South Africa produced the Mini in an interesting variety of body combinations not seen elsewhere… Wolseley 1000 The Wolseley 1000 was South Africa’s first mix-and-match Mini, mating the glitzy Wolseley front end – complete with the obligatory illuminated grille badge – to the standard Mini bodyshell. Well, almost standard – as can be seen in [...]

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 [...]

In 1974, Leyland’s Italian subsidiary Innocenti introduced a rebodied, 3-door hatchback Mini, sytled by Bertone. However, within a year of its launch, BLMC went bankrupt and Innocenti was sold to de Tomaso. Prior to the launch of the Metro, the Innocenti was briefly available in the UK, and it continued to be sold as part [...]

The 1970 Innocenti Mini-Minor; a name long since dropped in the UK… Thanks to Giovanni Marchisio for scanning and submitting the images on this page

The Italian-built estate version of the Mini was called the Innocenti Mini t… Thanks to Graham Arnold for scanning and submitting the images on this page

The Costa Mini… As well as ADO16s, Authi also produced their version of the Mini for local consumption. As with its larger brother, the aim was to achieve 100 per cent local content, and as a result, the Minis that rolled out of Pamplona were very interesting indeed. The easy route to component supply in [...]

A brief look at how the ground-breaking Mini made it from sketch pad to showroom in little more than two years. This page was contributed by Declan Berridge

The Clubman was developed through BMC’s desire to expand the Mini concept, without spending too much money. It started out as a hatchback proposal penned by Roy Haynes, and then developed into something rather less useful. Words: Ian Nicholls Keeping up appearances THE Mini Clubman story starts in 1967 when BMC managing director Joe Edwards [...]

Ian Nicholls charts the origins and production history of the legendary Mini Cooper. In doing so, Ian explains: ‘This article is not meant to be a rehash of the Mini Cooper story, but an attempt to show how the car fitted in with the BMC>MG story.’ The giant-killer AS is well known, when the 34bhp [...]

From barrel to wedge Long before the term supermini had been coined, BLMC had begun to think about producing a new Mini with superior space, comfort and practicality. This gallery contains some initial thoughts and some blind alleys. This car was tentatively developed around the same time as Sir Alec Issigonis was working on his [...]

Sheer Genius SOMETIMES, a crisis can truly focus the thoughts of an individual – and in the case of Issigonis, a proven and gifted designer, the Suez crisis had proven this to be the case. From the Leonard Lord edict to design a car to meet the fuel crisis head-on, a true stroke of genius [...]

Keith Adams BMC changed the world with the launch of the Mini in 1959. It was created in response to a crisis and was a genius piece of packaging which will forever be Sir Alec Issigonis’ legacy to the automotive world. However, as we all know, it was no profit-maker for BMC and, during its hyper-successful [...]

Keith Adams It’s 1997, and Rover’s strategy for the Mini’s replacement is rapidly taking shape. It’s two years on from the memorable meeting at the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon which shaped the future direction of the Mini marque. There had been several models presented to the BMW and Rover board and they were split [...]

Keith Adams One of perhaps 20 original Mini Beach cars built to this specification has been unearthed by John Reymondos in Greece – and it’s going to be restored to its former glory. AROnline is already in correspondence with the owner of a similar car in Canada – but this one is incredibly special because [...]

Keith Adams WITH THE number of BMC/Leyland/Rover cars on our roads diminishing rapidly, we take stock of the successive companies’ ten most popular cars during the post-war years. Some of these numbers are going to shock you, simply because the cars are so rare on the road now. In fact, even the latest car on [...]

We take a look at some of the famous people who have driven Minis during its long production run… Celebrity endorsement has long been a part of car marketing. The Mini was an unlikely beneficiary of this, as Ian Nicholls points out with his gallery. If you have any similar images you’d like to submit, [...]

Brian Gunn charts the process of fitting an MPi engine to his 1983 Mini. After a few years of driving a Mini powered by a tuned 998cc engine, Brian felt it was time for a change, and followed the well trodden route of installing a 1275cc engine in his Mini. Or did heá? Exactly how [...]

Wood & Pickett’s riposte to Radford’s upmarket de Ville… HAVING seen how Radford’s Mini de Ville conversions were catching on, Wood & Pickett decided that they too could take a slice of the action. They set about creating their own “Margrave” conversion, apparently taking their first order from actress Hayley Mills (although this may be [...]

The Alps and the Mini have become synonymous thanks to the Monte Carlo Rally and the film, The Italian Job. So it only seems fitting that Robert Plews celebrated in style by taking his 1960 Morris Mini Mk1 for a spirited run to the hallowed mountain range… Here’s his story… Words and pictures: Robert Plews [...]

Like all Minis, the Lamm Cabrio has something of a cult following. Launched as a Rover product in the early 1991, the Lamm had already been in production for three to meet a demand for open-topped Mini motoring, before it was backed by the factory. Rover was so impressed, it built its own version the [...]