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Two decades into retirement
October 2020 is a poignant month for fans of the classic Mini, since it marks two decades since production of the world-famous British model came to a halt.
It would be fair to say that the end was not premature. The little car had just passed its 41st anniversary, having been launched in August 1959, and was a long way from the sharp end of the motor industry as the 20th century drew to a close.
Yet it was as well loved in the era of the Spice Girls, as it had been before The Beatles were formed, and is still remembered fondly today. Here is its story.
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Issigonis and Moulton
Alec Issigonis, one of the star designers of his era, was tasked by the British Motor Corporation in the 1950s to create a small and economical model which was nevertheless also a ‘real’ car, unlike the bubble cars which had become popular in Europe.
Issigonis and his team responded with a design which was innovative in several ways. One of its most impressive features, dreamed up by Alex Moulton, was a very simple suspension using rubber cones instead of the more conventional (but also more expensive) metal springs.
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Small-car status quo
Before the Mini came along, and indeed for some time afterwards, European manufacturers were fond of putting the engines and gearboxes of their small cars in the back.
The resulting lack of a shaft running through the centre of the car left more space for passengers.
Cars available with this layout in the 1950s and ’60s included the Hillman Imp, Renault 8, Renault Dauphine (pictured) and Simca 1000.
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Front-wheel drive
The problem with the rear-engine layout was that the car’s steering took up space in the front luggage compartment.
To avoid this, Issigonis packed the engine, gearbox and steering under the bonnet, leaving a rear luggage compartment almost completely untroubled by mechanical equipment.
This was not, of course, a Mini innovation. Front-wheel drive had been around for many years, and was unusual but not new when Citroën used it in the Traction Avant of 1934 (pictured).
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Packaging
The startling thing about the Mini’s front-wheel-drive system was that the engine sat on top of the gearbox rather than alongside it.
The two components were also mounted side-to-side rather than fore-and-aft, and were so closely linked that they even used the same oil.
What this meant was that all the mechanicals were packed into a tiny space, leaving enough room for four adult passengers plus luggage in a car only 10 feet long.
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The A-Series
The engine in question was the BMC A-Series, which was produced in various forms (including the modernised A-Plus) from the days of post-war food rationing until the internet era.
By the time of the Mini’s introduction it had already found homes in the Austin A30, A35 (pictured), Austin-Healey Sprite and Morris Minor, and would go on to be used in many other cars.
In the Mini, the A-Series would be offered in sizes up to 1275cc, but the standard capacity in 1959 was a more modest 848cc.
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Debut
The car’s official public launch was in August 1959, and at that time it was not known even unofficially as ‘Mini’.
Following BMC’s policy of ‘badge engineering’, it was sold either as the Austin Seven or the Morris Mini-Minor, though the stand-alone Mini name was quickly adopted by the public, and later by the manufacturer.
A Morris registered 621 AOK is credited with being the first production Mini, though doubts have been expressed about this. Either way, it still exists, and is kept at the British Motor Museum.
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Swinging Sixties
The Mini became wildly popular during the 1960s thanks to a triple whammy which may be unique in motoring history. First, it was a perfectly sensible car, and quite cheap thanks to BMC’s mistake of selling each one for less than it cost to build.
Second, as we’ll see later, it achieved enormous publicity through success in motorsport.
Third, it attracted celebrity buyers in much the same way as the Toyota Prius did many years later. Famous owners are believed to have included Twiggy, Peter Sellers, Steve McQueen, James Garner, Enzo Ferrari and all four members of The Beatles.
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Estates
Although the original three-door saloon has by far the best-known shape, alternatives became available almost immediately.
One of the first, introduced in 1960, was an estate with a slightly longer chassis known as the Austin Mini Countryman (a name brought back for a version of the BMW-era MINI) or the Morris Mini Traveller.
Most, though not all, examples had ash wood exterior trim, like the larger Morris Minor Traveller, which led to them being known as ‘woodies’. Production continued until 1969.
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Mini Van
The Mini Van was essentially a commercial vehicle derivative of the Countryman/Traveller with no side windows or rear seats.
Unlike the estate cars, it survived until the 1980s, by which time it had been rebranded as the 95. This was a reference to its gross vehicle weight (the maximum permissible weight including passengers and cargo) of 0.95 tons.
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Mini Pick-up
Yet another long-bodied Mini derivative was the Pick-up, which arrived in 1961.
Unlike the estates, but like the van, it continued well past the end of the decade, and received 95 branding for the same reason that the van did.
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The Hornet and the Elf
Perhaps the oddest Mini derivatives were the Wolseley Hornet (pictured) and the Riley Elf.
Launched in 1961, they had protruding luggage compartments (giving a ‘three-box’ shape), slightly finned rear wings, higher equipment levels and a more elaborate front-end design involving lots of chrome.
Both cars were offered in three generations throughout the 1960s, until production was brought to an end in 1969.
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Mini Moke
The Moke was a simple and rugged Mini-based vehicle initially intended for military use.
When that plan came to nothing, it was repurposed as a civilian vehicle, and proved to be popular in countries with hot climates.
