1977 British Leyland Vortz Cooper Miglia Mini

Description

• UNSOLD AT AUCTION February 2024
• Please contact Evoke for more information / to arrange a viewing : team@evoke-classics.com
• Built by the Vortz Cooper Car Co 84
• Owned by Nick ‘Vortz’ Vrotsos’ Dad
• Email of authority on file
• £10,000 professional resto costs
• Highly coveted and highly collectable

The Mini needs no introduction. This one is special. A Mini Miglia built by Nick Vrotsos’ Vortz Car Company. Very rare. Very desirable. Very collectable. To have the actual car that was owned by Nick Vrotsos’ dad is a unicorn moment.  The saying goes; ‘try and find another’. Don’t bother. There isn’t one.

This special Mini is about three things. The car. The condition. The Provenance.

An overview of Vortz Minis

Nick Vrotsos is the stuff of myth, legend. Nick’s company, Vortz, began in the Sixties. His early successes were providing performance upgrades to Jaguars and Spridgets.

Minis came onto the radar in the early to mid-seventies. Things got interesting then.

Production of the BM-produced Mini Cooper ended in 1971. That left a hole. If you wanted one, you took your chances with anything you could find on the market.

Nick took the decision to fill that vacuum left by the end of Cooper production, by building his own.

Nick bought new cars. Totally stripped them. Repainted and retrimmed. But crucially uniquely re-engineered them into road racers.

That initial decision saw twenty years of hugely successful production with some of the best Minis ever produced.

Following the success of Nick’s cars, Rover probably looked on with envy, kicking themselves.

One thing is clear though, it gave Rover a kick up the backside. They prevented Nick buying new Minis and claimed exclusivity on the Cooper badge. Wisely, Nick wasn’t getting into an expensive legal tangle. Nick had the last laugh. The effect of Rover’s decision was to make Vortz Mini Coopers even more collectable.

The provenance

There are images in the Gallery for you to flick through showing the granular detail. We’ll give you an overview.

• Apparently, Nick’s dad was a die-hard Coventry Climax/Imp enthusiast. Minis were secondary.
• All that changed when he was put in charge of running-in the newly built Vortz Mini Coopers
• He decided he wanted a Mini Miglia, in his opinion “it was the most enjoyable of the lot”. He should know?
• Nick’s dad had all the resource he needed, except a Mini to turn into a Vortz Mini
• By chance, this Leyland Mini 1000 came on his radar
• It wasn’t being used and the owner had gone off to university
• She needed funds, Nick’s dad needed a solid Mini
• The rest is history, as they say
• There is an email in the Gallery from Nick authenticating this Mini
• It has the VIN plates too
• Logbook with Vrotsos as former keeper

The car

The hundred plus images speak for themselves, please do browse through, if for no other reason than to admire a great Mini. We’ll pick out the highlights for you:

• Vortz own manufactured four pot iron calipers
• 7.5” drilled discs
• Rear drums
• Cooper Mk II front grille
• Mk II number plate holder
• Vortz modified twin Sus
• Vortz airbox unfortunately lost; the car currently has a Cooper S box
• Vortz exhaust with small bore LCB exhaust with built-in back pressure
• Vortz Miglia tuned 998cc engine
• Vortz Downton head
• Vortz manufactured an entirely new camshaft to cope with overlaps and revvyness of the tuned engine. It is known as the R664 camshaft
• Lightened and balanced con rods
• Lightened flywheel
• Modified distributor
• Dry suspension

Our transparent vendor wanted to share the following, “The car was abandoned for some years, and various parts taken off and sold which needed to be replaced. £1,000 has been spent on having the original Vortz carbs rebuilt, a new alternator and a new battery. The car had a fluid service in July. There is a slight wheel bearing noise present”.

Inside

• 100mph speedo
• Smiths rotary oil and water gauges
• Three clock instrument binnacle
• Newton Cooper S replica seats – £2,300
• Black door cards with texture inserts
• Black carpet
• Three spoke steering wheel

Outside

• Body restoration invoices in 2019 totalling c£10,000
• Classic Copper colour combo of Red with Black roof
• Replica Rose Petal style wheels
• Cooper Car Company decals
• Cooper Miglia badges

Our vendor has pointed out a couple of minor bubbles on the bodywork in both the images and the video. That was good of him. It speaks volumes about him and the car.

Additional information

The Miglia was featured in a five-page article in the 250th issue of Mini Magazine, you can find photos of this article in the Gallery.

We uncovered this well-informed report summing up the Vortz Mini Cooper Miglia.

“This little lot amounted to a car that could potter around town as low as 1000rpm in top but could happily cruise at 90mph, which they did on many occasions up the M4 for a 54-mile stretch when visiting the Vortz trim factory in South Wales. 

And when tested by Fast Car Magazine, they found it exceeded 100mph on any given straight whenever they desired. 

This was a very happy little package, like an annoying little terrier embarrassingly chewing at the heels of its bigger brothers.” (Credit – Mini Forum/Vortz Mini) 

We struggle to sum it up any better.

Summary

Where would we be without the brilliance of people like Nick Vrotsos? Much poorer in our view. Vortz cars have an amazing following.

Reports suggest the engine production number was 73 units and it is understood there were around 38 registered chassis numbers which were directly registered as Cooper Car Co 84 ltd. It is anyone’s guess how many are left. What we can be certain of is that it is the only one produced specifically for Nick’s dad.

Despite the rarity of these cars in the UK, the Vortz cars still have a great following, and spare parts alone command eye-watering prices these days.

However, our vendor is both knowledgeable and sensible. Given the provenance, condition, desirability and the money that has been lavished on it, he has still set the Reserve extremely reasonably.

We all covet those unique, special, unicorn cars. We are privileged our vendor has asked us to bring this one to market. The new owner will be too.

Vehicle Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, B26– it’s the responsibility of the winning bidder to make collection / transportation arrangements directly with the vendor

Have a question about this Vortz Mini? Please contact the Evoke team at team@evoke-classics.com and we will speak to the vendor on your behalf.

Guide Prices?

We’re different. But you know that. And we’re always honest. In a sector where no two classics are same, how does anyone put a ‘guide’.

Well, everyone knows the broad value of classic, let’s all be honest. So, we don’t need to tell you what you already know, do we.

The ‘market’ decides and the old cliché that ‘it’s worth what someone wants to pay’ is no less true. So why kid everyone!

But, because we are different, if it really does matter to you, that’s fine, we want you to be happy. Just drop us a line at team@evoke-classics.com and one of us will be delighted to get back to you, it’s what we do.

Tedious but it’s vital you read this, please.

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