35 replies to this topic

[CMcB]

Nope, according to the late John Cooper, the S doesn't stand for anything at all. They needed a name to denote it as being different from the regular Cooper and he just liked the sound of Cooper S. It doesn't actually have any meaning.

I'm with Dan and mab01uk on this, although I also seem to remember reading in a book or something that the 'S' could have refered to 'Special'

+3

I agree it doesn't officially stand for anything.

[Ethel]

Abingdon was special tuning & supplied S parts as upgrades for more mundane Minis. No idea if it means anything though

[Cooperman]

Nope, according to the late John Cooper, the S doesn't stand for anything at all. They needed a name to denote it as being different from the regular Cooper and he just liked the sound of Cooper S. It doesn't actually have any meaning.

I'm with Dan and mab01uk on this, although I also seem to remember reading in a book or something that the 'S' could have refered to 'Special'

+3

I agree it doesn't officially stand for anything.

Why would you feel you know better than a prominent motoring historian and author like Chris Harvey. Why would John Cooper have had any input to naming a BMC production model? His name was used as a quicker Mini was partly his idea in 1960 and '61 and Cooper models bore his name as a marketing idea for which he was paid until 1971, when the contract to use his name ended.

[mk1leg]

Nope, according to the late John Cooper, the S doesn't stand for anything at all. They needed a name to denote it as being different from the regular Cooper and he just liked the sound of Cooper S. It doesn't actually have any meaning.

Hi..I will settle this .......When I visited Jonn Cooper at his garage in Ferring in 1993 I had a chat with him for over an hour and I asked him this same question and I got the same awnser as above he was a very chatty man about all things mini.......

[Ethel]

I had a google out of interest,

There was a Morris Super Eight, Morris Super Sports, Austin A40 Sport and an Austin 7 Special as well as an Austin 7 Super Sports. I guess a simple "S" could invoke the lineage of all of them.

[Stevee]

New Mini's

Before 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Supercharged
Cooper D - Diesel Non Turbo Charged

After 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Turbo Charged
Cooper D - Diesel Turbo Charged

[998dave]

New Mini's

Before 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Supercharged
Cooper D - Diesel Non Turbo Charged

After 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Turbo Charged
Cooper D - Diesel Turbo Charged

I think they're talking the original Cooper 'S'.
Also the Cooper should be described as naturally aspirated.
And the Pre-07 Cooper D was surely a TDCi.

Dave

[Al the Biker]

.....Baffled why no-one is listening to the expert !

If the people at Cooper just wanted to differentiate it from a normal Cooper and then most people at the time decided it stood for Sport, then that is what it stands for then. it's a consensus of opinion.

[jonny d]

When I was 17 and bought my first car a mini minor I really wanted a Cooper S but could not get insurance. The S always stood for special even by the insurance companies so it was never called a cooper sport back in the heyday.

[RsSpyder]

New Mini's

Before 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Supercharged
Cooper D - Diesel Non Turbo Charged

After 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Turbo Charged
Cooper D - Diesel Turbo Charged

There was no Cooper D before 07. There was a One D which was a turbo diesel PSA unit, but the Cooper D was introduced with the MINI Gen 2 (07 onwards), first with a turbo diesel PSA unit, now with a turbo diesel BMW unit.

[rick.spi]

i think ill take john coopers word for it!

[yousmeg]

i remember a thread on here about this before and i seem to remember everyone managed to settle (wow, maybe i must remembering wrong) on cooper special

[mab01uk]

New Mini's

Before 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Supercharged
Cooper D - Diesel Non Turbo Charged

After 07

Cooper - Non Supercharged
Cooper S - Turbo Charged
Cooper D - Diesel Turbo Charged

There was no Cooper D before 07. There was a One D which was a turbo diesel PSA unit, but the Cooper D was introduced with the MINI Gen 2 (07 onwards), first with a turbo diesel PSA unit, now with a turbo diesel BMW unit.

Soon to be launched is the first diesel Cooper S:

The MINI Cooper SD
http://www.autoguide...ith-141-hp.html

http://www.motoringf...iesel-revealed/

[clovus]

From Christy Campbell's excellent book, Mini: An intimate biography....

"Harriman (MD of BMC at the time)...wanted to call it the 'Special', but John Cooper objected. It would emerge as the beguilingly simple 'S'."

[pogie]

I haven't posted on this thread before because I had to go up in the loft and dig out a video which had an interview with John Cooper on it. The video is called Mini Magic which was produced by Duke in 1994.

The following is a direct quote from that video and John Cooper has just finished telling how the Cooper Minis came into being and how well they were received.

"I went to see Harriman (George Harriman, Chairman of BMC) again and said, look this car can win rallies, you know, but what it wants, what you really want is a special one but I don't want to call it a special because that would be a mistake. So that’s when we called it the S and that’s when we bought out the 1070s which went out straight away and Paddy won the Monte Carlo with it".


Make of that what you will, but I have always considered S is there to differentiate the Cooper Ss from the standard Coopers and nothing more.