When the hammer dropped and the final bid was settled for Richard Bremner’s 1959 Austin Mini Seven De Luxe, there was a ripple of applause from the buyers present at Bonhams’ Hendon auction. It’s not the oldest surviving example, but it’s really close, being the eighth to roll of the Longbridge production line – and [...]

KEITH ADAMS Rimmer Bros sponsored AROnline’s Polish SD1 restoration… Buying parts for your BMC>MG has never been easier through AROnline… HERE at AROnline, we receive a large numbers of emails from people all over the world looking for parts for their cars MGs, Rovers, Landies and all manner of BMC>MG cars. Given that this is [...]

The Chilean BL operation was the first attempt to produce the Mini in South America, but by no means was it the last… Story told by Rodrigo Toledo. The ‘Brick’ moves to Venezuela… AT the time that BMC and British Leyland were building cars in Chile, Venezuela was, by far, the most developed country in [...]

Towns had high hopes for the Microdot, but they would eventually come to nothing… THE Microdot made its debut at the London Motor Show in 1976, where it couldn’t help but attract attention due to its tyically neat, glassy styling – and its bright lime-green paintwork. However, its green credentials were more than skin-deep, as [...]

At the 1973 Earls Court Motor Show, BLMC expected the new Allegro to be the centre of attention on the Austin-Morris stand. Instead, it was another car that stole the limelight… SHORTLY before the 1973 motor show, BLMC gained permission to add to their stand a curious but radical small car, created by the futurist [...]

Being nippy and economical, Minis were mainly used as Panda cars, although some forces elected to use the Cooper versions as Patrol cars. Mini A Befordshire Mini Panda car photographed in the late 1960s. Mini Cooper A Mini Cooper S MkII Patrol car. Mini Cooper S A Mini Cooper S Patrol car. American Mini Interesting [...]

The A-series engine did service in a variety of cars for almost 50 years, during which time it was available in a bewildering variety of capacities and states of tune. A hard act to follow The A-Series engine was certainly a case of the ‘British Curate’s egg’ – good in places. In fact, that is [...]

It changed the way we looked at small cars almost overnight, and sent the designers scurrying back to the drawing boards – the Mini was little short of a major revolution. We take a look at the development and subsequent life story of Britain’s favourite small car… Words: Keith Adams, Ian Nicholls Development and early [...]

It changed the way we looked at small cars almost overnight, and sent the designers scurrying back to the drawing boards – the Mini was little short of a major revolution. We take a look at the development and subsequent life story of Britain’s favourite small car… Words: Keith Adams, Ian Nicholls 1970: big changes [...]

A chop-top Mini, or retro-style on a plate… To find out more, contact Kit Car magazine Banham Roadster IN 2003, having concentrated on the production of his own bodywork designs for several years, Paul Banham went back to his coachbuilding roots by offering this good-looking open-top version of the Mini. The aim here was to [...]

In the 1960s Radford caught the Mini wave in a big way… ITis generally acknowledged that the trend for luxuriously-specified Minis was started by the actor Peter Sellers, when he aksed dealership HR Owen to convert his new Mini Cooper into something a little more opulent and exclusive; HR Owen commissioned Hooper (Motor Services) Ltd [...]

The interesting story of the Downton Mini, by Ian Nicholls. In the 1960s many tuning firms established them selves on the back of the Mini’s success: Broadspeed, Alexander, Taurus etc. However only one outfit had BMC approval and contributed more to the BMC>Rover story than just selling go faster bits for the companies products. That [...]

A wide variety of Mini-based models saw the inside of Crayford’s workshops, including the Cooper, Wolseley Hornet, Clubman and even the Moke… Mini/Mini-Cooper Convertible First introduced in 1963, the convertible Mini was the model that made Crayford’s name, attracting wide publicity on the back of the general success of the Mini itself, and the Cooper [...]

In this gallery, we take a look at some of the names used to sell various versions of the Mini in overseas markets… Austin Partner Home market name: based on Austin SevenThe Austin version of the Mini was sold in Denmark as the Partner from its introduction in 1959 until 1964. Morris Mascot Home market [...]

Having been in production for some 40 years, it goes without saying that there were many, many special editions based upon the Mini. Here are just a few.

ERA is a name with a glorious past – and in the summer of 1988, the owners of the marque approached Rover in order to revive the name on a very special Mini. This is what happens when you put a turbocharger under the bonnet of a Mini… a little bit of magic. Turbo’d fancy… [...]

Rover offered one of the fullest ranges of cabriolets on the market – starting with the Mini, through the Metro/100 and onto the R8 (as well as the convertible MGF and RV8), there was a budget drop top for everyone. Jeffery Allen, with the help of some friends, pieces together the history of the Lamm [...]

Minis are fun – such fun that most people think they need more power. Ian Nicholls guides us through some of the tuned Minis offered for sale in the UK over the years… THE arrival of the BMC Mini in 1959, with its roller skate handling, was of great benefit to the British performance tuning [...]

During the early 1960s, a couple of Mini-based beach car designs were produced in limited numbers. Fun in the sun In his 1964 book “The Mini Story”, Laurence Pomeroy provides the following information on these fairweather variants: “For use in the balmier parts of the world, BMC have built a small number of prestige cars [...]

Once it became clear the Moke was never going to cut in in serious military use, its future seemed to be tied into sunnier climes… Park Paget tells the story of its Australian afterlife… AT the beginning of the Seventies, BLMC-Australia had started to realise the Mini-Moke could be better marketed. As a result, the [...]