Meet The Owners – Rebecca And Stephen’s Mini Jet Black and Red Hot
By Andrew Roberts |
20th November, 2020
Back in 1988, the Mini Jet Black was your passport to Yuppie success – all for a mere £4,282.
Not only did it boast tinted glass, a push-button radio, front head restraints and black velour trim, there were even red seat belts to match the proud owner’s braces.
Matching the Mini that looks ‘Smooth on The Streets’ was the “Red Hot” – ‘Hot Stuff For Cold Nights!’.
In return ‘for inspecting these two stylish newcomers’, Rover would send you a cassette of “8 great soul and chart hits” while placing an order gained you a Sony WM 33 Walkman.
Rebecca and her father Stephen are the proud owners of both a Jet Black and a Red Hot - and they are currently in search of both accessories.
The company produced 3,000 Jet Blacks - 1,000 home market and 2,000 for export – and an equal number of Red Hots.
Thirty-two years later, the advertisements are masterpieces of late-1980s kitsch – not least ‘Move to the Music!’ - but the Jet Black and Red Hot form an essential part of the Mini story.
As late as 1980 it was the best-selling car in the Leyland family but the early part of the decade, BL concentrated its efforts on the Metro, Acclaim, Maestro and Montego.
One problem, as noted by Keith Adams in www.aronline.co.uk was ‘a long hard look at the statistics suggest that most UK Metro sales were not conquests from rival manufacturers but former Mini owners’.
Longbridge planned to discontinue the Mini circa 1986 or 1987 when Project AR6 was scheduled to replace the Metro.
However, a lack of funds meant that Alan Partridge’s least favourite car remained in production for several more years, while the Mini passed the five-million mark on 19th February 1986.
Austin-Rover assured the nation ‘We will continue making them as long as the public wants to buy them.
The car was right from the start and no one can really improve on it’.
July of that year saw the company re-branded as “Rover Group Limited” and the new chairman Graham Day took note of market research that expressed great fondness for the Mini – and the mistaken belief that it was no longer in production.
The result was several high-profile advertisements and a spate of “Limited Edition” models which emphasised the Mini as fashionable transport.
Today, both the JB and the RH are highly sought after. Rebecca’s Jet Black was acquired by her father ‘for me to learn to drive in – off-road of course. The four-speed gearbox and the driving position became the norm for me’.
They later discovered Rebecca added ‘it was a pair when we saw a Red Hot for sale. We’ve had the JB for about 16 or 17 years and the RH for about 14 years. They have both been done up, and mine has had all new bodywork too’.
Naturally, the public loves these two fine Minis although only the select few recognise them as a Jet Black and a Red Hot.
Best of all, each fulfils their original promise – ‘Bold enough to make you blink’ and ‘Cool by the night club’.
With Thanks To: Rebecca and Stephen
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