Many of us know the Austin “Mini” motor-car in its current luxury incarnation – a BMW in drag so to speak. Yet few know of the mini’s humble beginnings and its influence that it has had on the auto trade far and wide.
Yet the tiny and almost puny Austin Mini with its small in relation 4 banger engine won the famed Monte Carlo Rally three times running – in the years races of 1964, 1965 and lastly in 1967. Quite a feat for such a diminutive and scaled down automotive product of its time. On top of that the fourth victory was snatched from the mouth’s of the Austin clan only by a small infraction on the roadway.
Yet to its credit the mini was not only sort of cute – some called it ugly – but advanced simple standards of driver comforts yet to come in the future – for example map storage areas on the drivers and passenger doors – obstensively for maps but deep enough to be used for carrying home even small grocery items. The first minis rolled off the assembly line in Britain on May 8 , 1959 and showed up on streets and highways shortly after during August 1959. It was even priced in British terms at less than $ 540 British Pounds Sterling – the American dollar equivalent being less than $ 1000.
Yet this little mutant of a car not only had a low cost and external size, it held an innovative design that even though tiny in size it could seat 4 adults and perhaps 5. The secret was an adoption of front wheel drive with a transversely mounted engine and transmission. Now held as the standard, at that point in automobile history most autos were “rear wheel driven” with a large drive train running down the middle of the floor of the vehicle taking up passenger space and adding weight. Rear engine vehicles are simpler to build and maintain and less expensive to design, engineer and install at the factory level. Yet the heavy drive train not only adds weight to the vehicle, requiring a larger and heavier engine, it also takes away from interior passenger space. So the innovative design of the Austin Mini had great merit in allowing for a smaller vehicle, with a smaller engine that had a reasonable interior seating space, and had reasonable pickup all with less cost, and overall auto owner and motorist’s driving costs and budget.
Yet the Mini suffered a host of problems – especially in the “export market”. These were problems, errors and mistakes that the Japanese auto industry , could later use to good lesson , when it came time for them to enter the American auto market – ultimately very successfully. One was that the auto seemed to be designed for the British market, geography, driving conditions and climate. True the Mini was fun to drive , could pack in passengers , luggage and groceries in a small space. Yet it was underpowered when it came to the growing American highway system and daily commutes. In addition the cooling system seemed to be developed for more temperate climes. Austin car owners and their passengers often sweltered in a hot American summer , while freezing with an inadequate heating system come cold Canadian winters. The car seemed to have devised and developed for British temperate climate and small scale higher speeds. In addition parts availability for repairs , as well as trained mechanics, other than at higher priced British car dealerships seem to scare away more than one potential auto customer – or one looking to finance their new or used vehicle.
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