Issigonis had set out design projects for three cars – large and small family cars and a very small economy car. He laid down some basic design requirements – the car should be contained within a box that measured 10×4×4 feet (3.0×1.2×1.2 m) and the passenger accommodation should occupy 6 feet (1.8 m) of the 10-foot (3.0 m) length and the engine, for reasons of cost, should be an existing unit.Īlec Issigonis, who had been working for Alvis, had been recruited back to BMC in 1955 with a brief from Lord to design a range of technically advanced family cars in the same innovative spirit as his earlier Morris Minor to complement BMC's existing conventional models. Leonard Lord, the somewhat autocratic head of BMC, reportedly detested these cars so much that he vowed to rid the streets of them and design a 'proper miniature car'. Petrol was once again rationed in the UK, sales of large cars slumped, and the market for German bubble cars boomed, even in countries such as the United Kingdom, where imported cars were still a rarity. The Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis. Retrospectively, the car is known as the "Classic Mini" to distinguish it from the modern, BMW-influenced MINI family of vehicles produced since 2000.ĭesign and development 1959 Morris Mini-Minor interior A cross-section shows how a Mini maximises passenger space. In 1980, it once again became the Austin Mini, and in 1988, just "Mini" (although the "Rover" badge was applied on some models exported to Japan).īMW acquired the Rover Group (formerly British Leyland) in 1994, and sold the greater part of it in 2000, but retained the rights to build cars using the Mini name. The Austin Seven was renamed Austin Mini in January 1962 and Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. In August 1959, the Mini was marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. In 1966, the first-placed Mini (along with nine other cars) was disqualified after the finish, under a controversial decision that the car's headlights were against the rules. The performance versions, the Mini Cooper and Cooper "S", were successful as both race and rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965, and 1967.
#CHROME MINI METRO LEATHER SERIES#
Within these was a series of variations, including an estate car, a pick-up, a van, and the Mini Moke, a jeep-like buggy. The Mini Mark I had three major UK updates: the Mark II, the Clubman, and the Mark III. Innocenti was also producing Lambretta scooters at that time. The Italian version of the Mini was produced by Innocenti in Milan and it was sold under the "Innocenti Mini" marque. It was manufactured at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham, England located next to BMC's headquarters and at the former Morris Motors plant at Cowley near Oxford, in the Victoria Park/Zetland British Motor Corporation (Australia) factory in Sydney, Australia, and later also in Spain ( Authi), Belgium, Italy ( Innocenti) Chile, Malta, Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia ( IMV). This distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. The layout was also adapted for larger subcompact designs. The front-wheel-drive, transverse-engine layout were used in many other "supermini" style car designs such as Honda N360 (1967), Nissan Cherry (1970), and Fiat 127 (1971). In 1999, the Mini was voted the second-most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T, and ahead of the Citroën DS and Volkswagen Beetle. Its space-saving transverse engine and front-wheel drive layout – allowing 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage – influenced a generation of car makers. The original Mini is considered an icon of 1960s British popular culture. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during six, from the last year of the 1950s into the last year of the 20th century, over a single generation, as fastbacks, estates, and convertibles. The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 until 2000.
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