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Happy Birthday To The Mini

Alf

Alf

Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MINI

50 this week:DanceDiscoBoogie02:
 
Hello Alf,I remeber that when the Mini was introduced,it cost a penny less than £500.The MiniVan,introduced a bit later,cost £350,as it attracted no purchase tax,being classed as a commercial vehicle.A company I worked for in about 1961 had a MiniVanin that bright orange colour so beloved of BMC.My mate used to call it the 'ginger mini',..........Mal.
 
Hello again Alf,another story about the Mini, was that when it was introduced, Ford Motors purchased one,stripped it and costed it,and concluded that BMC could not make a profit on it.Apparently this proved to be so,I've read authorative people stating that BMC lost £11 on every Mini they sold.............Mal.
 
Happy birthday to the Tini Minnie as we used to call them,
never owned on but had lot,s of fun with friends who did standard and cooper s,as it goes our warden has a new mini cabriolet nice looking car quick. happy days Derek
 
I am waiting to get some pics of my Mini. It was registered in 1968 and I have owned it since it was three years old. It has been restored and is beautiful. There are 81,000 miles on the clock, which is all it has done since new. It is actually the Mini 1000 Traveller, with the real Ash wood trim. The colour is original 'Snow Berry'. It is still in use and has all my memories within it. Maggs
 
Hello Maggs. I too had a mini, a white one. My was I proud having my own car. I used to collect James from school [school run] - inside was 4 6" boys carrying there bags which were full of books [ the bags all covered in graffiti] - and me. They were all Vesey Boys and all had their ties off and the shirts out of the trousers - I did wonder if it was a type of new uniform!!!;) Remember the 'boot', so tiny, but I crammed all the week's shopping in it. Even had a snow shovel and blanket [in case - but never used] - Sold it when Al retired as couldn't afford two cars. I have my happy memories. Miriam:)
 
Yes Alf, it certainly could and not all pleasant ones I can assure you.
Miriam I do all right with my Mini because it is the traveller and quite capable of carrying a good load. I have carried a number of household things like fridges etc, when I've moved house. It's been a super little car. My Labrador fitted in it fine too. It is at present insured for £6000.

Before I had it restored it was really getting a bit shabby and I wasn't afraid to leave it if I went shopping, but since it has been restored it has become more of a liability. It is such a rare machine that it attracts a lot of attention.

Maggs
 
you may not know this but the designer of the Mini Alic Isigoni the company had an aluminium mini made for him when he retired i was one of the ones that made it all those years ago. :)
 
I didn't know that Frederick, but what a good idea because Mimi's were very prone to rust.
 
i wonder if his family still have it it was made in the mid 70s i don't have any photos of it, were it was made it was top secret it was were the prototype cars were made at Castle Brom so no photos.
 
Fredrick secret hey so it could have been MinI5:D:coolcheesy:
 
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Can't imagine them ever wanting to part with it Frederick. Mini's to me are the icon of all icon's. I will ask my husband if he remember's that car.
 
No Frederick I am sorry to say he didn't. He is a Cambridge man, but his trade was motor mechanic, so he was interested in cars, and actually took care of the Mini belonging to the Rothschilds here in Cambridge.

Maggs
 
My son was on the front cover of a motoring magazine 9/10 years ago with two other mini's his was white with the union Jack on the top something to do with the Italian job i think, but not too sure.
tonight, well i think it is tonight radio 4 there is a programme on the mini...Cat
 
In 1968, after writing off my beloved Moggie Minor, I rather foolishly bought a 1960 Mini for £150 from a garage in Island Road, Handsworth. Being naive, I wasn't aware of the miracle stuff called Plastic Padding, until a mate of mine took a magnet and traced all the parts of the bodywork that weren't actually metallic... It was the dog of all dogs, that Mini. Its No 1 problem was blowing cylinder-head gaskets, but that paled into insignificance when the starter-button (behind the driver's seat) rotted and I shoved the entire assembly through the floor one fine morning. That fixed, the inevitable happened soon afterwards when the rear sub-frame rotted away, and my Mini took on a distinct lean to the left. I was pulled over one day by PC Plod, who pointed out a few facts to me, after which I shoved the bloody thing into the garage and left it there.

Six months later my uncle asked about my Mini. I gave it to him. It was still running nearly 30 years later, possibly the oldest Mini still alive. He re-built it from the ground up, something I was totally incapable of doing, and he loved it. When at last he had to scrap it, I was driving a nice new Mondeo, thank you very much.

Didn't like Mini's, but they must have had something going for them....

Big Gee
 
I had a car like that Big G, only it was a Triumph Herald, there was nothing I didn't throw at it, it was a monster. The starter motor fell out of it once when I was going up a hill, and I had to be pushed by road workers. I hated that car!!! Nobody restored that...it died.
 
Oh the memories ! My first car was a 1962 Minivan bought in 1963. Being 18, I put a single mattress in the back and I was ready to roll ! I`ve forgotten all the places I slept overnight, but the top of the Great Orme at Llandudno springs to mind. A kettle on the meths burner, sausages in a frying pan on a portable gas ring and freezing cold ! Commercial vehicles had a 40 mph speed limit at that time, but there was no radar, Gatso`s or unmarked patrol cars in those days and of course everywhere was flat out. I once kept up with fast driven AC sports car down to Upton on Severn (mind you, he probably wasn`t trying whilst I had it flat out all the way). Several years later my mate had a 1960 saloon (xxx MBF), that was so rotted that if you pushed on one wing the whole of the front moved ! He snapped the crank on the Hagley Mile, but even as 2cylinder+2 cylinder it got him back to Erdington ! Happy Days !
 
My first car was a 1959 Mini Minor. I believe it was made in August of that year, possibly the first run. I got it used in 1961 for my 21st birthday. I still have the invoice from Pride & Clarke, AKA Snide & Shark for obvious reasons....I have pictures at home. I loved that car and so did all my mates!
Dave A
 
I was going with a girl who's father was foreman on the prototype production line for the Mini.
The only thing I remember from the few conversations I had with him concerned the tires for the small wheels. He said that when Dunlop were approached and asked if they could produce a tire that would give a reasonable mileage the answer was "What mileage would you like ?" and they settled on 10,000 which in view of the mileage we get these days seems a bit on the short end of the stick.
When our scooter club went on a trip to Austria in 1960 one of our members had a Minivan as a support vehicle ( it cost 325 quid with a fitted heater).
Thanks for the memories, cheers Tim.
 
I remember a chap by the name of Paddy Hopkirk had quite a success with the mini in motor rallies, that must have boosted sales ! Eric
 
I remember when the mini (car and skirt), was first introduced.

And you do still them (car and skirt) around occasionally, the mini (car) replacement, the metro is a much scarcer machine.
 
tim eborn said:
I was going with a girl who's father was foreman on the prototype production line for the Mini.
The only thing I remember from the few conversations I had with him concerned the tires for the small wheels. He said that when Dunlop were approached and asked if they could produce a tire that would give a reasonable mileage the answer was "What mileage would you like ?" and they settled on 10,000 which in view of the mileage we get these days seems a bit on the short end of the stick

I would get 8000 miles tops...remoulds only!

Dave A
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