Mini Family Affair

- Martyn Collins

Phil Wiggins has loved MINIs since first seeing one at the British Motor Show in Birmingham. “I visited the show with my dad when he was looking for a new car. I was only 16 at the time but I said to him then, one day, once I've passed my test, I'll own one of those."

And he was right, although a few years had gone by when Stacey, Phil’s wife, bought him a track day at Rockingham in an R53 Cooper S. Just a week later, he was in the local MINI dealer looking at an Indie Blue R50 Cooper.

The modding bug bit hard and this Cooper ended up lowered on Eibach springs with Cooper S side skirts, a Playmini exhaust and Pipercross air filter. This car was a dream until Michael (Phil’s brother-in-law) bought an R53 Cooper S and Phil decided that he had to have one of his own. The R53 he bought was finished in Black-eyed Purple with a white roof and a Chili pack. “After all I had done with the Cooper, the S was another level and I felt it was quick enough.” That thought lasted all of a couple of months and Phil soon wanted more power and whine from the supercharger. That MINI ended up with 230bhp, with a black roof and Rota Grid wheels.

But the Cooper S fun came to an end when he changed jobs and started to do a lot more miles. He swapped into a well-specced Astro Black Cooper S Clubman, with a silver roof, fitting the wheels and a few small parts from the R53. Fast forward three years and, having spent a lot of money, his car was dyno’d at 250bhp, with a full aero kit, facelift Clubman rear bumper, joey modded headlights and factory square rear spoiler. But Phil’s not the only one in his family to own a MINI – let’s meet this unique MINI fleet.

Countryman T21PCW