Must be Mini love
eing both a British clas-
sic and an icon, the Mini
Cooper has quite a fan
base all over the world.
It’s just one of those cars that enthusi-
asts enjoy. And what’s not to like about
it? Designed in response to the Suez oil
crisis of the late ’ 50 s, it was for families
who wanted to have a fuel-efficient
transport during the week, and a means
to go on picnics during weekends. Not
to mention it was damn easy to park.
Everything about it was practical and
made sense to people back then.
The car appealed to people from all
walks of life. Celebrities owned Minis.
So did the working class. Girls adored
the cute little ride. Some owners even
passed on their cars from generation to
generation like heirlooms.
The fine British Racing Green ex-
ample you see here belongs to architect
Whatever you need, this car Won’t fail to deliver
B
1993 mini cooper
Words by Cuthbert go PhotograPhy by IAN MAgbANuA
PJ Miranda. He has owned it for over five
years now. As a collector and restorer
of classics—we’ve featured his pristine
Isuzu Gemini not too long ago, and have
plans to meet the other cars in his growing
collection—PJ took his time hunting for
this 1993 Mini Cooper. The car did come
with a few bugs, but with his experience
with working on a myriad of old makes and
models, the problems were easily resolved.
If you have plans of driving or restoring
an older car, be prepared to do a little work
on them before going on that epic road
trip. Do all of the repairs correctly and with
the proper parts, and you will have a car
that is pretty reliable. Just avoid doing any
shortcuts and things will be fine.
This Mini was from the pre-BMW era,
but it already came with some handy mod-
ern amenities. There’s an OEM air-condi-
tioning unit, and wind-up windows instead
of sliding ones. The seat fabric was from
old sChool
THE GARAGE104 toP gear PhiliPPines WWW.topgear.com.ph
these banana-
style Wheels do
the job nicelyWe can’t get
enough of the
classic mini