Description
This is Ellie, my 1998 Mini Cooper Sports LE, one of 100 cars produced by Rover at Longbridge in 1998 to celebrate 30 years since the four championship wins by Mini Coopers in 1968.
There were originally supposed to be 50 produced in Brooklands Green and 50 in Black, although apparently there were more green than black and all 100 never sold. All featured twin side stripes with BMC ‘Rosette’ decals and British Vita yellow flashes on the front wings. There are thought to be less than 30 surviving LE’s.
Mine is a Brooklands Green car and comes with the green leather interior, carpets, door cards, gaiters and steering wheel. The engine is the late MPI 1275cc as fitted to all Cooper Sports of the late ‘90s.
I purchased this car in 2016 unseen from British Car Auctions in Blackbushe - when I went to collect it all appeared well, but a subsequent pre-MOT inspection revealed quite a few issues. That then started a rebuild that would include new front floors, new sills, a new front panel, new wings, a new rear subframe and repairs to the rear quarters. The car was repainted and finished in July 2017, just in time for some shake-down testing before setting off on the Italian Job charity tour in October 2017.
Ellie took part in three consecutive Italian Job events, 2017, 2018 and 2019, winning the navigational rally in 2018. She wears her stickers of her adventures on Imola and Monza with pride, and has been over the Stelvio and Timmelsjoch mountain passes, as well as climbing Mount Vesuvius.
In all those trips the only thing that ever went wrong was the heater matrix failing. She's a great car, and one I will sorely miss... I am only selling die to emigration to Portugal, and due to their import laws, it isn't cost effective to take her with me, otherwise I would.
The recent MOT (in Aug 2025) highlighted that she needs some new suspension bushes all round, but nothing else untoward.
A much loved car that I've had so many adventures in, and one I will be genuinely sorry to see go.
