Mini Cooper & Cooper S (R50/R52/R53)

The first generation of MINI Cooper (also known as MINI Hatch and, within the US, known as MINI Hardtop, but known more prevalently as MINI Cooper, MINI One, or just simply the MINI) was designed by Frank Stephenson and introduced into the car market in late 2000. It was a modern re-design of various earlier "Mini" incarnations, from the 1959 Mini-Minor, 1980's Austin Mini and 1988's simply known as Mini. BMW acquired the Rover Group in 1994 and retained rights to build cars with the MINI name. The Cooper gained notoriety in the 2003 movie "The Italian Job" (utilizing modified 2003 MINI Coopers in a heist to steal gold). The original model, R50 (One and MC Coupe), was modified to the R52 model with a soft-top convertible from 2004-2008. The higher-horsepower Cooper S was designated with the model name R53 (MCS Coupe). Second-generation MINI models followed: the MINI R55 (Clubman), MINI R56, MINI R57 (convertible), and even a MINI SUV model R60.