Mini World – July 2019

[ 1967 Mk1 Astin Cooper S ]

24 July 2019 MiniWorld

I

t arguably takes some nerve

not only to restore a genuine

Mk1 Cooper S but to import

it from abroad, without even

seeing it in the metal, and then

to rebuild it for competing in

historic rallies. This is exactly

what Peter Gaasbeek has done

with the Cooper S seen here.

He admits he’s not a mechanic,

and only had a limited amount

of spare time to dedicate to the

rebuild, but he has triumphed

and is now competing in rallies.

Events include endurance

drives, regularities, driving on

closed and open roads and

lots of navigation. Friends,

including Eric van den Einden,

who also helped to build this

Cooper S, and Herman Temming

have frequently volunteered

their services as navigators.

Having owned a mid-70s Mini

as his first car, back in 1982, and

moving onto a 1098cc Special

for his second car, he was keen

to own another and go a stage

further with it. “I always wanted

to restore a car and, since my

first car was a Mini, I wanted

to do this, preferably with a

genuine Mk1 Cooper S,” he says.

Back in 2008, Peter was

trawling the internet for a Cooper

S, and found one for auction on

eBay. “The description stated

it was a real Mk1 Cooper S and

not a cheap copy, re-bodied or

a modified car,” he recalls. The

auction ended and the bidding

had failed to reach the reserve

price, so he contacted the

seller and agreed on a price.

The Cooper S had travelled

around the world. Its first

owner lived in Denmark before

it was sold to its next owner,

in the 80s, who lived in the

USA. The Mini stayed with the »