Mini
The Mini(from Latin "small") is the name of a small car produced from
1959 to 2000, and the name of its replacement (known as the New MINI) launched
in 2001.
The original Mini was a revolutionary and distinctive small car
designed for the British Motor Corporation (BMC) by Sir Alec Issigonis
(1906–1988). It was manufactured in the United Kingdom (Longbridge and Cowley),
Australia, Belgium, Chile, Italy, Spain, South Africa and Venezuela.
A very cool Mini Cooper
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The Mk I Mini - 1959 to 1967
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Designed as project ADO15 (Austin Design Office), the first models were
marketed with the names Austin Seven (often written as SE7EN) and Morris
Mini-Minor (Latin "Small-Smaller") in England. Until 1962, they appeared as the
Austin 850 and Morris 850 in North America and France. The production model
differed from the original prototype (affectionately named "The Orange Box") due
to the addition of a front sub frame, on which the engine was mounted, and by the
engine being mounted with the carburettor at the back, rather than at the front,
as in the prototype, due to carburettor-icing. This required an extra cog in the
revolutionary transmission, which reduced the top speed from an unprecedented 90
mph to a more manageable (for the time) 72 mph. The car suspension also featured
the use of rubber cones as springs – a design adapted from Issigonis's
home-built racer.
All early Minis utilised a conventional four-cylinder water-cooled engine,
but departed from previous auto designs by mounting the engine transversely and
placing the engine-oil-lubricated transmission in the sump--all of this to allow
for front wheel drive, an elegant technical innovation ahead of its time. This
compact engine design "pushed" the passenger space forward, creating a
surprisingly roomy interior for a car with a diminutive overall footprint.
Almost all small front wheel drive cars built since the 1970s have followed this
design model.
To keep manual labour costs low, the Mini was assembled with quirky welded
seams that are visible on the outside of the car running down the A and C
pillars and between the body and the floor pan.
The Mini also had an unusual suspension system that used rubber cones instead
of conventional springs in order to save space. This lead to a rather raw and
bumpy ride - but this very rigidity, together with specially designed 10-inch
diameter wheels pushed out to the corners of the car, gave the Mini its famous
go-kart-like handling.
In 1964, the suspension in the higher-end models was replaced by a
hydrolastic system. The new suspension created a softer ride, but it also
increased weight and production cost, and in the minds of many enthusiasts,
spoiled the handling characteristics for which the Mini was so famous. In 1971
the original rubber suspension reappeared and was retained for the remaining
life of the Mini.
The Mini etched its place into popular culture in the 1960s with
well-publicised purchases by film and music stars. Members of The Beatles and
even Queen Elizabeth II owned one.
The popularity of the original Mini spawned many models that targeted
different markets:
1961 and 1969: The Wolseley Hornet (reviving a sports car name from
the 1930s), also known as the Riley Elf. Intended to be a luxurious small
car with a more substantial boot (trunk) and a slightly different front.
1961 and 1969 (UK only): the Morris Mini Traveller and the Austin Mini
Countryman. Standard two-door estates with double "barn-door" style rear doors.
The luxury models had wood inserts in the rear body. (This "half-timbered"
styling is something uniquely and, according to some, bizarrely British.)
The Mini Van and Pick-up. Commercial panel van and truck derivatives. Built
on the estate car chassis but without side-windows and with a flat-bed,
respectively.
The Austin and Morris Mini Moke. A bizarre all utility vehicle, this Jeep
look-alike was first designed for the British Army, but without a good ground
clearance or four wheel drive, it proved unworthy for military use.
Sales were strong across most of the model lines in the 1960s, but the car
never made money for its makers. It had to be sold at less than its production
cost to compete with rivals. It is also rumored that due to an accounting error,
the car was always incorrectly priced and each sale made a loss for the company.
