With early MINI's becoming available at increasingly affordable second hand prices, this MINI Buyers Guide 2001-2007 (linked below), has just been added to the 'Austin Rover Online' website with useful advice and information on what to look out for when buying the earlier Mk1 MINI One & Cooper (R50), Convertible (R52) and Cooper S (R53).

"Following BMW’s takeover of Rover in 1994, the Mini’s passage into the 21st century was guaranteed. The German company’s boss was a motoring Anglophile, and being the nephew of Sir Alec Issigonis – the creator of the original Mini – gave any project to build a new one the inside track. As it was, Rover (and BL before it) had several goes at replacing the iconic original, but it wasn’t until the early 1990s that the project gained the impetus it needed. Replacing the classic Mini should have been a tall order, but BMW managed the job in style in 2001 – and as Keith Adams explains, they make a great second hand purchase today."

MINI Buyers Guide 2001-2007
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/2011...ini-2001-2007/