The
Cooper Car Company was founded in December 1947 by
Charles Cooper and his son
John Cooper. Together with John's boyhood friend,
Eric Brandon, they began by building racing cars in Charles' small garage in
Surbiton,
Surrey, UK in 1946. Through the 1950s and early 1960s, they reached
auto racing's highest levels as their rear-engined, single-seat cars altered the face of
Formula One and the
Indianapolis 500, and their Mini Cooper dominated
rally racing. Due in part to Cooper's legacy,
Britain remains the home of a thriving racing industry, and the Cooper name lives on in the Cooper versions of the
Mini production cars that are still built in England, but are now owned and marketed by
BMW.