OVER THE LINE

In August 2019, we had a call from Mike Brewer – TV’s Wheeler Dealer and dyed in the wool car nut. He was bursting with the news that he’d just managed to bag his dream car, a 1964 Cooper S. Spotted in an auction, Mike had sent a friend along on his behalf and the bids had gone his way. Mike couldn’t have been happier.

A couple of weeks later, on one of the hottest days of the year, we met up with Mike and the car, by now dubbed ‘Frankie’. The Cooper had clearly seen a bit of life, was a little scruffy but oozed character and Mike was clearly smitten.

Part of the Cooper’s charm was that it wore its age openly, and gave a nod to those years when even this most prized of Minis had been just another old car, one MoT failure away from the breakers. The interior was from an early Riley Elf, and we were soon to discover it had left the factory painted Almond Green, not red. More contentiously, it was clear that the bodyshell was earlier than the car’s year of manufacture.

We guessed at a motorsport past, and wondered if the whine from gearbox was a good (straight cut gears?) or a bad (wear