According to its BMIHT Trace Certificate, this venerable little Morris Mini-Cooper 1275 ‘S’ began life on 8/06/1964 as a right-hand drive, home-market car finished in Almond Green with an Old English White roof, a Porcelain Green and Dove Grey interior, and optioned with a fresh-air heater and a 3.44: 1 final drive. (This car has twin tanks, which was originally an option on the 1275 S, but became standard later). It was shipped the following day to Colmore Depot Ltd. in Birmingham and presumably sold quite quickly as it was first registered on 13/07/1964 as 300 NOH, the registration number it continues to wear today.

A copy of a replacement green logbook (VE60 - post 1966) shows that its early owners were all based in West Yorkshire (Leeds, Huddersfield and Halifax) and the final one listed, John Broadbent, appears to have acquired the Mini in late 1978 and was still recorded as owning it when the ‘blue’ V5 was issued in December 2003 with the car noted as being finished in red. The trail goes a bit cold then until 300 NOH is offered for sale by Ledbury-based auctioneers, H.J.Pugh, at one of their farm/general sales in July 2019. The Lot details state that the Mini had covered 66,043 miles and was in running order and a photograph shows the car in red with a white roof.

Well-known TV presenter, Charity fund raiser and the face of Discovery’s Wheeler Dealers, Mike Brewer, happened to be in Ledbury that day and spotted 300 NOH nestling between some large tractors and items of farm equipment. An acknowledged Mini enthusiast, we recently sold John Cooper’s private Austin 1275 S for him, Mike didn’t want to leave it there, so a deal was done and the car joined Mike’s Collection. He was not quite sure what he wanted to do with it, so the Mini was recommissioned to MOT level to enable it be be used and during a chat with some friends at Classic Mini Magazine, they suggested running a feature on the car for the mag. This duly happened and, as is often the way with single marque enthusiasts, a number of eagle-eyed readers spotted that there were internal clues suggesting that the car had been stripped out and raced at some point before returned to the road and that the replacement interior was from a Riley Elf.

Coincidentally, around this time Mike had agreed to produce and appear in a Wheeler Dealers video for British Motor Heritage covering the assembly of new Heritage bodyshells on the original bodywork jigs. The video was released on May 2020 entitled “The British Company keeping Classic Minis Alive” and is still available on YouTube. With the future of 300 NOH under consideration, it will surprise no one that our archetypal ‘wheeler dealer’ came away with a brand new Heritage shell at very advantageous rates.

With the decision now taken to rebuild the car around the new shell, everything else fitted into place. The plan was to finish it in its original Almond Green and OEW, fit a brand new Dove Grey/Porcelain Green interior from Newton Commercial, rebuild the original engine with one or two, period-correct, performance upgrades and everything else would be restored, recommissioned or replaced as required retaining as much originality as possible.

The engine rebuild and upgrade, and the final assembly were entrusted to a renowned Mini specialist and 300 NOH has covered just 56 miles since the work was completed. It really does present well in its gleaming Almond Green and sits perfectly on a set of silver Minilites looking, every inch, the ‘64 Cooper ‘S’ complete with period touches like the auxiliary rev-counter, Paddy Hopkirk throttle pedal, Cooper gear knob and Moto-Lita wood-rim wheel. The History File contains DVLA correspondence relating to the Registration Number, older MOTs, copies of the ‘green’ logbook, later registration documents, details from the Ledbury auction, the car’s Heritage Certificate and numerous invoices.

Mike had intended keeping the car for himself, however, an exciting (and expensive) new project is on the cards, so this fabulous little Cooper is now for sale.