San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Austin Mini Cooper Mk 1

Today marks the tenth day of the fabled countdown to Christmas.

On the tenth day of Christmas my archive gave to thee:
A ten footer Mini,
911 stancing,
Jade Mach 1 Mustang,
'77 Lincoln,
Suede Studebaker,
Fine Nomad bling,
Ford Thunderbird,
Beige French shed,
Tuned Chevy LUV,
and a Park Lane down on the street.

We’ve looked at quite a few classic Minis on California Streets over the years. I remember the first Mini post nearly a decade ago, which lumped together three cars into one post. I used to snap pictures of cars all over the place but usually only one or two at a time and rarely more than five. That was before I started this blog. My informal guideline for myself is that fewer than five photos of a subject is not enough for a post here. Fortunately, thanks to reader feedback, I now try to capture as full a walk-around as I can. It can be a little difficult on a busy street, especially a one-way job where people park on the left side so I can’t get my customary left profile shot. Luckily this Mini was parked along the Panhandle park just east of Golden Gate Park, so I could still photograph the left side on public property. You'd think it would be easier to photograph a car only ten feet long!

Danville Street Sighting - 1966 Austin Cooper S

Most everyone knows what a classic Mini looks like. It's up there with the Volkswagen Beetle and Ford Model T in terms of recognition, because all three cars were important milestones in mass-market vehicle design. The Mini was sold worldwide under various names between 1959 and 2000 and cemented its place in history with over 5.3 million copies. Only about 10,000 were originally imported to the United States through 1967. This is probably one of them.

Alameda Street Sighting - 1976 Morris Mini Clubman

It's been a little while since our last car feature so here's a little feature on a little car. I don't recall ever seeing a Mini Clubman before I spotted this one on the streets of Alameda, California. Okay, I've seen a lot of the modern MINI Clubman, the extra-long variant of the MINI Cooper. But this is the original Clubman, an effort to modernize the classic Mini whose original design and styling dated to 1959. Clubman was a more expensive car than the regular Mini and featured a longer front end with improved crash safety and easier service access.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1971 Mini 1000 Automatic

I've sort of made a recurring thing posting classic Minis every so often. Here's another monthly Mini, if you will. It's our first factory-automatic one, a 1971 Mini 1000.

Santa Cruz Street Sighting - 1970 Mini Cooper S

It's been over a month since our last classic Mini, so it was time for another. I've come across a few Mk III Minis from the early 1970s and they almost all seem to be Coopers or at least done up as such. To the untrained observer (like me), any old Mini with a few visual enhancements and some replica badges from Mini Mania or Moss Motors could be a Cooper or Cooper S.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1967 Austin Mini Cooper S

Lately we've been looking at a lot of huge cars here, so today let's switch it up with a classic Mini. This one's a Cooper S from the late '60s. I didn't spend a whole lot of time shooting it, so I don't know much about it. From what I can see in the pictures, this Cooper has been customized quite a bit with a roll bar, fender flares, different wheels and an aftermarket grille. The yellow-tinted headlamps give it a French-market appearance. If the taillight design, script badging and rear window shape are any indication, I think this is a 1967 car, an early Mark II. Mini fans, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1970 Mini Mk III

Oh dear, a Mini. Let's see what an ignorant fool I am about these cars. Readers from the UK, please be gentle!

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1993 Rover Mini Cooper 1.3i

At this point I've featured a lot of classic Minis, and they pretty much all seem to live in San Francisco. What's easy to forget about these little cars is that while they look old, and the basic body dates back to 1959, these cars were built for over 40 years. The last "classic" Minis were rolling off the line when BMW was gearing up to build their all-new MINI Cooper for the 2001 model year.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1970 Mini Cooper S

What's this? Another classic Mini? I told you guys San Francisco was full of the little buggers. This time it's a Mark III Cooper S edition produced between 1969 and 1971. The Cooper S was the highest-performance Mini in its day, available with a 1275cc engine intended for circuit racing. If that badge is to be believed, this is one of only 1,570 Mk III Cooper Ss built. There is a problem though, in that this car looks awfully... sedate for a performance trim. No hood stripes, fender flares, foglights - and it's all one color. And it doesn't help that one can buy the Cooper S boot lid badge online for a little over £10 plus shipping. If it is a genuine Cooper S though (and it's RHD even), that makes it fairly special among the plethora of vintage (and not so vintage) Minis in town.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1976 Mini 1000

When a car is built for many years with the same basic body it's easy to get the different models mixed up. The classic Mini is probably the best example of this, and probably the most easily interchangeable. Countless special editions and variants were released, and continuous improvements were made over the years. This car hails from the British Leyland years as evidenced by the fender badges, and is also badged as a Mini 1000, which if correct, makes it a 1976-77 model. It's also right-hand drive and bears a foreign license plate which resembles New Zealand. It wouldn't be the first NZ Mini I've seen in California.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Fiat 600D

It's funny how certain vehicles are unique enough that you can search for them on Flickr. Go ahead, type 'san francisco fiat' in the Flickr search box. This car is a veritable rock star compared to most vehicles in The City. It shows up at least 13 times on Flickr from a variety of photographers. In several of them, it's misidentified as the more well-known Fiat 500. It's actually a Fiat 600, and as best I can tell, it's a 1965 600D.

San Francisco Street Sighting - Mini Coopers

While I'm on my Euro-centric kick this week, let's explore a pint-size phenomenon from jolly old England, shall we? Yes, that's right, the classic Mini.