Junkyard Find: 2006 Mini Cooper S Checkmate with John Cooper Works Tuning Kit (opens in new tab)

During the past couple of years, the BMW-built Mini Cooper has become one of the most popular race cars in the 24 Hours of Lemons series. Why is that? Cheap parts, that's why! The crapcan road-race car-selection formula of fully depreciated + manual transmission + pretty quick + easy to find in junkyards was most applicable, ten or 15 years back, to something like a Civic/Integra, Neon or SN95 Mustang. I thought the Chevy Cobalt/ Pontiac G5 would take over for the 2020s, but the Mi…