How Did This ‘Remastered’ Mini Cooper S Sell for £78,750?

This Mini Cooper S auction result is certainly one of the more extraordinary we’ve watched this year.

We were at CarFest at the famous Silverstone circuit on Saturday, filming cars going under the hammer with Classic Car Auctions, part of Iconic Auctioneers.

Among them was this rather special 1997 Mini Cooper S.

It might look broadly familiar from a distance, but this was no ordinary late Rover Mini.

It had been extensively ‘Remastered’.

And when the bidding started, it became very clear that buyers understood exactly what they were looking at.

Not your average 1997 Mini Cooper S

By 1997, the classic Mini was approaching the end of an extraordinary production run that had begun almost four decades earlier.

The Cooper name had returned during the 1990s and once again gave buyers the opportunity to walk into a showroom and buy a sporting Mini.

But the car that appeared at Silverstone was something considerably more unusual.

This Cooper S had been extensively ‘Remastered’, transforming it into the sort of high-end Mini that occupies a very different part of the market from a standard production example.

And that’s important when we get to the price.

Because if you approach this simply as a 1997 Mini Cooper S, what happened at the auction might seem rather difficult to comprehend.

The Mini has become serious business

For decades, Minis were inexpensive cars.

People modified them, raced them, rallied them, repaired them on driveways and generally treated them as accessible little classics.

Plenty were used until there wasn’t much left to save.

Things have changed.

Good Minis are increasingly desirable, while exceptional examples and particularly special builds can inhabit an entirely different price bracket.

There’s also now a market for beautifully re-engineered Minis that retain the character and appearance people love while being rebuilt to standards that would have seemed almost absurd when these cars were simply everyday transport.

This 1997 Cooper S belonged firmly at the special end of that spectrum.

What does ‘Remastered’ actually mean?

This is where the car becomes considerably more interesting.

The Mini was created by Silverstone-based David Brown Automotive as part of its Mini Remastered programme.

And ‘Remastered’ means rather more than restoring an old Mini and adding a few modern conveniences.

According to the auction catalogue, the transformation included a de-seamed, strengthened and soundproofed bodyshell, sculpted body-coloured wheelarch extensions, bespoke aluminium detailing, centrally mounted exhaust outlets and distinctive LED rear lights.

Under the bonnet, the familiar 1,275cc A-Series engine was rebuilt and upgraded, with the aim of retaining the character of a classic Mini while improving its performance, refinement and everyday usability.

Then there’s the equipment.

This one has air conditioning, electric windows, keyless push-button starting and a seven-inch Pioneer touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The interior is trimmed in black leather with contrasting gold stitching, while the body is finished in rather striking Mexico Brown Metallic.

So although it started life as a Mini, the finished car is a very different proposition from a standard 1997 Cooper S.

Perhaps most remarkably, it had covered just 139 miles since completion, having been used only lightly for demonstration purposes.

If you want to explore the car and its specification in more detail, you can see the original auction listing on the Iconic Auctioneers website.

Then it went under the hammer

We’d already seen some fascinating classic Fords going through the Classic Car Auctions sale at CarFest.

Then this little Mini arrived in front of the rostrum.

And the bidding began.

Watching an auction like this is particularly interesting because your brain naturally tries to put a value on the car as the numbers rise.

£20,000?

£30,000?

£40,000?

At some point, you realise you’re watching a Mini enter territory normally occupied by some very serious machinery.

I even found myself remarking during the auction that it’s not often I get to see a 70-grand Mini.

You can watch the bidding for yourself below.

£70,000 for a Mini

Yes.

The hammer eventually fell at:

£70,000.

And that wasn’t what the successful bidder ultimately had to pay.

Once the applicable buyer’s premium and fees were added, the final figure was:

£78,750.

For a 1997 Mini.

It’s the sort of number that deserves a second read.

Is a Mini really worth £78,750?

That’s probably going to be the big question in the comments.

But perhaps it’s also slightly the wrong question.

Nobody paid £78,750 for an average 1997 Mini Cooper S.

They paid it for this one.

That’s an important distinction with unusual, highly developed or exceptionally restored classics.

The value isn’t necessarily determined by looking at what an ordinary example of the same model costs and adding up the modifications.

The buyer is purchasing the finished object.

If creating something to this standard requires the right base car, specialist knowledge, an enormous amount of labour and a substantial parts bill, reproducing it may be neither cheap nor easy.

And if two bidders both understand that, an auction can very quickly find its own answer to the question of value.

£78,750 opens up some interesting alternatives

There’s another reason the result is fascinating.

Once you’re spending nearly £80,000, an enormous range of classic and modern performance cars becomes available.

That’s where buying something like this becomes much more personal.

Someone with £78,750 to spend doesn’t have to buy a Mini.

They want a Mini.

And presumably they want a particularly special one.

That’s what makes the result more interesting to us than simply saying Minis have become expensive.

This isn’t necessarily evidence that the 1997 Cooper S sitting in somebody else’s garage has suddenly become an £80,000 car.

It demonstrates what can happen when a very particular Mini meets buyers who appreciate exactly what has gone into it.

From people’s car to collector’s car

There’s something rather wonderful about the journey the Mini has made.

It began life as ingenious, affordable transport.

It became a motorsport giant.

Then a fashion statement, an icon and eventually a collectible classic.

Now we’re watching individual examples sell for sums that would once have bought a small fleet of Minis.

Would Alec Issigonis have imagined that?

Probably not.

But more than six decades after the original Mini appeared, people are still finding new ways to build, modify, preserve and enjoy them.

And people are still prepared to spend serious money doing it.

Would you spend £78,750 on a Mini?

That’s the question we’re left with.

The hammer price was £70,000.

With fees, the successful bidder paid £78,750.

You could buy an awful lot of interesting machinery for that money.

But if what you really wanted was a very special Mini, perhaps comparisons with completely different cars don’t matter.

So what do you reckon?

Absolutely bonkers?

Or, once you understand what this particular Mini was, can you see why somebody wanted it badly enough to keep bidding?

We know one thing.

It’s not often we get to stand beside the rostrum and watch a 70-grand Mini go under the hammer.