into the new millennium thanks to Rover, with the very last slipping out of Longbridge in early October, 2000. The final Mini, X411 JOP, was a Solar Red Cooper, with two white bonnet stripes, and fittingly it was Lulu who had the honour of driving it off the production line.
Today the car is kept for posterity in the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, having been donated by the then-deputy chairman of MG Rover.
just like the one ticking down on Collecting Cars until Thursday.
Of the more than five million Minis made, those built in 2000 are probably the rarest of all, with only 7000 or so built. One such car is currently ticking down on Collecting Cars, not too dissimilar to X411 JOP.
Freshly repainted Flame Red rather than Solar Red, it wears Minilite wheels, white bonnet stripes and matching roof. It’s the same 63bhp MFI engine, good for a very fast-feeling 87 mph, with a four-speeder keeping the revs up.
Another 500 actually followed in 2001, Mini Cooper Sport 500s, but they hit bigger money because of that rarity.
So buy this Cooper, then bring it to the sold-out Noughties November Assembly. View the full ad.