The Mini Cooper and Cooper S
Issigonis' friend John Cooper, owner of the Cooper Car
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Monte Carlo Rally Results for Minii |
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1962 |
Pat Moss/Ann Wisdom |
Ladies' Award |
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1963 |
Rauno Aaltonen/Tony Ambrose |
3rd Place |
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1964 |
Paddy Hopkirk/Henry Liddon |
Winner |
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Timid Makinen/Patrick Vanson |
4th Place |
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1965 |
Timo Makinen/Paul Easter |
Winner |
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1966 |
Timo Makinen/Paul Easter |
(disqualified) |
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Rauno Aaltonen/Tony Ambrose |
(disqualified) |
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Paddy Hopkirk/Henry Liddon |
(disqualified) |
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1967 |
Rauno Aaltonen/Henry Liddon |
Winner |
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1968 |
Rauno Aaltonen/Henry Liddon |
3rd Place |
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Tony Fall/Mike Wood |
4th Place |
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Paddy Hopkirk/Ron Crellin |
5th Place |
Company and Formula 1
Champion and rally driver in 1959 and 1960, saw the potential of the little car,
and after some experimentation and testing, the two men collaborated to create a
nimble, economical, and inexpensive car. The Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini
Cooper debuted in 1962.
The original 848 cc engine from the Morris Mini-Minor was increased to 997
cc, boosting power from 34 bhp to 55 bhp (25 to 41 kW). The car featured a
racing-tuned engine, double SU carburettors, and disc brakes, uncommon at the
time in a small car. 1,000 units of this iteration were commissioned by
management, intended for, and designed to meet the homologation rules of Group 2
rally racing. The 997 cc engine was replaced by a shorter stroke 998 cc unit in
1964. By the time production of the Cooper model ended in 1967, 12,274 of these
popular cars had been sold to the public. A more powerful Mini Cooper, dubbed
the "S", was developed in tandem and released in 1963. Featuring a 1071 cc
engine and larger disc brakes, 4,030 Cooper Ss were produced and sold until the
model was updated in August 1964. Cooper also produced two models specifically
for circuit racing, rated at 970 cc and a 1275 cc, both of which were also
offered to the public. The smaller engine model was not well received and only
963 were built until the model was discontinued in 1965. Over 40,000 1275 cc
Cooper S models were produced before this too was discontinued in 1971.
The Mini Cooper S earned acclaim with Monte Carlo Rally victories in 1964,
1965, and 1967. Minis were initially placed first, second and third in 1966
rally as well, but were disqualified after a controversial decision by the
French judges. The disqualification related to the use of a variable resistance
headlamp dimming circuit in place of a dual filament lamp. It should be noted
that the Citroen DS that was eventually awarded first place had illegal white
headlamps but escaped disqualification. The driver of the Citroen, Paul Toivonen,
was reluctant to accept the trophy and vowed that he'd never race for Citroen
again.
The Mk II Mini - 1967 to 1970
public domainn
Arpingstone.. |
1968 Austin Mini Cooper Mk II
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From 1967 to 1970, Issigonis had been designing a replacement for the Mini in
the form of an experimental model called the 9X. It was shorter and more
powerful than the Mini, but due to politicking inside British Leyland, which had
been formed from the merger of BMC and Standard-Triumph, the car was not built.
It was an intriguing "might-have-been"; the car was technologically advanced and
many believe it would have been competitive up until the 1980s.
Updated 998 cc and 1275 cc models were produced after the introduction of the
Mk II body type in 1967. Production of the 998 cc variant ended in 1969, with
over 55,000 cars sold. The 1275 cc variant soldiered on, adopting the slightly
modified Mk III body type in 1969–70, until January 1972. The Cooper company was
quick to develop and sell a conversion kit for export models, which registered
steady sales until 1975.
The Mini was arguably the star of the 1969 film The Italian Job which
featured a car chase in which gang of thieves drove three Minis down staircases,
through storm drains, over buildings and finally into the back of a moving bus.
This movie was remade using the new MINI in 2003.
The Mini Clubman
In the early 1970s, under the ownership of British Leyland, the Mini was
given a facelift. The restyled version was called the Mini Clubman, and sported
a modern, more square look. A new model, dubbed the 1275 GT, was slated as the
replacement for the old Mini Cooper S. The Clubman Estate took over where the
Countryman and Traveller left off. British Leyland continued to produce the
classic 1960s designs, however. This was a smart move, as the Clubman was nearly
universally panned, and faded away quickly.
The Mk III Mini - 1971 to 2000
In 1971, the Mini Cooper design was licensed in Italy by Innocenti and in
1973 to Spain by Authi (Automoviles de Turismo Hispano-Ingleses), which began to
produce the Innocenti Mini Cooper 1300 and the Authi Mini Cooper 1300,
respectively.
In the late 1970s, Innocenti introduced the Innocenti 90 and 120, Bertone-designed
hatchbacks based on the Mini platform. Bertone also created a Mini Cooper
equivalent, christened the Innocenti de Tomaso, that sported a 1275 cc
turbocharged engine.
