GREAT AND SMALL
MARION McMULLEN looks at the celebrity appeal of the little car that defined the Swinging Sixties as the Mini turns 60
WHAT did supermodel Twiggy, Prince Charles and the comedian Peter Sellers have in common? The answer is that they were all proud owners of a Mini car in the 1960s.
British fashion designer Mary Quant even named the mini skirt after her favourite car.
The Mini was the ultimate status symbol and no other car would do for the stars of the Swinging Sixties.
Newspapers even ran features for women on the correct way to get in and out of the car in a dignified manner without revealing too much – according to the Daily Mirror you had to keep your knees together and swivel round in the seat before stepping out.
There were also competitions to find out how many people it was possible to squeeze into the tiny motor. Fifteen women – appropriately wearing mini skirts – managed to set a new record in July, 1966, with their attempt at the challenge.
The first Mini went on sale 60 years ago and the nifty two-door car was designed for the British Motor Corporation by Sir Alec Issigonis.
The car designer once said: “The public don’t know what they want. It’s my job to tell them.”
The invention of the Mini came as the country was getting to grips with the fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez crisis and the vehicle was rolled out to the press in 1959.
It quickly became a favourite among trendsetters who enjoyed the appeal of the unique looking car.
Comedy star Peter Sellers bought his actress wife Britt Ekland a Mini for her birthday in 1965 from the Radford Motor Company in Hammersmith in London. The car was specially customised for her and boasted leather seats and dashboard.
Other Mini lovers got creative to give their beloved cars a distinctive look and a pair of scissors, about a quarter of a mile of stick-on plastic and plenty of time and patience gave one car in Surrey a psychedelic makeover in 1966. It was offered for sale with a price tag of £385.
Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger had a Wood & Pickett Mini Cooper S and girlfriend Marianne Faithfull was pictured with the Mini in 1967.
Coach builder Wood & Pickett were experts at outfitting the basic Mini for celebrities and royalty by adding a touch of star luxury to the vehicles.
Twiggy had a Mini automatic while musician Paul McCartney was often spotted out on the road in his Mini.
Harold Radford, head of Brydor design house, gave the Beatle’s car an upgrade with Aston Martin rear lights and built-in for lamps that retracted into the grille. Paul’s fellow Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison, also owned Minis.
Mike Nesmith, of The Monkees fame, went all out with a new Mini car in 1967. At £3,640 it was the most expensive Mini around at that time.
Hollywood film star Steve McQueen was also the proud owner of a Mark II 1967 Cooper S.
Prince Charles even arrived for his first day at Trinity College at Cambridge Univeristy in 1967 behind the wheel of a Mini.
Gerald Harper also put one in the television spotlight in the BBC’s 1967 series Adam Adamant Lives! about an Edwardian adventurer born in 1867 who is revived from hibernation into 1960s London.
Adam Adamant drove a green and tan Mini Cooper S that boasted a sunroof and electric windows. It made its first appearance in the second episode and had the personalised number plate of AA 1000.
Gold heist film The Italian Job took the appeal of Mini to another level in 1969 – although the British Motoring Company refused to supply any cars for the movie.
Fiat was keen to take their place but director Peter Collinson saw the Minis as typically British and wanted them in the film.
The climax of the crime caper starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward and Benny Hill saw the Brits turning Rome into one giant traffic jam while a team of drivers escaped with the gold haul by driving through Italy’s underground drainage tunnels.
The famous getaway was actually filmed a lot closer to home though in a sewer system at Stoke Aldermoor in Coventry.
Director Peter Collinson can be seen in one scene closing the gate at the end of the tunnel. The dynamic sequence itself was filmed from the back of a Mini Moke.
The father of the Mini, Alec Issigonis, was knighted in 1969 and the car forever linked with his name is now seen as one of the icons of the 1960s.
It was only 10 feet long, but could fit four people and was fuel-efficient.
It was also the first all-British car to sell more than a million.
Sir Alec himself once said: “I feel very, very proud that so many people have copied me.”