Similar in concept to the Citroën Mehari, Mokes were built in factories around the world, notably in Australia and later Portugal as well as the UK, from 1963 until the early ’90s.
And it has recently been resurrected.
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The Coopers
In 1961, an unlikely alliance developed between BMC and Formula One constructor Cooper, whose driver Jack Brabham had just won two World Championships on the trot (team boss John and son Mike pictured above).
Mini Coopers with engines ranging in size from 970cc (very rare nowadays) to 1275cc were much faster than the regular models, and made it possible for the Mini to become a star in many forms of motorsport. The Cooper name was dropped in 1971, but would return later.
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Rallying success
The Mini Cooper was an almost immediate hit in rallying from club to international events, and later in the related sport of rallycross.
The Minis were not as powerful as the opposition, but their superior handling enabled star drivers such as Rauno Aaltonen, Tony Fall, Timo Mäkinen, Pat Moss and, of course, a certain Mr Hopkirk, to win at the highest level.
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Monte-Carlo controversy
The Minis which finished first, second and third in the 1966 Monte-Carlo Rally were among 10 cars disqualified for lighting infringements, leaving victory to French marque Citroën.
This was widely regarded, especially in the UK, as a fiasco, but it might not have been all bad. It has often been said, and is very possibly true, that the disqualifications gave the Mini more publicity than the fact that it won the same event in 1964, 1965 and 1967.
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On the circuits
The Mini was nearly as successful in circuit racing as it was in rallying.
It won the European Touring Car Championship twice and the British Saloon Car Championship (now known as the British Touring Car Championship) five times over an extraordinarily long period from 1961 until 1979.
One-make series for the Mini are still well supported to this day, and usually provide exceptionally close racing.
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A new look
In 1969, a new range of Mini saloons and estates was launched with a stylish ‘flat front’ look. Nearly all of them – we’ll come to the exception in a moment – were given the name Clubman.
The Clubman style never completely replaced the ‘round front’ design of a decade earlier and certainly didn’t outlive it. The last Clubman was built in 1980, 20 years before Mini production stopped.
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The 1275 GT
The only flat-front Mini not called Clubman was the 1275 GT, named after its engine size. It was not as quick as the last Cooper ‘S’, which also had a 1275cc engine, but it stayed on the market for much longer.
The Cooper ‘S’ was discontinued in 1971, leaving the 1275 GT as the only truly sporting Mini for the remainder of the decade.
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‘Foreign’ Minis
Italian company Innocenti, manufacturer of Lambretta scooters, built Minis under licence from the 1960s. Early visions looked similar to the British versions, but Innocenti began to use a Bertone-styled body in 1974 and latterly fitted three-cylinder Daihatsu engines.
Minis were also built, using predominantly local components, in Australia and by the Authi company in Spain. A version with a glassfibre body was manufactured in Chile during the early 1970s, followed two decades later by a similar car built in Venezuela.
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The replacement
The car expected to replace the Mini was the Metro, latterly known as the Rover 100.
Introduced in 1980, it was larger and more modern, and survived for nearly two decades, but it could not kill the Mini, which remained in production for two years after the Metro had been abandoned.
Some parts developed for the Metro found their way into the Mini, most notably the modernised version of the A-Series engine, known as the A-Plus.
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The return of Cooper
The Cooper name was brought back for higher-performance models in 1990 and remained in place until production came to an end 10 years later.
BMW respected the association, and has continued to use Cooper branding on many of its new-generation MINIs.
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The Cabriolet
It took more than 30 years for a convertible version of the Mini to go on the market.
The first 75, offered in 1991 and all painted Cherry Red, were built by Lamm Autohaus, and sold out so quickly that Rover Special Products was tasked with creating its own version.
This one went on sale in 1993 and was initially either Nightfire Red or Caribbean Blue, though British Racing Green became available the following year. The Cabriolet looked odd with the roof down, and was very expensive compared with other Minis, but it was successful enough to remain in production until 1996.
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Paul Smith Mini concept
Special-edition Minis were very common in the ’90s. One example was the Mini Paul Smith, in conjunction with the British fashion designer.
The original car, which appeared at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show, had 24 colours arranged in 84 stripes. The production cars it inspired were more practical.
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Paul Smith production
The Paul Smith cars you could actually buy were all available in single colours. In the case of the UK market, for which 300 were built, this meant blue, though others were offered on the 1500 intended for export markets.
These models had a specification which would have seemed unbelievable in 1959. It included black-leather seats with matching door pockets, and a 24-carat-gold-plated Paul Smith badge on the bonnet.
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End of the line
The last Minis were the Seven, the Cooper, the Cooper ‘S’ and the Knightsbridge (pictured).
The very last of all was built on 4 October 2000 and immediately presented, appropriately enough, to the British Motor Museum, where it shares a home with 621 AOK.
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Second car of the century
In 1996, a three-year process began to choose what was to be known as the Car of the [20th] Century.
Perhaps inevitably, the Ford Model T was awarded the title, but esteem for the Mini was so high that it finished second in the final round of voting, beating the Citroën DS, the Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche 911.