In Dad's Spotlight

Faced with the collection of cars in Manxman Ian Corkill's large garage, which houses contours standard Minis and a good few Fords, you might be forgiven for overlooking this 1964 modified Cooper S lookalike. It's not contours but has that certain something that Mini fans find attractive in ex-rate and rally cars that can also be used as practical road cars. Certainly when you ask Ian which is his favourite Mini, he is quick to reply: "I suppose the green one really, because it means more to me, being a replica of my father's first Cooper 5, and it had the roof light on in period. I remember my job at 14 or 15 was giving it a wash and filling it up with petrol before the rally. I've got the same registration on the car now as the original had. So it's kind of special as my dad's no longer with us."

Ian tells us the story of the original 480 BMN: "It originally belonged to Mrs Doreen Mylchreest, wife of Brian Mylchreest who recently passed away. It was a regular car originally." Brian Mylchreest owned the main BMC dealership on the Isle of Man and was a pioneering supporter of the Mini and a team of early Manx Mini rally drivers. [see our interview with him in Mini World's September 2013 issue]. During Bert Corkill's time with the car it actually wore yet another registration number, 117 MAN, which had been on his previous rally car, a grey and white Mk1 998 Cooper. The registration 117 MAN was also used on Bert's next car, a Mk2 Cooper S.

Ian continues the story: "In some of the early photos from Mylchreests, rallydriver Eric Leece would have been driving it." Eric Leece was Glenn Leece's father, [see MiniWorld January 2014 issue for our interview with rally driver Glenn]. "He used it for the 1965 Manx Trophy Rally and some hillclimbs in the same period. Mrs Mylchreest donated it to him during May, to compete in the Trophy Rally. He was their 'works driver' I suppose at the time, them being the Austin dealership on the island. Despite being a very careful driver, Eric managed to crumple a front wing avoiding another competitor who had gone off on a stage in front of him. He wasn't offered it again. Shortly after that it was repaired and my father, Bert Corkill, bought it and he campaigned it for another couple of years, in the Trophy Rally in 1966-7, equipped with a Lucas roof light the same as this one. "The car originally had Janspeed equipment on it. I remember going down to Janspeed and picking up cylinder heads and steering wheels, it was a big thing in 1966-7 to go down to Janspeed, a tiny little shop compared to what they've got today, but it was great fun to pick the tuning bits up and come back and install them ourselves. Unfortunately, by the time I was 15 dad had decided that this Mkl had to go and got shot of it, before moving on to a Mk2. He sold it to a friend of ours because he didn't think I'd be up for a Cooper S at 16. And of course I started off with a Mini 850 myself and, by the time the first 10 months were gone, I traded that for an Anglia, traded the Anglia for a Cooper S, and I was back into one which was nowhere near as good as the one he'd sold to a friend."

So it was the car he always wished he had owned but didn't? "Absolutely! The car dad sold, he shouldn't have done. I had a chat with Glenn about it recently and he was also keen to get that number back. Of course it was his dad's number at that time. My father re-registered it in his own name. We've all got the same family history. It's hard to get away from it."