Guide price: £25000 - £30000. <p> </p><ul><li> Delivered new in Almond Green and Old English White on 20th April 1967 to Loxham's Garage in Preston.</li><li> Original engine, body and slam panel are Cooper MkI as confirmed by Heritage Certificate.</li><li> Photographic evidence of full restoration recently carried out</li><li> Supplied with NOVA registration number.</li></ul><p> </p><p>To many, its designer Alec Issigonis included, the notion that the Mini might have a future as anything other than basic transport was an anathema, and the idea of a high-performance version was laughable. One man, though, saw it quite differently. Racing car manufacturer John Cooper already knew quite a bit about tuning BMC's A-Series engine - he was running the company's Formula Junior effort at the time - and a test drive in a prototype Mini convinced him of the cars competition potential. The result, launched in September 1961, was the Mini Cooper. Enlarged to 997cc and suitably tweaked, the revised A-Series engine easily met its 55bhp target. The extra power endowed the Mini Cooper with an 85mph-plus top speed and to cope with this increased performance Lockheed developed special 7-diameter disc brakes for the front wheels. The new car soon established its credentials as a rally and race winner, and the stage was set for even faster versions. On the racetrack, the Cooper's prodigious road-holding and excellent power-to-weight ratio enabled it to compete successfully with larger-capacity rivals and on tight twisting circuits, the car was often a candidate for outright victory. Indeed, Warwick Banks won the European Saloon Car Championship outright in 1964 driving Ken Tyrell's Mini Cooper.</p><p>This particular example is a home-market, right-hand drive Morris Mini Cooper Mk.I dispatched new on 20th April 1967 to Loxham's Garage, Preston, in Lancashire finished in Almond Green and Old English White as confirmed by the Heritage Certificate which is included in the file. The owner prior to our vendor in Ireland, completed a full restoration of this lovely Mini eventually getting the car back on the road in 2016. The history file includes many photographs of the work undertaken and shows a lot of care went into returning this Mini to its original specification. Open the bonnet and the ‘matching numbers' engine is displayed beautifully and detailed correctly, showing off the cars original slam panel - a desirable feature that often gets lost when restoring these early Minis.</p><p>This stunning car has been imported back into the UK and hence will arrive at the auction with a NOVA reference number for the prospective buyer to start the process to obtain a UK V5c. Accompanying the car is a great history file which includes rafts of invoices and old MOT Certificates. Rarely do Minis of this quality come to market and this wonderful example would make a super addition to any classic car collection.</p><p> </p><p> </p>