The Mini is not a car for a beginner, unless she is sleeping with a mechanic.
I've had three - the old ones- and one was a Cooper S and I loved them all, but here is my take.

CON>   The old ones are OLD. That = unreliable. They are subject to rust, mechanically they are pigs to work on, and the available power is very moderate by modern standards. If they are not greased by a specialist, you are likely to lose the back subframe, and various seals on the front subframes wear out and let the grease out and the water in. As several people have said, you have to make a brassiere to keep the rain off the distributer and leads. All of them smell of rotting carpets, for good reason, the floor is likely to rot out. Other cars run into the back of them, I suspect because they are smaller than nearly everything else and to imperfect eyesight look further away. You see a lot with dented bums. They mostly have electrics by Joseph Lucas, which seems to be a synonym for Walt Disney. They are uncomfortable, noisy, your bum is only 16" from the ground, and the brakes only work when they are cold. The rear brakes need freeing up at every service. The main oil seal eventually leaks onto the clutch, more clutches are replaced through oil than through wear. There are about 10 more problems which I won't go into because they are a bit technical for a beginner.

PRO> They are more fun than any other car, bar none. Everyone looks at them, They will go around corners faster than ANYTHING, frighteningly fast,- PROVIDED YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, and they run on the smell of an oily rag. A lot of them is easy to repair, like glass and lights and things. They are pretty sturdy when not rusted, the steel is about twice as thick as is generally used today, and doesn't dent so easily. There isn't much of it, though.

Anyone who buys an old Mini for reliable transport is living in cloud-cuckoo land. It will break your heart in that department. As a hobby car, yes, go for it, but don't expect reliability. For reliability in an oldish car, I'd go for a Toyota.

Sorry to rain on your parade. I've built them at the factory, owned them, driven them, and fixed every part of them, body and mechanical.