posted
An icon was born on this day 50 years ago...
quote:From the Times 26/08/1959: B.M.C. BABY CARS SET UP A NEW STANDARD IN CHEAP MOTORING PERFORMANCE AND COMFORT RETAINED
FROM OUR MOTORING CORRESPONDENT
The British Motor Corporation officially announce today the entirely new small cars that unofficially-have been described, illustrated, and discussed for many months past. Although there are two cars, called the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor respectively, they are in fact identical except for the radiator grille, and during their development they have been known by the single code name of Project ADO 15. It can be asserted that these B.M.C. cars set. an entirely new standard in low-priced motoring because they make no sacrifices in the way of performance and comfort.
AIR COOLING REJECTED
The B.M.C. engineers tested experimental twin-cylinder air-cooled engines but they decided that they were not satisfactory in terms of economy, noise level. smoothness. and life. They have therefore used the four-cylinder A-series engine of the Minor 1000 and A35 with a shortened stroke, giving it a cubic capacity of 850c.c. and a power output of 34 b.h.p. at 5,500 r.p.m. The engine is mounted transversely in front of the car with the gearbox and final drive to the front wheels below it, making an extremely compact power pack that gives more room for the driver and passengers. The floor is practically flat, and the body is built out to the full length and width with a wheel at each corner.
3,000 A WEEK
The B.M.C. small car is obviously destined to meet with world-wide success, and the corporation have long since laid their plans to meet the expected demand. The initial production target is 3,000 vehicles a week, divided equally between the Longbridge and Cowley plants, but this figure could well be exceeded. The Fisher and Ludlow plant is already geared to produce 4,000 bodies a week.
In the important European market where there is considerabe scope for improvement in British exports, the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor should have nothing to fear because they are superior to the three best-selling cars in France, Germany, and Italy in their average figures for fuel economy, top-gear hill-climbing ability, and acceleration when making the best use of the gears. They offer the same seat width (but more leg room), yet are smaller and lighter-10 of them can be parked in the space occupied by eight of the most popular Continental cars.
Preliminary plans have been made for the cars to be constructed by the Innocenti firm in Milan. Some 2,000 of the new cars have already been sent abroad and they will be displayed today in motor showrooms in nearly 100 countries.
Car of the century, 60s icon, film star, rally winners... Minis - I love 'em.
Who else has owned a Mini? I know Ringo has but everyone has had one at some point in their lives haven't they? If you haven't then I guess you just haven't got to that stage in your life yet Posts: 1280
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posted
My dad used to have a mini. He said it was like driving a cardboard box. I have a few memories of rattling around in it on the way to school. I mainly remember the big chunky buttons on the radio, and the sensation of feeling very close the road; that if you stamped hard enough you could actually pedal it, like a Flintstones car. This was before it was re-branded as 'cool', though, and the associations were of poverty and absurdity rather than (lol) 'adventure' and 'youth' (eg driving to work with a Coldplay album blaring and imagining that you're vivacious and exciting).
Few of my original associations with the Mini remain - for whatever reason it feels more like a twatty product sold by twats, to twats.
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posted
The new one definitely is, but I don't think the classic Mini is anything like that. Of course they're really basic cars and one of the things which stops me from owning one these days is how terrifyingly unsafe they are. But you'll struggle to find a purer driving experience, and if you chuck some chunky tyres on then you'll have a car which never needs to slow down for anything, ever. Which is good because they all have wooden brakes.
But the Mini is so much more than simply a motoring icon, it's something which brings people together. There's a sense of unity with other Mini drivers, which you don't get with other cars. When I had my Minis, you always flash and wave at another, whether the driver is young, old, man or woman, they'd always smile and wave back. You just feel good driving a Mini.
I love my Roadster, but I try waving to other MX5 owners and they look back at me in anger and confusion.
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quote:Originally posted by Ringo: one of the things which stops me from owning one these days is how terrifyingly unsafe they are.
I think this was what made my parents get rid of theirs in the end. Also, I think it would annoy me if people waved at me for owning the same mass-produced car. But maybe I'm just a miserable twat.
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Perhaps. I can see where you're coming from and I think it depends on your relationship with motoring. I'm sure I wouldn't be going out on a limb to suggest you're not the greatest fan of cars or driving, and probably just want a car which will transport you with as little fuss as possible from your current location to your destination, in safety and comfort. And the Mini would absolutely fail to meet any of those criteria.
Hey, while we're talking about cars, this made me genuinely angry this morning.
It shouldn't happen to a fucking Aston Martin.
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Useful though, if you've been looking at Audi TTs, maybe a Lotus Espirit, or some sort of Lexus and thinking "none of these cars screams COLOSSAL WANKER" loudly enough. Maybe then you'd want a chrome plated Aston Martin.
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What upsets me the most is that Aston Martin are one of the few high end automotive brands which produce cars you don't immediately want to spit on. I'd happily let an Aston driver out of a side turning, for instance, while a Porsche driver can fuck right off. Their cars aren't usually vulgar displays of excessive wealth, they're things of subtle style and quality workmanship.
And this bellend has taken this beautiful car and slapped chrome all over it, some shitty Halfords style bumpers, and big bling out 'rims' just to make the owner look like as big a cretin as possible.
quote:Originally posted by Ringo: There's a sense of unity with other Mini drivers, which you don't get with other cars.
