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Launched in 1959, BMC could not have dreamt at the time, that the Mini would become Britain's most influential car ever. The car was said to defy physics, every square inch was utilised to great effect. Other manufacturers had used front-wheel drive and transverse engines, but none as effectively as the new Mini from BMC

Designer Alec Issigonis sketched his ideas on scrap bits of paper, he had the notion to design a car with the most effective utilisation of space, in which four people could fit with relative comfort. To save a few more inches, the gearbox would be mounted under the engine rather than behind it. Amazingly from design concept, to production took less than two years.

At launch, four versions were available, the Austin Mini Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor, both models available in basic or de luxe form. Costs were kept low by using sliding windows and cable operated door releases. On the road it was a revelation, it handled better than many sports cars and its main rivals were not in the same class. The Mini quickly became trendy to own, and the word Mini became part of everyday English language.

The icing on the cake was the Mini-Cooper introduced in 1961, John Cooper approached BMC with the idea of inserting a more powerful engine. The BMC works team had tremendous success with standard Mini-Coopers winning the Tulip Rally in 1962-3. The later, Cooper 'S' followed this up in British saloon car racing, and the Monte Carlo Rally winning in 1964, 1965 and 1967. The infamous British Leyland dropped production of Coopers in 1971.

In Cooper form, the Mini was a superb rally car - even more so in the Cooper 'S' version - winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1965 and 1967. It was also a very capable circuit-racing car with its brilliant handling qualities and the 1275cc engine to give 100mph made the car unbeatable in its class for many races.

Today the Mini keeps as big a following as ever, in 1996 the Mini was voted car of the century by the motoring press. With nearly 5.5 million cars sold, and Britain's best-selling car ever, they could be right!

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