MINI celebrates the 40th anniversary of winning the 1964 Rallye Monte Carlo with an Australia-only special commemorative edition.

The against-the-odds win in 1964 was a victory for Mini’s unrivalled agility, go-kart handling and cheeky style, characteristics that continue to define MINI in 2004.

Winning the Rallye Monte Carlo heralded a race and rally career that spanned decades and set the Mini on a course to become a motoring icon.

Just 40 commemorative MINI Cooper S Rallye Monte Carlo cars will be produced, in rally-winning Chilli Red or evocative British Racing Green, both of course fitted with a white roof, with genuine rally-bred features strongly represented.

The 1964 rally cars used ingenious headlamp washers to keep the lights clean on the grime and slush-strewn rally route, and so the 2004 model also features power headlamp washers which keep the state-of-the-art Xenon lamps clean.

But where the 1964 car required a row of additional driving lamps to spear a route through the darkness, the modern car’s twin Xenon units are more than sufficient, even given its higher top speed.

Intelligent Xenon technology could have obviated the contentious headlamp dispute in 1966, when the mighty Minis were robbed of their third Monte win in a row on a dubious technicality. In typical indomitable Mini spirit, the cars returned to win the event outright in 1967.

In addition to its Xenon lamps, the 2004 Anniversary car boasts standard 17-inch multi-spoke rally-style light alloy wheels running 205/45 tyres.

Up-sized alloy wheels were high on 1960’s Mini Cooper S rally ace Rauno Aaltonen’s wish list for the Rallye Monte Carlo event.

“Although the shortest special stage on the Rallye Monte Carlo was only 12 km, all the tyre tread was gone at the end. So 13-inch-tyres would have been much better, even 12-inches,” he recalls.

The intrepid teams of Mini Cooper S drivers humbled their opponents using just 10-inch diameter wheels.

To mark out the 2004 MINI Cooper S Rallye Monte Carlo, traditional white bonnet stripes are fitted along with a wide white racing stripe down the side of the car, similar to those used on Cooper Car Company racers in the 1960s.

Integrated into the white side stripe is a stylised interpretation of the famous race number ‘37’, as worn by Paddy Hopkirk’s 1964 Rallye Monte Carlo-winning Mini Cooper 1071 S, registered ’33 EJB’.

A discrete Union Jack badge adorns the flanks of the 2004 car, a tribute to the heroics of the original rally team who snatched victory away from far more powerful European teams on the 1964 event.

Inside the 2004 car, rally fans will find an individually numbered commemorative plaque affixed to a new-style three-spoke steering wheel, unique to these 40 cars. A matching numbered key-ring is also included.

High-grade soft leather covers the sports seats, finished in Black Gravity (Chilli Red exterior) or Cordoba Beige (BRG), and both front seats feature height adjustment.

Additionally, the MINI Cooper S Rallye Monte Carlo cars also come with a Rallye Monte Carlo sleeveless outdoor vest for the driver, carrying a signature ‘37’ badge.

All MINI Cooper S models feature a huge range of standard equipment including: supercharged 120 kW engine, six-speed manual gearbox, air-conditioning, anti-lock brakes, Automatic Stability Control and Traction, six airbags, cruise control, multi-function steering wheel, remote central locking, Tyre Defect Indicator and front fog lights.

The MINI Cooper S Rallye Monte Carlo is priced at $42,900 and goes on sale in May.

Only 40 examples of the MINI Cooper S Rallye Monte Carlo will be available.

Piloted by the fearless Paddy Hopkirk along with skilled navigator, Henry Liddon, the 1964 Mini Cooper S overcame great odds in all sorts of challenging conditions: ice, twisty mountain passes, darkness and above all, formidable challengers. It made for an exciting, flat-out drive for the team.

On snowy sections of the route, the Mini's nimble handling and front-wheel-drive proved advantageous over the more powerful, albeit heavier, larger rear-wheel-drive competition.

In the final moments of the rally on the Grand Prix circuit, Paddy and his tenacious Mini snatched victory by little more than 30 points.

The winning crew and their car received the trophy at the Palace in Monaco before being flown back to Britain to be feted as national heroes. The Mini Cooper S won the next three Monte Carlo rallies, but was famously denied the trophy in 1966 on an extremely dubious technicality over a headlight dipswitch infringement.