Reports of the Mini's imminent demise surfaced again in 1980 with the
unsuccessful launch of the Austin Mini-Metro (badging showed the word 'mini' in
all lowercase). In 1981 in New Zealand, the Mini starred in a "road trip" movie
directed by Geoff Murphy called Goodbye Pork Pie. By this time, however,
the Mini was beginning to fall out of favor in many export markets. South
African, Australian, and New Zealand production all stopped around this time. In
New Zealand, assembly lines switched to the newly popular Honda City.
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Public Domain |
1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biaritz and a 1996 Mini Cooper
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Through the 1980s, the British market enjoyed numerous "special editions" of
the Mini, which shifted the car from a mass-market item into a fashionable icon.
It was this image that perhaps helped the Mini become such an asset for BMW,
which later bought the remnants of BMC as the Rover Group. It was even more
popular in Japan, where it was seen as a retro-cool icon, and inspired many
imitators at major Japanese automakers.
In 1994 under Bernd Pischetsrieder, a nephew of Issigonis, BMW took control
of the Rover Group, which included the Mini, fitting an airbag to comply with
European legislation. By 2000, Rover was still suffering massive losses, and BMW
decided to dispose of most of the company: MG and Rover went to Phoenix, a new
British consortium; and Land Rover went to Ford. BMW kept the Mini brand name
and now sells a completely new Mini, technically unrelated to the old car.
Production of the original Mini outlasted its major competitors, the
Volkswagen Beetle, the Citroën 2CV, and the Austin Metro, at least in Europe.
The final Mini rolled off the assembly line in October 2000. A total of 5.3
million cars had been manufactured..
Even after production ended, the Mini continued to be a cultural icon and
shows up in movies such as The Bourne Identity (1997) as a beat-up but
surprisingly capable vehicle for a car chase, or as in Lara Croft: Tomb
Raider (2001) as a collectible fashion icon garaged alongside other classic
sports cars.
Unproduced prototypes
A number of prototypes were produced for vehicles based on the Mini, which
never saw production, but which were displayed at the British Car Heritage
museum at Gaydon. These included the Twini, a re-engineered four wheel drive
Moke with two engines - one at the front, and another at the back; the Austin
Ant, a second attempt to produce a four wheel drive vehicle, this time using a
transfer case, which was cancelled when BMC acquired Land Rover, and a
two-seater convertible MG edition of the Mini, cancelled due to it being
perceived as competition for the MG Midget.
Minis in the United States
Between 1960 and 1967, approximately 10,000 BMC Minis were imported to the
US. Sales were discontinued when stricter federal emission standards were
imposed; BMC felt that it would be too expensive to make the Mini's engine
compliant. Ironically, similar legislation was later introduced in Europe, and
the A-series engine, with minor modifications, proved perfectly capable of
complying with it.
Despite this, a small band of enthusiasts keep the legacy of the original car
alive in the US, where cars more than 25 years old are generally exempt from
emissions regulations. Minis that were originally sold in the US are becoming
hard to find, so most of the restored Minis now running in the US have been
imported - typically from Australia or New Zealand where the climate has limited
the amount of rust formation and left hand drive cars are available for
relatively low prices.
The new MINI
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Public Domain
Minesweeper |
2004 MINI Cooper S, electric blue/white
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When production of the Mini ceased in 2000, BMW (the new owner of the name)
announced the successor to the Mini - which is variously called the BMW MINI or
the 'new' MINI. The word 'MINI' is always written in capital letters when
referring to the new car.
The BMW MINI is US emissions compliant and has been sold in the United States
since 2002 at a rate of around 30,000 vehicles per year (2004 figures).
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Send a picture of your car attached to this
Email,
tell us a little about it and we'll show it here. |
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Hi, This is my custom build mini chop. It took my workshop about 2 years to
build it, it has a 16V Toyota Motor in it, with it being turbo charged as well.
