Is this Enzo Ferrari’s Mini Cooper ‘S’?

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While the PreWarCar scene was stirred up last tuesday with a presumed lost Blitzen Benz; PostWarCar country may have an equally important find on its own. How about a modified Austin Mini Cooper ‘S’ that one day was the personal car of Enzo Ferrari? It’s no secret that Ferrari was a fan of the Mini. According to the late John Cooper Il Commendatore had three different Cooper ‘S’s at different times “which he used to go up in the hills and tear around with when he got bored.” Question is what happened to them? Only two grainy pictures circulate since ages; the self-acclaimed Ferrari connoisseurs say the ‘Enzo Mini’ was scrapped decades ago.

However, earlier this month a Cooper ‘S’ turned up in Turin, which may just prove the opposite. The car clearly shares a lot of its unique features with the car(s) on the old photographs. It, too, comes with a modified front with extra driving lights and replaced indicators, a job that may have been carried out by Pininfarina. And the interior is much modified, too. From what it looks like very much in the period. If it’s a fake it’s a pretty good one.

Still, several Italian Mini fans have expressed their skepticism about the car’s provenance, as there are details that do not match the old pictures. It shouldn’t be Ferrari red, the wipers park to the wrong way, the front valance doesn’t match etc. But then, this could be another of the three cars, couldn’t it? Besides, copies of the car’s documents that have reached this writer are in favour of this Mini’s presumed history. Yes. With some help from the chaps of the British Motor Heritage Trust and of Ferrari Classiche it should be possible to crack this case. Watch this space.

(Text Jeroen Booij)
   

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