New R50 Rover MINI comes to Longbridge......
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5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
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From: London, England
New R50 Rover MINI comes to Longbridge......
First R50 Body Built in 1999
Early R50 Built at Longbridge (Methods Build 1999)
New Rover MINI comes to Longbridge.
That was the Plan, although in the end it never happened........
The general BMW plan for the Rover Group UK was that Cowley, renamed Oxford would produce the large cars, with Longbridge, becoming Birmingham which would produce the small and medium.
Rover Birmingham (Longbridge) needed to undergo major restructuring to prepare for the launch of R50 (new Mini) in the year 2000. In order to create a world class manufacturing facility for the production of the new Mini, Rover needed to replace existing old buildings with new factories, designed to accommodate modern machinery and equipment.
More details of the original plans here:
http://www.austinmemories.com/page164/page164.html
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5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
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From: London, England
John Cooper pictured below with a classic Mini Cooper and an early prototype of the New MINI Cooper in August 1998. 
Lulu driving the last classic Mini of the Longbridge production line in October 2000.
Lulu driving the last classic Mini of the Longbridge production line in October 2000.
Last edited by Mab01uk; May 30, 2013 at 01:53 AM.
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5th Gear
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Interesting discovery below posted on MINI2.com.....an R50/53 Rover MINI Prototype.
I have a Strange / 1 off Mini
Hi, all
Aquired this Mini shell today. It was a pre production Mini made by Rover. The glass has Rover on it. The headlights are very different. As far as I know this was a test car and was then stripped and sent to a company to test the door seals. It had a machine attached to the door which opened and closed it. The car has no vin at all.
I have a Strange / 1 off Mini - MINI Cooper Forum - MINI2 Mini Cooper Forums
I have a Strange / 1 off Mini
Hi, all
Aquired this Mini shell today. It was a pre production Mini made by Rover. The glass has Rover on it. The headlights are very different. As far as I know this was a test car and was then stripped and sent to a company to test the door seals. It had a machine attached to the door which opened and closed it. The car has no vin at all.
I have a Strange / 1 off Mini - MINI Cooper Forum - MINI2 Mini Cooper Forums
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5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
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From: London, England
More pictures of what could be the oldest and only pre-production prototype Rover R50/53 MINI left in existence as recently discovered, since being dry-stored in 1999, unless of course you know different......spot the differences?
Note the shape of the side vent holes in the A panels with seperate round repeater holes, different headlights and added R53 bonnet bulge which all match the Rover Longbridge MINI prototype photos earlier in this thread.
Also has an early pre-production version of R53 Cooper S fuel cap.
MINI on ebay:
VERY RARE & COLLECTIBLE PRE PRODUCTION PROTOTYPE ROVER / BMW MINI ONLY 1 LEFT ?? | eBay
Note the shape of the side vent holes in the A panels with seperate round repeater holes, different headlights and added R53 bonnet bulge which all match the Rover Longbridge MINI prototype photos earlier in this thread.
Also has an early pre-production version of R53 Cooper S fuel cap.
MINI on ebay:
VERY RARE & COLLECTIBLE PRE PRODUCTION PROTOTYPE ROVER / BMW MINI ONLY 1 LEFT ?? | eBay
6th Gear
Joined: Jan 2003
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Fascinating pics!
I think R50, bumper strips and all, was the best looking MINI ever. I had a 1/03 build IB/W Cooper with the earlier suspension. Frisky little car!!
Now I drive mini-cars that look more like Spiritual and Spiritual Too. In fact it was these that caused me to reconsider basic Mini-ness.
I think R50, bumper strips and all, was the best looking MINI ever. I had a 1/03 build IB/W Cooper with the earlier suspension. Frisky little car!!
Now I drive mini-cars that look more like Spiritual and Spiritual Too. In fact it was these that caused me to reconsider basic Mini-ness.
Last edited by gokartride; Nov 27, 2013 at 12:02 PM. Reason: update
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5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
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From: London, England
Lets hope it ends up restored, gets preserved for the future or in a museum as part of the MINI's history.
Interesting reply on the Mk1 Mini Forum:
mk1-forum.net • View topic - Rover shut down
Interesting reply on the Mk1 Mini Forum:
mk1-forum.net • View topic - Rover shut down
Originally Posted by Blue Mk2
I was working at longbridge in 1997/8 and was asked if I wanted to look at one of the new minis in 'methods' building, It was very interesting and the spec list read from something out of a bmw 7 series options list!
you have to remember that the New MINI was a risk and a lot of people thought they'd never sell a 12k mini to anyone! 200,000 a year proved that wrong but at the time...
I seem to remember that early cars had the indicator repeater green light in the stalk , now where have I seen that before?
it quickly got deleted (shame) and just the alarm was on the other stalk , I think,
anyhow we built the first R53 s with battery in the boot etc and with hand mod'd bonnet as per photo above and by the following Wednesday there was a picture in Autocar !
there was also an R3 Rover 200 with 'S' running gear which used to fly around
what are your plans with it , I cant imagine there are any others and process is to scrap em , maybe they forgot about this one!
you have to remember that the New MINI was a risk and a lot of people thought they'd never sell a 12k mini to anyone! 200,000 a year proved that wrong but at the time...
I seem to remember that early cars had the indicator repeater green light in the stalk , now where have I seen that before?
it quickly got deleted (shame) and just the alarm was on the other stalk , I think,
anyhow we built the first R53 s with battery in the boot etc and with hand mod'd bonnet as per photo above and by the following Wednesday there was a picture in Autocar !
there was also an R3 Rover 200 with 'S' running gear which used to fly around
what are your plans with it , I cant imagine there are any others and process is to scrap em , maybe they forgot about this one!
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5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 640
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From: London, England
John Cooper pictured in August 1998 inside the secure viewing garden in the Rover Gaydon Design Centre with one of the first MINI Cooper prototypes to be completed.
Note the snap-action fuel filler cap - which would not be adopted on the production R50 MINI Cooper. Rover design was always unhappy about that deletion.......however a different but similar style fuel cap did appear later on the R53 MINI Cooper S launched in 2002.
The early Rover style snap-action fuel cap fitted on the recently discovered MINI prototype......
Note the snap-action fuel filler cap - which would not be adopted on the production R50 MINI Cooper. Rover design was always unhappy about that deletion.......however a different but similar style fuel cap did appear later on the R53 MINI Cooper S launched in 2002.
The early Rover style snap-action fuel cap fitted on the recently discovered MINI prototype......
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