OWNER PROFILE
MiniWorld June 2019 73
was repainted in Tartan Red (RD9) with an
Old English White (WT3) roof sometime
in the 70s and modified for rallying.
“Throughout the 80s, 90s and later,
the car was fitted with a full driver and
navigator rally dashboard, containing a
Smiths rev counter, Lucas toggle switches
and a pair of Herwins stopwatches,” says
Philip. “The exterior lights got upgraded
to a pair of Lucas SFT front fog lamps, a
Lucas SLR700 spotlight at the front and
a Lucas WLR576 rear fog lamp. A John
Aley rollover bar was fitted inside.” In
2006, the interior had been overhauled
with replacement, correct-specification
Tartan Red carpets and Tartan Red
with Gold Brocade Grey upholstery.
Fast forward to 2016 and one
2CV that have both competed) and,
having taken part in the DHRC events
since 2011, he started looking for a
Cooper S to rally during 2016 and heard
of a collection of three in Portugal.
“When I got in contact with the
owner he wasn’t too keen on selling
but his son convinced him that he
couldn’t keep all his cars forever,” says
Philip. So he flew out to Portugal to
look at the Cooper S, seen here, in the
hope of convincing the owner to sell
it. “Eventually the deal was made and I
flew out a second time to coordinate the
transfer,” he says. A UK-based transport
company, Transcars (www.transcars.
com), was asked to collect the Mini and
deliver it north to the Netherlands.
“Once back, the car went through a
full inspection at Ben van Leeuwen Mini
Centre and an extensive list of repairs
was composed as time had gotten the
better part of it,” he says. “Being stored
in Portugal there was no rust, luckily.
However, most of the wiring was gone and
the fluids and rubbers needed replacing.”
At the same time he looked into the
history of his Cooper S and discovered it
had originally been exported to Lisbon,
Portugal, as a complete knock down
(CKD) model on 7 August 1964, and
delivered as late as November 1965
to its first owner. “I managed to get a
copy of the import documents from
the British Motor Heritage Industry
Trust archives, as well as the first
registration documents,” he explains.
“When I purchased the car, it was still
registered with its original licence plate,
HB-70-92.” The Cooper S was imported
to the Netherlands so its registration
(licence) plate had to be changed to
the current Dutch classification.
The bodyshell was initially white but it
Philip
Plotnikov
Age: 35
Occupation: Head of
Engineering at Dott,
an e-scooter and
mobility company
First car: Audi TT
Current cars: This Cooper S, a BMW R56
Mini Cooper S Works and an Audi A6 (C7)
Other cars owned: Audi A4 (B8)
Dream cars: Alfa Romeo GTAm, Mercedes
300SL and a Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic
5x10" Minilites were
already fitted to the
Cooper S when Philip
bought it. He has
since replaced the
tyres with these new
Yokohama A008 tyres.Twin fuel tanks are
equipped with Aston-
style stainless-steel
fuel filler caps.»