MINI A Game Changer
When the first MINI burst into the limelight in August 1959, nobody could dispute that it had a cherubic and loveable charm. But that's not what its dogmatic designer wanted to hear.
The automobile that Sir Alec Issigonis formulated from scratch in under three years could carry four adults within the smallest dimensions possible to allow tolerable comfort, and whisk them along while squeezing more than 40mpg from a gallon of petrol. ‘Purist' defines Issigonis more totally than almost anyone else who has designed an entire car.
In his youth, though, he was nonetheless a speed addict, charging up 1930s hillclimb courses in his Lightweight Special. And so, when his friend John Cooper - Formula 1 team principal - told Issigonis that he suspected a giant-killer was itching to get out of this cut-price rollerskate, he was skeptical, but intrigued.
John Cooper turned the MINI's advantages upside down. While Issigonis gave it a front-wheel drive and a transversely mounted engine to ‘package' the car to get four people inside its 10 foot length, Cooper could see only the tremendous grip and ‘chuck ability' that powered front wheels offered.
It was the same with the tiny wheels (and space-saving rubber cone suspension). Having one at each extreme corner made the car, for Issigonis, roomier inside, but Cooper spotted the possibility of true go-kart handling.
The Austin MINI Seven and near-identical Morris MINI Minor felt vivid and agile even at low speeds. They just needed more urging. So Cooper built one with a lightly tuned 997cc engine, an extra carburetor, and a close-ratio gearbox. Power output leapt from 34 to 55 bhp and stopping power was upgraded accordingly with the world's smallest front disc brakes.
That's how, in 1961, the legendary MINI Cooper was born. The British Motor Corporation agreed to make a limited edition of 1000 cars; but before long it was churning out 750 every week, such was the demand for this tiny car that was just so much fun to drive hard.
Owners took to racing their Coopers almost immediately, savoring every moment as they danced around their conventional competitors. There was more to come in March 1963 with the MINI Cooper S, variously offered with three different engines up to 1275cc and eventually a 100 mph car with 0-60 mpg acceleration of 11 seconds.
This Cooper S saw victories in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967… with the 1966 ‘win' cruelly and famously snatched away from the car on the basis of a technicality over a headlight.
For a public way beyond the motor sport audience, the MINI Cooper projected a dashing man-(or woman)-abouttown image fuelled by 1960s ‘Swinging' London, with Lord Snowdon - a personal friend of Issigonis - trending particularly strongly. All four of the Beatles had them (even John Lennon, who couldn't actually drive) and, along with actors like Peter Sellers and James Garner, their personal whims started a boutique industry in MINI customizing, with extra-wide wheels, blacked-out windows, hi-fi systems, cocktail cabinets, Rolls-Royce type leather seats and full-length sunroofs rendering the cost of the basic car irrelevant.
To crown it all, the 1969 film ‘The Italian Job' made the MINI Cooper a movie star in its own right. What seems astonishing is that this on-screen dalliance with Michael Caine came 10 years into the MINI's life. The original car would be on sale - yes, really - for another 31 years. From a highpoint in annual sales of 318,000 in 1971, there was a gradual decline yet always, somehow, just enough demand to keep it in showrooms.
The final year for the ‘proper' MINI Cooper was also 1971. Then a micro-boom in popularity in Japan brought it back again, relaunched in 1990 due to sheer demand. To stay legal, it soon had to adopt the paraphernalia of a cleaner and safer era, which included a catalytic converter, fuel injection and a driver's airbag. However, the feisty spirit and the by now delightful retro image remained remarkably faithful to the original.
What's more, it was the rosy glow of old Cooper memories that informed BMW's thinking for the massively overdue MINI replacement in 2001. The livery of the new car drew liberally from the past in the Silverstone paddock and London's fashionable King's Road. It was, of course, a very different kettle of fish - an up-to-date fun car, vaguely MINI shaped, aimed at wealthy urban couples.
Aficionados of the original have always hated it. Meanwhile, owners of the new car just enjoy it as the premium product it is now…largely unaware that its 1961 ancestor is actually one of the most game-changing high performance automobiles in motoring history.