I must say it’s a very interesting right up on you web site about the Mini’s. -
Thanks - Tommy - South Africa - Mini Workshop |
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A Riley Elf sent in by sent in by David, a nice little number |
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More Austin Mini's |
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Source
Mini Cooper '69 |
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Comments, Questions & Answers |
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yeaaaa
www.austinpro.cl |
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the mini of course! small, cheap and fast |
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omg I love minis I will want 1 when I'm
older!!! |
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I had a 1961
Morris Mini-Minor back in Anchorage, AK and the
"shocks" were ceramic and they broke easily and
were very hard to find. |
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good web o and good stretch mini |
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I like the
mini's. I'm getting 1 as my first car and its
gonna be fat, am gonna put a big bull bar on the
front wid 4 lights and I'm gonna put a wide body
kit on it, blacked out windows. I will try and
fit 2 15inch subs in the boot with a bit of a
skwees, put twin pipe exzors and a induction kit
on it, bucket sears in the front and maybe a
rollercage in it |
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yes minis are real head turners if they kept in great nick, I
own a classic 850 morris mini and a rover mini 1.3i in Sri Lanka, there are
around 300 minis in our island, great page, tks dirk |
| all these carz are the best cars on road |
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this is a very good website and i enjoy watching it a lot i really enjoyed the
videos and the pictures of the mini's |
| Hi! I'm from Uruguay ,South America, this car was produced in this country, in
fibreglass body, through 70' to 74 and was very successful in sales and popular
today. Bye! |
Hi, I've just received a 1977 Clubman van and
i have big resto plans for it. Can someone tell me how i can get the best
performance out of my 998cc motor? I'm a big fan of keeping outside (almost)
stock but giving it an un-expected kick! please feel free to give me an e-mail,
your response will be greatly appreciated.
Email
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Hello I really enjoy reading and watching some of the videos
on this website. I'm looking for an old Mini Cooper. I live in Arlington, Texas.
But im not sure if anything has a car this cool and small around this area. im
still looking for one and want to buy one near. if you know a place or anyone..
please let me know.. i'll be on this website everyday waiting for a comment.
thanks you. |
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i loved them all |
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coolest cars ever |
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I used to own a mini Pick up CUP OF TEA colour
1972 One owner from new I tried to restore it but once we got into it.. I had
purchased all the Wings floors doors windows etc... everything BUT
we had nothing to weld to and was discouraged 43,000 original miles RUNS
like clock *I miss it* Wish I never gave up on it BUT I MOVED to
back to Canada and scrapped it I also owned a 1983 Mini van I did it up 76,000
org miles Very tidy VAN RED AND BLACK Tinted windows UP GRADE
to 1300 1992 Cooper engine 4 speed IT WAS VERY FAST (GRATEFUL DEAD ART
WORK PAINTED ON IT oooooo) My marriage broke up and was forced to sell I was
more upset over the car then i was loosing my wife |
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minis rule |
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I would love to have a 1965 mini!! :). I mean, how couldn't
you love those cars. ....but when I'm old enough, your damn right I'm getting a
mini!!! =D |
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Would it be possible to download the video clips and use them
in a small video I am making about cars - it featured a runway race between
three mini's so the clips you have got would be great and add extra interest -
how much are they / Thanks : Great, breezy site, good photos !
Hi, the videos are available on Google Video, they can be
downloaded but they are in a format special to Google, so I am not sure how you
can use them the way you want. The videos are free to use on websites but not
sure about using them in your own movies. If you get your movie together be sure
to let us all know - Cheers. |
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i got a mini park lane and i love it minis are the best |
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Great site...nice pics and info |
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Great stuff! I'm in the market, and i hope that one day my
mini will do sweet endo's! haha! that's just awesome! |
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I want to buy that mini pickup or any mini pickup. If it's
for sale or you know of one for sale, please let me know! |
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minis are so cool, anyone that has never been on a mini run is
missing such a buzz, great site. |
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Hi I'm holly and am here for my project, this has helped a lot
thanks xxx |
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Q. I have a 1959 mini truck. Can't seem to find any pics ? |
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creative commons
- by
mrflip |
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Very impressive :D I'm feeling the yellow mini hitting the
endos! keep it up |
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Nice one Tommy |
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that mini is sick fat |
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well i must the yellow mini makes me wet and i would like to
buy it i like the yellow one i am poor so i can't get one |
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cool site and i love mini's shame about the 'new' MINI its
totally ruined the fun of the old time classic |
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the cars are hooooot, very good page !!! There are a lot of
the best !!! Nice one !!! Have fun - ciao ciao |
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Your site rocks, we love the mini mini |
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Hey this site has awesome cars, i like the mini mini, that's
cool. |
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Class banging cars - keep it up - well done |
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Nice |
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Hello, Cool Cars |
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