| The Mini Cooper RSP was introduced in 1990 to
reintroduce the Mini Cooper to the Mini range. The car was the brainchild of the
original creator of the Mini Cooper, John Cooper. He'd been selling Cooper
conversions in boxes to mainly Japanese customers and he did a conversion on a
few Mini Rose/Sky and Flames in 998cc form. The Rover Group, and more Graham
Day, the Rover MD, asked John Cooper to come into Longbridge one day to tell him
that they liked what he'd been doing to the Mini and what did he think THEY
should do next. The result was that the Mini was sent to Rover Special Products
and they decided to put the MG Metro 1275cc engine in with the Mini 30 type
interior and a few special other bits, this is now known as the Mini Cooper RSP
or sometimes LE (for limited edition). 1650 RSP Coopers were built, 600 going to
other countries like Japan, Germany and South Africa, while the remaining 1050
stayed in Britain. |
|
Many people (especially me)
think that this was the best Mini for investment purposes as it was the
first reintroduction of the Mini Cooper, not only this, it's the
newest Mini Cooper that you can actually completely work on yourself
without the aid of a dealer. Sure you can work on the Mainstream Mini
Cooper too, but these are far more plentiful and not worth anywhere as
much as the RSP.
The next best Cooper, equipment wise was the 1.3i,
but these are not for the amateur with their engine management systems and
fuel injection. |
