Pick of the Day: 2004 Mini Cooper S MC40

In honor of the recent passing of legendary British racing driver Patty Hopkirk, I decided to make today’s Pick of the Day a car to honor this legend of motorsports.

For those who do not know Hopkirk, he was a British racing driver that put the Mini on the map by taking the overall win at the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally while driving a Mini Cooper S in what has become its iconic red body with a white roof paint scheme. The win was a bit of a surprise, and made such an impression that he received congratulatory telegrams from the U.K. Prime Minister as well as The Beatles. He continued to race in rallies and saw a number of other wins but the win at Monte Carlo in ‘64 is the one that made him part of British motorsports history.

In 2004 Mini decided to build their first special edition Cooper to celebrate the 40th anniversary of that Monte Carlo win. It was called the MC40 and the car was finished in the same paint scheme as the original ’64 Monte Carlo winning car with special stickers and badging replicating the original look of the winning car. It was limited to 1,000 cars and all featured a special plaque signed by Hopkirk.

The Pick of the Day is one of these cars, a 2004 Mini Cooper S MC40 edition finished in Chili Red with a white roof over a red and black leather interior. (Click the link to view the listing)

The Costa Mesa dealer offering this Mini S MC40 describe it as a having 89,000 miles from new and is No. 848 of the total 1000 produced to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Paddy’s 1964 Monte Carlo Rally victory. The car is powered by a supercharged 1.6-liter inline-four paired with a six-speed manual transmission.

This MC40 also includes all of its MC-40 decals and graphics, magnetic “37” numbering on the doors, vinyl decals on the hood and (GB) boot badge. This is important because over the years many of these bits are often missing from MC40 edition cars. The car comes standard with xenon head lights, driving lamps and fog lights, a chrome grille, roof spoiler and central dual exhaust outlets.

Further amenities include aluminum pedals, John Cooper Works carbon fiber dash, MC-40 shift knob, and the numbered plaque signed by Paddy Hopkirk The car also includes all of its manufactures literature, two keys & fobs, and a clean CARFAX report.

These cars were a wonderful way for Mini to celebrate its history and the MC40 was the first of the special edition Mini Coopers that was offered.

The asking price for this wonderful and fun to drive car is a very reasonable $14,900 and would be a welcome addition to any British car fans garage.