I have wanted to buy a mini for quite some time. The car must be within certain weight and size requirements and those manufactured in the 70s meet those. I am open to any advice from those that know more than myself. I also wondered about the difference between Cooper and Austin Leyland?

 

You can find the size of the MINI on miniusa.com. As for the Leyland why not try a google search?

 

for classic mini info try
www.minimania.com

http://www.miniresource.com/mk1.php

Cooper was John Cooper of Cooper Car Co who raced formula cars in the 50s & 60's. Later did mods to Mini's

Leyland was the Leyland Car Co which merged with British Motor Corp. (Autsin, MG), to become British Leyland Motor Corp which then merged with Rover who was finally bought out by BMW in 1994.

A Mini is a Mini regardless of badge (Austin, Morris, Riley, Woolsely, Rover, Leyland, Innocenti, Authi, et al)
A Cooper is to a Mini as a Shelby is to a Mustang.