There was something reassuring when the voice that picked up the line had a proper British inflection. I’d just rung realminicoopers.com, an enterprising Peterborough, Ont., business, which specializes in importing “real,” Rover-built Mini Coopers from the UK to Canada.

The sterling chap who’d answered my call was expatriate Matthew Stimpson, the website’s Canadian rep and co-founder, who sussed-out the inner workings of the online firm.

Upon customers’ requests, realminicoopers.com tracks down, overhauls and ships good-condition, used Mini Coopers from across the pond — not the new, BMW-designed machines, but the original, Sir Alec Issigonis-penned icons. With tongue firmly in cheek, Stimpson quipped the company’s maxim: “100-percent free from BMW parts.”

The firm handles all the import/export paperwork, titling, customs, duty and all the other red tape — plus the vehicle’s emissions and safety tests — so the Coopers are ready for our roads when the keys are handed over. “No one else is doing this,” he states.

The genesis of the business began when Stimpson immigrated to Canada in July 2005. At the time, he’d wrangled the shipping and registration of his project car, a 1971 Saab 96 V4. It was then that he learned of our Federal government’s grandfather laws that allow vehicles 15 years or older — even those never originally sold here — to be imported to our shores without having to meet Canadian standards.

At the same time, he noted the multitude of motorcars marketed in Britain that were long gone from (or never sold in) our Dominion — including the BMC-commissioned Mini, which bowed out here around 1980.

The odds and sods began to come together. Stimpson found he could use his UK connections to import “something British” to Canada, focusing on the iconic Mini Cooper, because although, “most folks don’t know much about the original car… everyone loves a Mini [and] are aware of the brand because of BMW’s efforts with the new one.”

Realminicoopers.com went live in April 2006; the first customer enquiry came in May of that same year.

According to Stimpson, the company imports only ’91-plus Coopers because they’re the most up-to-date examples of Issigonis’ original design that also pass Canada’s grandfather laws. (In 1990, then-owners of the Mini brand, MG Rover, relaunched the classic Cooper to much hullabaloo, fitting it with a reliable, fuel-injected 1,275-cc four-cylinder in ’91).

Realminicoopers.com customers choose either a Cooper 1.3 or a better-dressed 1.3 Sport. Pricing, including all shipping and handling, is pegged at $14,000 and $17,000 respectively, excluding taxes. With a 30-percent deposit, Stimpson says it takes about eight weeks for a UK Cooper to arrive.

To pin down rust-free, 40-50,000-mile, “one lady owner”-type cars in the UK, Stimpson turns to his father Allan, who’s been in the automotive biz 35 years, and his brother Howard. Ironically, their shop is in Oxford, the same town where BMW now builds the new MINI (the home page of realminicoopers.com features one of the Stimpson’s cars parked outside the factory, and their vehicles often sail from Southampton to Halifax on cargo ships chockfull of their modern brethren).

Most of the prep for Canada-bound Coopers is done in England, because our customs folks like to see imported cars in approved condition, fresh off the boat. Stimpson’s kin also swap out troubled original parts (like the notoriously rattly top engine stabilizer) and source replacement components through Rover Service, which still exists, even though the automaker was sold to China’s Nanjing Automobile Group in 2005.

All of realminicoopers.com’s cars come with a three-month limited warranty, though Stimpson warns that the original Cooper is “still a very basic car” that is “effectively 40 years-old … they do need fiddling with all the time.”

Here in Canada, he offers winter prep, replacement parts and add-ons like Union Jack roof decals, along with a $1,900 left-hand drive conversion, though proudly, none of his seven customers thus far have requested it.

The wife of a Canadian Forces soldier is perhaps his most memorable client to date. Wanting the perfect ‘welcome home’ gift for her husband stationed in Afghanistan, she ordered a Cooper from Stimpson and had it sitting in the driveway, wrapped in a bow, when the serviceman arrived back in Canada.

Stimpson plans to get the word out on realminicoopers.com this year, in part by hitting all the big Brit car shows. There’s even a British Racing Green demonstrator available, which we drove recently and, well, basically fell in love with. We too are pooling our pence... Jolly good show, old chap!