Twin Test: Rover Mini Cooper v MG Metro
Cooper badging officially returned to the Mini in the late 1990s and by the time production came to an
end in 2000, several very desirable versions of this sporting icon had been produced.
Classic Car Mart Spring 2016 51
the Metro doesn’t have quite the go-kart feel of
the classic Mini but it does hang on exceptionally
well despite the greater body roll and can be
hustled surprisingly quickly as I know from
personal experience. In fact I can still recall
from my younger days a high-speed ride in a
mate’s long-suffering MG Metro in brave pursuit
of another friend’s Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi through
the Cotswolds and the fact that I’m still alive to
tell the tale says all you need to know about the
Metro’s terrier-like grip.
Of course ultimately the performance on offer
from the MG Metro is similar to that of a ’60s
Mini Cooper but with values of original Coopers
now firmly out of the Metro league the fairest
comparison is with the reborn Cooper of the ’90s
- the car which in theory the Metro should have
rendered obsolete. How then does it compare?
Mini Cooper
The Mini Cooper was officially axed in 1971
when Lord Stokes decided that BMC no longer
wanted to pay royalties to third parties for use
of their name, with John Cooper and Donald
Healey both getting the same treatment. The
Mini Cooper was effectively replaced in the
marketplace by the 1275GT, in turn slated to be
superseded by the MG Metro.
In the early ’90s however, the Cooper made
a surprise comeback, the impetus behind its
revival coming not from Longbridge but from
Japan. The Metro was offered in Japan but next
to their own cutting-edge superminis it must have
seemed rather mundane and it was the classic
Mini which gained a cult following.
With large numbers of classic Coopers being
restored and exported to Japan and huge profits
being made, the Japanese Austin Rover importer
requested a modern-day Cooper be created to
satisfy demand. Back at Longbridge though,
they weren’t that interested in fiddling about with
a model from the past, which left the door open
for John Cooper. Fitting an MG Metro engine to
a new Mini Mayfair, he added suitably period
stripes and wheels before putting it on the next
boat to Tokyo.
The car was a hit but still nobody back at
base was interested, leaving Cooper to establish
a lucrative business under the John Cooper
Garages name and exporting tuning kits to Japan
which could be fitted to customers’ own 998cc
Minis. Developed by Janspeed,the kit included a
modified head, twin carbs, air filters and sports
exhaust, raising the 998’s standard 40bhp to a
heady 64bhp.
It all changed when Graham Day replaced
Harold Musgrove at the top of Rover as it had by
then been renamed. Day was only too keen to
capitalise on any extra sales potential and talks
with Cooper resulted in his JCG kits being offered
through Rover dealers complete with a factory
warranty. The next step was to investigate the
possibility of the 1275cc engine being offered as
a factory option and the work was handled by the
newly formed Rover Special Products division.