It has been off the road since 1984, partially dismantled during a restoration that was never finished and tucked away in a garage for more than four decades.
But this isn’t just any old Mini.
It’s a 1963 Austin Mini Cooper with the early 997cc engine, and it’s now heading to auction in Essex with an estimate of £6,000–£8,000.
For anyone who likes their Minis early, unspoilt and in need of rescuing, this could be a very interesting one indeed.
The Mini, registration UGV 889, is being offered for sale by Reeman Dansie on the instructions of executors.
According to the auction house, the vendor’s late brother had started restoring the car before work came to a halt.
It remains partially stripped today.
The encouraging bit is that Reeman Dansie says the missing parts are present and will be supplied with the car, together with various other spares.
More importantly for us, it still looks like a proper old garage find.
The green paintwork is dusty, the interior is partly dismantled, bits and pieces remain around the car and there’s none of the freshly polished presentation that can sometimes make an old project look rather less interesting than it really is.
This one still feels as though you’ve just opened the garage door.
That’s where things get particularly interesting.
The Mini Cooper first appeared in 1961 after racing car constructor John Cooper recognised that Alec Issigonis’s little front-wheel-drive Mini had rather more sporting potential than BMC originally intended.
The original Cooper used a 997cc A-Series engine producing 55bhp, along with twin carburettors, a closer-ratio gearbox and front disc brakes.
That may not sound particularly dramatic today, but in a tiny early Mini it transformed the character of the car.
BMW Group Classic records the Austin 997cc Cooper as being produced from September 1961 until January 1964.
That puts this 1963 car firmly among the early Cooper generation, before the later 998cc Cooper became established.
Mention ‘classic Mini Cooper’ today and it’s usually the Cooper S that gets all the attention.
That’s understandable.
The more powerful Cooper S became the competition hero, winning rallies and creating much of the Mini’s giant-killing reputation.
But the ordinary 997 Cooper came first.
It was the car that proved the concept.
John Cooper’s idea was that the Mini could be much more than economical transport, and the 997 Cooper was the production car that turned that idea into reality.
Its 55bhp output was accompanied by newly developed front disc brakes and a claimed top speed of around 87mph.
In 1961, in something this small, that was pretty serious stuff.
UGV 889 clearly wasn’t simply parked up and forgotten untouched.
Reeman Dansie says the vendor’s late brother had begun restoring it, which explains the partially stripped interior and missing trim visible in the photographs.
Under the bonnet, however, the 997cc A-Series still presents remarkably neatly.
The twin SU carburettors are immediately obvious and the Austin rocker-cover badge is still in place.
Inside, the dashboard remains pleasingly simple, with the large central speedometer that defines early Minis.
The seats are present, although the cabin will clearly require a proper recommissioning and reassembly.
This isn’t a weekend polish-and-drive job.
It’s a genuine restoration project.
Among the paperwork is a 1983 MOT certificate recording the mileage as 20,854 miles.
That’s an intriguing piece of history.
We wouldn’t automatically describe the car as a genuine 20,000-mile example without further documentary evidence, but it does at least tell us what the odometer was showing shortly before the car disappeared from the road.
The car also comes with its old buff log book.
And then there’s another lovely survivor from its past.
One of the photographs shows an old tax disc expiring on 31 July 1984, another nice little survivor from the period when the Mini was last on the road.
The original 997 Cooper had a relatively short production life.
BMW Group Classic says more than 12,000 Austin examples of the first version were built before production ended in early 1964.
By comparison with some exotic competition cars that isn’t an especially tiny number.
But early Minis have had more than 60 years of competition use, modification, rust, restoration and general attrition working against them.
And that’s why an identifiable early Cooper project still sitting largely as it was left decades ago is such an appealing prospect.
There is also a difference between restoring a generic Mini shell into something resembling a Cooper and beginning with a car catalogued as an early Cooper.
For the right buyer, that matters enormously.
This is where we’d probably have a debate.
The car plainly needs work.
After being off the road since 1984, every major mechanical and safety system will need careful inspection regardless of how good anything might initially look.
The interior needs putting back together and the restoration already started decades ago will need assessing properly.
But we’d be very reluctant to turn it into something excessively shiny.
The faded green paint, ageing trim and accumulated evidence of a long life are a huge part of what makes it interesting today.
Get it structurally sound. Get the mechanicals right. Put the missing pieces back where they belong.
Then we’d be tempted to preserve as much of the rest as possible.
The 1963 Austin Mini Cooper is Lot 51 in Reeman Dansie’s Classic Cars, Vehicles & Automobilia auction in Colchester on Saturday 12 September 2026.
It carries a pre-sale estimate of £6,000–£8,000.
Cars in the sale are subject to a 12% buyer’s premium inclusive of VAT, with additional commission applicable for some forms of online bidding.
For an early 997 Cooper restoration project with decades of storage behind it, that estimate is going to make this one fascinating to watch.
It certainly isn’t the cheapest way into an old Mini.
But then, this isn’t just an old Mini.
It’s one of the cars from the period when John Cooper’s idea was still new.
You can see the full auction listing, photographs and bidding details at Reeman Dansie here.
This feels like exactly the sort of Mini that could divide opinion between the people who want a perfect restoration and those who’d preserve every bit of its 60-year-old character.
We know which camp we’re in.
Cars like this are a reminder of what can still be sitting quietly behind garage doors.
We’re always interested in hearing about unusual cars, motorcycles and pieces of motoring history with a story behind them.
It doesn’t have to be immaculate, valuable or even running. In fact, sometimes the forgotten things are far more interesting.
Whether you’re a private owner with something tucked away, or a business with an unusual vehicle, motorcycle or piece of motoring history for sale, we’d like to hear about it.
If it’s something our audience would be interested in, it’s newsworthy to us. Get in touch with UK Barn Finds and tell us about it.
Stay updated with the latest barn finds, auction news, and classic car adventures in our 'News & Waffle' section. Dive into rare discoveries, behind-the-scenes stories, and expert insights into the world of classic cars. Whether you’re a seasoned enthusiast or simply intrigued by the tales behind these treasures, this is your hub for all things classic and captivating.
View All
There are plenty of unusual cars in the huge collection we’re gradually revealing from Cheffins. And then there’s this. From the front, B557 CAV looks like a fairly ordinary blue Austin Metro. Walk a little further around it, though, and things become considerably more interesting. Someone has stretched a Metro and turned it ...
There was a time when deciding what belonged in a classic car auction was relatively straightforward. These days, things aren’t quite so simple. A 1990 Renault 5? Most of us probably wouldn’t argue. But what about a 2001 Ford Puma? A Peugeot 206 GTI? Or even a Suzuki Jimny? Anglia Car Auctions is trying something […]
This Ford Escort Estate auction result looked fairly predictable before the bidding had even started. Or at least I thought it did. This 1972 Ford Escort 1300 Estate arrived at Anglia Car Auctions with an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000. Looking at the car and its history, my immediate reaction was: “Surely this one is […]
