International variations : Canadian Minis
March 17, 2013
· 
Keith Adams · 
21 Comments
Heath Robinson strikes
The Mini was an enduring success for British Motor Corporation and then British Leyland – and the sheer number of markets the Issigonis Brick was exported to proves that the car’s appeal was truly international. But being designed between 1956-’58 did begin to count against it as the years rolled by.
Governments across the world were introducing increasingly tough safety legislation – following in the footsteps of the USA, which had gone safety crazy in the aftermath of Ralph Nader’s epochal book Unsafe at Any Speed. The Mini had no hope of meeting US regulations, post-1970, and was quietly withdrawn from the market. But this wasn’t the end of the Mini in North America – they continued to be sold there throughout that decade.
It was tough, though. As the ’70s drew on, the Canadian Minis needed an increasing amount of modification in order to remain on sale there. Here’s a brief overview of those changes – although the most obvious, its bumpers, won’t need too much in the way of explanation.
- Fuel tank mountings changed
- The fuel filler neck was modified and fuel tank caps from other markets would no longer fit
- Huge side marker lights/reflectors were added
- The front turn signal lights increased in size beyond anything ever offered elsewhere
- Latches to hold the front seats in place were introduced on the Canadian Minis long before they were used in England
- Dash panel arrangements and switches varied and even seat belt warning buzzers were incorporated
- Bumpers were raised and an early form of smog control by using an air pump and injector ports in the head was added
- The location of the smog pump also necessitated a change in the radiator so that the inlet was towards the back near the filler cap.
But those bumpers! Could there have been a better way of raising the bumper height without killing the Mini’s cute styling?
Pictures: Andy Bannister, information from minimania.com
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21 Responses
The rubber bumper MGB looks stylish compared to this er,green mini thing. If I had to choose between this canadian mini or a clubman I would have a clubman any day.Also where were these little horrors built was it at longbridge or in another country?
Am I the only one thinking Zakespeed Capri
?
Is that thing on the front for downforce or clearing snow? Good for car park bumpercars anyway
By the late 1970′s, safety and pollution contols rules were harmonized between the USA and Canada. By the mid-1970′s almost all care had to have catalitic converters which was near impossible to install safely on the Mini with the technology of the time so along with delcining sales probably led to ending sales in Canada.
Those alloys look very similar in style to Ford’s RS 4 spokes, and that ‘snowplough’, whoa! It might have looked better on the blunt nosed Clubman however, and there was slightly more room under the bonnet to cram emissions control garbage. The trouble is though, US spec cars were massive, and dirt cheap compared to imports such as the Mini as well, so it was a battle BL would never really win.
They weren’t the only ones to stick hideous bumpers on, here’s a BMW E24 6-series with 6 foot of armco barrier welded on the front . Although to be fair most European cars looked pretty rough with the 5mph impact bumpers, it didn’t affect glitzy Brougham land yachts quite so badly, although they had 120hp 5.0 V8s instead.
Thankfully the Porsche 928 saved us from the pontoons with its polyurethane snout, and pretty quickly managed to become the fastest car in North America with it’s advanced engine that managed to pass emissions while putting out decent power.
Not mentioned but visible on these cars is head restrants added to the top of the seats
You can be critical if the impact Canadian legislation had on the appearence of the Mini. However I doubt those Canadian legislators imagined in the mid 70s that anybody would need to adapt a 1959 design to meet them.
How the hell did the boot open with that thing in the way?
What a lash up, can’t imagine other companies bodging its products in this way…
What on earth is that ‘spoiler’ thing? Quite literally a spoiler!!
The white one ain’t so bad but even here could the high level bumpers not have been styled ‘a bit in more in keeping’?
Ahem. The Green car isn’t factory standard. Can’t blame BL for what others did. You have to put the bumper mods in the context that Mini, from about 1970 onwards, never had a projected life of more than a couple of years. No sane person would have expected it to last for 41 years, would they? So the resource made available for meeting legislation demands was two fifths of zilch. Under the circs, the bumpers are quite clever. The air pump/smog kit had been around for some time, having been developed first for USA Austin America/Spridgets etc.
See what your saying, Ian, but did the mods have to be quite so ugly?
That’s a great automobile, eh?
The green car has a spoiler on the front. It spoils it.
The white Mini has been dropped onto a Mini Moke, crushing a bad guy from the Prisoner series. Meanwhile, the BL stylists in Canada (should have been) were all arrested for style crimes.
No, the white one is an ill-fated Land Rover Mini.
It’s late, so I’m gong back to sleep. These were just nightmares.
Clearly mods on a shoestring.
Surely a Clubman would have been a better starting point although I love those body coloured bumpers.
Ah, the seat retaining latches, a known issue for people importing Minis or ADO16s to Germany: German market cars always had these latches. You may get away without them in a 4-door ADO16 – as no tester will try to tilt the seats in a 4-door car
BTW, A+ engined Maestros and possibly Metros got the air-injection pump for the Swiss market in the 80s!
AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! IT BURNS!!!!!!! IT BURNS!!!!!!!!!!
Someone once told me that one of the safety rules that defeated the Mini in the US was a requirement for a minimum distance between the B-Post upper seat belt mountings on either side of the car. Two seaters were exempt, so no problem for the Midget, but for a saloon car, no chance.
‘R’ and ‘S’-Series Maestros also had a secondary air pump fitted for Switzerland.
The bumper halfway up the grille is somewhat reminiscent of the mk1 new Mini, which split the grille at the bumper level.
Would it have been possible to have marketed the Mini in the US as a 2 seater? Given it’s size, it could’ve been an early Smart car. Or, once imported, would it have been possible for dealers or owners to offer / fit a “non-person carrying rear bench arrangement with ‘luggage’ belts….”, similar to some current 4×4 commercial vehicle arrangements….?
@20 Unlikely, in the land of the free and the home of the lawyers it would have just been asking for trouble.
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