OWNER PROFILE
MiniWorld July 2019 69
Libby Brown
Most-hated Mini
task: Cleaning!
Are you obsessed with
your Mini? Kind of
Hobbies: Baking
and racing
Are you a member of
a Mini club? Yes, I'm a member of Mini Life ClubB
ack in 2012, Libby Brown
decided she needed a Mini
in her life. “When Steve and I
got together and I passed mydriving test I wanted one. It took us a
while to find a good one.” They looked
over several before plumping for this
2000 Cooper Sport. The car was far from
how you see it now, as Libby explains.
“She wasn’t like this when we got her
from Oxfordshire. She was a standard
1.3 injection and she started getting
a bit rusty.” A trip to Mini in the Park
instigated a very significant moment in
the car’s history. “At Santa Pod I wanted
to go a bit quicker and Steve suggested
the VTEC engine. So we took it apart
and started from there,” laughs Libby.
She always thought Minis were cute
and, although she always wanted one,
she has a surprise admission: “I’d never
actually seen one up close though,
until I went to buy one, and then they
become a money pit, which is why
she has ‘Money’ painted on the roof,
because she takes a lot,” laughs Libby.
Steve’s background in Minis, and
car modifying in general, started with
work experience with Mike Thomas
at Cyclone Motorsport , where he got
to mix with the likes of Stuart Meads
of fastest quarter-mile Mini fame. He
still works with Mike part time and
Libby’s Mini was rebuilt there.
Before any paintwork the obligatory
panel work required included the inner
and outer sills, rear valance and dash
rail. The latter is a known problem with
the later Rover cars. “There were also a
couple of small bits on the floor pan and
the boot,” explains Steve. “We thought it
was quite clean but then you take a wire
wheel to things to strip the paint and
you expose big nasty holes. That added
another two weeks to the schedule with
me and Mike at Cyclone Motorsport doing
the welding,” recalls Steve. It then went
round to Jay at JMA who refinished it on a
dolly to be repainted. “He painted it inside
and out, and seam sealed it.” Libby adds:
“It was quite sad seeing it in that state."
The original hue of Rover British Racing
Green Metallic was applied but this time
with a silver roof as a canvas for quite
a special look which expands on the
vinyl chequered roof the MPi had whenpurchased. “It had a chequered roof
and side but I didn’t want stickers as I
don’t like them and I wanted something
no-one else had got.” Looking online for
inspiration, Libby came across a jigsaw
design. “’I’ll have that’, I thought. I’d never
seen puzzle pieces on anyone else’s Mini.”
It’s one thing having an idea but
creating such a design takes skill.
Thankfully they had a contact. “A friend
knows a guy who is a carer and also
does air brushing. He came out and took
three days doing the stencil and the
airbrushing itself. He put the first stencil »