Have a guess what the very first tuned "sport compact" was. Honda Civic, you say? Good guess, but no. Nissan 240Z? Nice try but try again. Toyota's original Celica, perhaps? Not even close. The first compact to get the proper tuner treatment was, in fact, the original Mini Cooper, more than forty years ago. You couldn't get any more compact than the ten-foot long Mini and you couldn't get better sport credentials than John Cooper Garages. Cooper was a big name Formula One at the time - World Champions in 1959 and 1960 - and used a tuned version of the Mini engine in some of his other race cars. When F1 started to get too expensive and Cooper decided to go rallying instead, the Mini's excellent handling and John Cooper's knowledge of the engine made it a natural choice. The Austin Mini Cooper first turned a 10-inch wheel in 1961 - and with that the pocket rocket was born.
There were a number of Cooper models you could buy but the full-on John Cooper 'Works' was by far the best. The full racing package included a re-bored 1275-cc engine, free-flow cylinder head, brake boosters with optional disc brakes, twin gas tanks, and rear-mounted battery for better weight distribution and balance. Power jumped to 91 hp - not a lot by today's standards but enough to give the 1250-lb Mini four consecutive Monte Carlo rally wins from 1964 through 1967 (though disqualified in '66 on a technicality).
Mini Coopers, recognizable by their distinctive white roof and wheels, also became known for their supercar-slaying agility on the road and were driven by many celebrities including The Beatles, Peter Sellers, Graham Hill, and even Enzo Ferrari himself. Naturally, these celebrity drivers wanted their Cooper to be different from everyone else's which is how companies like Radford and Wood & Pickett came to offer aftermarket electric windows and leather seats. Even when the Cooper model was dropped from British Leyland's lineup in the Seventies, the John Cooper tuning kits continued selling well, prompting Rover (as BL later became known) to reinstate the model in 1990. Small wonder, then, BWM turned to John Cooper Works to be its factory-backed tuner when it took over of the new MINI project in the mid-nineties.
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