Endlessly friendly and always keen to enthuse about his projects, Michael Beattie is disarmingly modest about his achievements: “I’m not a mechanic, I’m a car salesman,” he says, “and most of this has been trial-anderror.” It’s evident from the high-end finish of this Cooper S, as well as the stellar roll call of parts involved, that these are the humble words of a man who knows precisely what he wants and is prepared to unleash some truly herculean efforts in order to get there. Too much ain’t enough.
Now, the act of modifying a Mk1 Cooper S is always something that’s going to ruffle a few feathers, but Michael’s always followed a clear path to fuse the correct with the aspirational. The work is chronicled on the Beatspeed page on Facebook (strapline: ‘Two amateur brothers having a go at this restoration lark, much learning to be done! One car dealer and one bean counter, what could go wrong?’), and if you’ve been around on the show scene in recent years you’ll no doubt have come across 888 NLY and gazed in wonder at its immaculate panel gaps and forward-facing carb trumpets. And what makes it all the more intriguing is that for quite a long time, Michael didn’t even realise what he had.
