2000 Rover Mini Cooper Sport

With just one owner from new, ‘X502 BDP’ is quite possibly unique.

Finished in British Racing Green with a Platinum Silver roof and stripes and a black and silver leather interior, this 2000 Rover Mini Cooper Sport was brough new from Faraday Rover in Newbury by the seller’s uncle. He bought it as a future investment and treated it accordingly, but sadly passed away a few years ago, leaving his nephew to buy the car from his aunt.

MoT’d in August 2025, when it passed with no advisories, it shows just 1,314 miles on the odometer and its overall condition is exactly as you’d expect to see on a car of this mileage that was meticulously curated with an eye on its future value.
 

The combination of flared wheelarches over fat Minilite alloy wheels and 175-width tyres, British Racing Green coachwork, twin stripes, a silver roof, and quadruple auxiliary driving lamps make this every inch the Mini Cooper of legend.

In fact, the only thing to distinguish it from the cars we all grew up admiring in the hands of icons such as Paddy Hopkirk, is its condition, which is pretty much ‘as new’.

There are no ripples along the doors or wings. No dinks or dents on its edges. No scuffs on the extremities like the door mirrors, bumpers, or wheelarches. The shutlines are still factory-tight and consistent.

The paintwork, which is very nearly as good now as it was when the factory applied it, has a helluva shine and crisp edges to the pinstripes.

The lamp lenses are all clear and free of cracks and chips, and their fasteners are free of rust. The badges are still bright and shiny. The chrome bumpers are straight and well polished.  

The window glazing is immaculate, and the rubber door, window, and fuel filler seals are pliable and free of age-cracks.

It’s even still got the supplying dealer’s numberplates, along with a sticker in the rear window and the Mini’s last tax disc in the windscreen.

The 13-inch Minilite-style alloy wheels are free of scuffs, scrapes and other kerbing damage, and they’re fitted with 175/50R13 Dunlop SP Sport 3000 tyres.

As for flaws, real ones you might like to sort out, our man went over the Mini with his customary thoroughness and found one very small bit of rust (“about the size of a pinky fingernail”) above the windscreen.

There are also four very small white dots on the nearside rear quarter panel, which might well be old polish. Given the car’s originality, we haven’t tried to remove them. The stripes on the bonnet also have a couple of small white marks on them.

More serious is the pitting on the door handles but remedying that would be the very definition of an easily solved problem.

And his overall assessment is that: “The bodywork is incredible. It would benefit from a proper going over with a machine polisher but is otherwise every bit as good as you’d expect.”
 

Our man’s one-line assessment of the black and silver leather cabin is: “Interior is immaculate and presents as new with virtually no signs of wear.”

Need we say more?

Because there really isn’t much more to say. The black and silver leather seats are every bit as firm as they were when they were installed, and it doesn’t look like they’ve been sat on more than a few times.

The ivory-faced dials are set in a grey panel, which in turns sits inside a machine-turned dashboard. Three smaller instruments, which monitor time, oil pressure, and battery voltage, sit above the headunit.

The gearknob is a chunky metal jobbie and, if we’re being really picky, the light-grey leather on the steering wheel is a tiny bit grubby but putting that right would be the work of a moment.

The (very good) carpets are protected by OE rubber mats. The pedal rubbers are grubby but otherwise excellent, and they’re joined by a dashing alloy accelerator pedal.

The door cards, which feature drilled alloy pulls, window winder handles and release handles in addition to a useful storage bin apiece, are unmarked, as are the rear quarter panels.

The headlining is taut and clean, as are the sunvisors.

The boot is both clean and contains the full complement of factory accoutrements including a full-size spare wheel, the battery, and the tool kit. Lifting out the steel wheel, which is fitted with a Pirelli Cinturato tyre, reveals a small amount of very light surface rust.

Given the lack of recent use, we haven’t driven it. It was trailered to us too, and we’d urge the winning bidder to trailer it away and get it recommissioned before using it.

That said, its MoT certificate is valid until August 2026. Almost incredibly it, like every other MoT it has ever had, was issued with no advisories.

And we can confirm that the fuel-injected engine starts and runs with no issues.

The engine bay is original but is a little grubby. If it were ours, we’d treat it to a professional valet and a full service but otherwise leave it as it is because it’s gorgeous.

It’s much the same with the underside, which is startingly original and completely untouched. The Koni dampers are still a vibrant red, the engine and gearbox look nice and dry, and the BRG paint in the wheelarches and underneath is still very good.

If you plan to drive it regularly then topping up the rust-proofing would be wise, but if you’re going to Carcoon it and show it then you could just touch up the flaking underseal and maybe repaint some of the chassis but otherwise leave it as it is.  
 

The recent Vehicle History Check is clear, the service history booklet has two dealer stamps in it, and there is one invoice for replacing the rotary coupling and a wheel cylinder back in August 2005.

The history file also contains the full book pack and wallet, all of its previous MoT certificates and tax discs, two full sets of keys including remote controls and dealer fobs, a V5 registration document showing zero previous owners, the original sales agreement, and a book of postcards.
 

Look, this isn’t going to be a cheap Mini, but you know that, right?

No, it’s going to be something much better; it’s going to be a good-value Mini, and that’s far rarer.

For a start, can you imagine what it would cost to restore a Mini to this standard?

And even then, it wouldn’t be as good as this one because a car is only original once.

Time warp cars are also rarer than some classic car dealers would have you believe, but this most definitely qualifies; if you’re looking for one to put at the heart of your classic collection, or in a museum, or even as part of a heritage press fleet, this is it.

We expect the winning bidder to have to stump up somewhere between  £25,000 and £30,000, at which point you can sit back and bask in the fact you almost certainly own the best and most original example of its type. And that’s priceless.

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