VW beetles and campers have this too. They wave to each other. If it's a splitty camper, then the owners stop, one camper van squats down real low and the other one drives up onto the back of the squatted camper van and slowly bums it back and forth.
posted
Is there any other way of bumming, other than back and forth?
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Louche
Carved TMO on her clit just to make you feel bad
posted
Some bunch of idiots just lent me a Mini for a couple of weeks and it was one of thye new ones and one of the most goddawful things I have ever had the misfortune to drive. Ugly, clunky, woefully powerless, gearbox like a sack of cold wank, tiny interior, hopelessly duplicated and unreadable dashboard kit, doors like concrete wedges. It was like driving a soviet made mini tank but without any attendent coolness. In the end, the most entertaining thing I did with it for the whole fortnight I had it was put it in a ditch, and this was only entertaining for the whole amusement value of removing it from the ditch. new Mini = arse.
quote:Originally posted by Louche: Some bunch of idiots just lent me a Mini for a couple of weeks and it was one of thye new ones and one of the most goddawful things I have ever had the misfortune to drive. Ugly, clunky, woefully powerless, gearbox like a sack of cold wank, tiny interior, hopelessly duplicated and unreadable dashboard kit, doors like concrete wedges. It was like driving a soviet made mini tank but without any attendent coolness. In the end, the most entertaining thing I did with it for the whole fortnight I had it was put it in a ditch, and this was only entertaining for the whole amusement value of removing it from the ditch. new Mini = arse.
Happy Birthday, Ringers.
Thankyou
The new MINI really is bobbins isn't it. It's like BMW set out to make something which was like a Mini, but without acknowledging the principles which made the original the car it was. So it was a small car which obviously had limited space inside, but that space was maximised. But the new MINI is enormous like all modern cars. So to recreate the feel of an original, they made it conspicuously cramped on the inside. There are issues like that through the whole car; loads of little design choices made on the new one to echo things which were never meant as styling eleents so much as ergonomic design solutions.
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Louche
Carved TMO on her clit just to make you feel bad
posted
quote:Originally posted by Ringo: The new MINI really is bobbins isn't it. It's like BMW set out to make something which was like a Mini, but without acknowledging the principles which made the original the car it was. So it was a small car which obviously had limited space inside, but that space was maximised. But the new MINI is enormous like all modern cars. So to recreate the feel of an original, they made it conspicuously cramped on the inside. There are issues like that through the whole car; loads of little design choices made on the new one to echo things which were never meant as styling eleents so much as ergonomic design solutions.
Precisely this! I just couldn't understand how a car that was so much bigger than my old Ka could have so little room inside in comparison. Well I could after requiring physiotherapy on my shoulder every time I so much as opened one of the four inch wide doors. It took me four days to work out how to switch the radio off because all the controls were designed to look cool (which they ultimately failed to do, what with the whole car being a bag of wank) rather than actually work. The windscreen was a letterbox slot and some gonk of a designer had made the rear view mirror approximately the same size and proportions of a slightly squashed football, so the result was an approximate 5 inch square space to peer out of it. It annoyed me, immensely.
My Mum, who had driven a wide and exciting variety of old minis before deciding her children might possibly be more protected by something slightly larger and safer, climbed in the new one for a go and hated it immediatly. And my Mum is almost always right, except when she is describing me as an alcoholic or refusing to have a laptop.
Anyway, a man came and took it (the Mini, not my Mum) away yesterday and I made childish gurning smirking faces at its over-large departing silver arse.
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I think I could forgive its failings were it not so bloody expensive. The original was meant to be nothing more than basic cheap transport for the masses, aimed at competing with the little french and italian cars which were selling extremely well at the time. If it was made to the same brief then the new MINI should have been pitched at around the £7k mark. Instead it has become nothing more than a trendy lifestyle icon, bought by cretins who mistake rubbishness for quirkyness.
posted
Yeah, the old Ka was an absolutely gorgeous car. Probably the nicest looking car not to be styled by Pininfarina or Bertone...
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Louche
Carved TMO on her clit just to make you feel bad
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I'm in the market for my fourth at the moment. Not that I am predictable like that or anything. I'm trying to work out at what point the original model ones will get so old it will just be utterly impractical to own and drive one.
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I'm pretty confused by this concept that you could own three Ford Kas and still find yourself wanting another one.
Couldn't you buy some kind of nice sports car instead? I feel like you're missing out.
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Louche
Carved TMO on her clit just to make you feel bad
posted
I've kind of been prodded into it by circumstance.
First Ka: NHS Lease car that had to go back when I left NHS
2nd Ka: mourned loss of first Ka, wanted My Very Own Ka
3rd Car: Peugeot 206, crashed and written off September last year (my fault), didn't drive for six months, seriously considered binning driving for good.
4th Car (3rd Ka) bought because I needed to drive again, and thought it would be comfortinag and nice to drive something I was familiar with and knew I liked. Crashed and written off last month (not my fault).
I'm a bit stuck about what to have apart from another Ka. Or perhaps a Volvo. or a tank.
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Oh and just to go back to the Mini birthday thing, some of our club got interviewed for the radio yesterday and had their pictures put on the BBC sitePosts: 1280
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