MINI

#Redirect Mini#New_MINI

Mini

:''Alternative meanings: mini (with lower-case 'm') is also colloquial for miniskirt and, less commonly, for miniature figure. This article is about the car company.'' The Mini is the name of a small car produced from 1959 to 2000, and the name of its replacement (known as New MINI) launched in 2001. ==Original Mini== The original Mini (1959�2000) was a revolutionary and distinctive small Automobile designed for the British Motor Corporation (BMC) by Alec Issigonis (later Sir) (1906�1988) and made in Birmingham. The first 850 cc Mini was produced in 1959. John Cooper of the Cooper Car Company was loaned an early production version and fitted it with a 997 cc engine, boosting power from 34 to 55 bhp (25 to 41 kW), and disc brakes. Designed for Group 2 rally racing, initially 1,000 of this type were built to meet the homologation rules but when production ended in 1967 12,274 had been made. In 1963 production of a more powerful version had begun, Cooper had taken a new 1071 cc engine and increased the size of the brake discs, this was manufactured for the public as the Cooper S from April until August 1964 with 4,030 produced. {| align=right | |- | |- | |- | |- | |- | |} The car used a conventional four-cylinder water-cooled engine but mounted transversely and driving the front wheels. This innovation allowed much increased passenger space in a small body. The result was nimble, economical, and inexpensive. Almost all small cars built since the 1970s have followed this mechanical layout. Another innovation was the use of exterior welding seams, which permitted the car to be built more cheaply using manual labour. Despite this, the Mini had to be sold at less than its production cost so that it could compete with its rivals in terms of price. The early Minis had an unusual suspension system which used rubber cones instead of conventional shock absorbers, leading to a rather raw and bumpy ride. This was briefly replaced by the hydragas suspension in the 1970's. However, this increased weight and production cost and did little to improve ride or handling. Consequently, the original rubber suspension was re-introduced. Designed as project ADO15 (ADO indicating Austin (car) Design Office), the Mini was originally called both the ''Austin Seven'' (also known as Se7en) and ''Morris (car) Mini Minor'', but later Mini became a brand in its own right. The car owed some of its success to its "classlessness". It was designed for the masses, yet members of the Beatles and even Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom owned one. Between 1961 and 1969, there was also a version of the Mini produced with a more substantial boot (trunk). This was badged as both the Wolseley Hornet (reviving a sports car name from the 1930s) and the Riley Elf. The Mini itself could be bought in a variety of body styles: the standard two-door; two versions of estate-car (or station-wagon) with double "barn-door" style rear doors, the ''Traveller'' (all metal) and the ''Countryman'' (a "woodie" version of the Traveller but with wooden exterior trim similar to that available on the Morris Minor. This "half-timbered" styling is something uniquely, and, according to Bill Bryson, bizarrely, British) and two commercial derivatives; the van (as the estate-car but without side-windows) and the pick-up. The 1960s saw the heyday of the car, with well-publicised purchases by movie and music stars, Mini Cooper victories in rallying, a starring role in a major film (''The Italian Job''), spin-off models including commercial vehicles, an estate, and the jeep-like Mini Moke. Sales were strong, but the car never made much money for its makers. Indeed, it is thought that due to an accounting error, the car had been incorrectly priced originally and each sale made a loss for the company. In 1964 the car had its first major rally success, winning the Monte Carlo Rally - a feat it repeated in the next three years (the team was disqualified on a technicality in 1966). Cooper also produced versions for circuit racing, a 970 cc and a 1275 cc, 76 bhp (57 kW) model, both of which were offered to the public. The smaller engined model was not well received and only 963 were built up to mid-1965 but the 1275 cc was much more popular. Issigonis tried to replace the Mini with an experimental model called the 9X. It was shorter and more powerful than the Mini, but due to politicking inside British Leyland, which had been formed from the merger of BMC and Standard-Triumph, the car was not built. It was an intriguing "might-have-been", as the car was so advanced it was still competitive by the 1980s. With the introduction of the Mk. II body production of the Coopers in 998 cc and 1275 cc continued. Following the merger of BMC with Leyland Motors in 1968 production of the 998 cc variant was ended in 1969 with over 55,000 cars produced. Production of the 1275 cc variant continued until January 1972, it was updated to the Mk. III body in 1969-70 and was largely indistinguishable from the original Mini. Export production continued until 1975. With continuing demand the Cooper company was quick to develop and sell a conversion kit. During the 1970s, under the ownership of British Leyland, the Mini was given a more modern, squarer looking face-lift. The restyled version was called the Mini Clubman, and also spawned a Mini Cooper replacement called the 1275 GT. The classic 1960s design remained available as well, and it survived the Clubman design. After 1972 the production was continued in license in Italy by Innocenti as the Innocenti Cooper. It was sold alongside other British Leyland products in Europe. Innocenti made its own version of the Mini Cooper, the Innocenti Cooper. In the late 1970s, Innocenti introduced the Innocenti 90 and 120 a Bertone-designed hatchback based on the Mini platform. The Bertone redesigned Mini was available in a Mini Cooper equivalent christened the Innocenti de Tomaso. Reports of the Mini's imminent demise surfaced again in 1980 with the launch of the Austin Metro (badging showed the word 'Mini' in all lowercase), but the Mini survived even the Metro. In 1981 in New Zealand, the Mini had another major starring role, in a "road trip" movie directed by Geoff Murphy called ''Goodbye Pork Pie''. By this time, however, the Mini was beginning to fall out of favour in many of its export markets. South African, Australian and New Zealand production all stopped around this time. In New Zealand, assembly switched to the Honda City. Through the 1980s, the British market enjoyed numerous "special editions" of the Mini, which shifted the car from a mass-market item into a fashionable icon. It was this image that perhaps helped the Mini become such an asset for BMW, which later bought the remnants of BMC as the Rover (car). It was even more popular in Japan, where it was seen as a retro-cool icon, and inspired many imitators at major Japanese automakers. There was also a Mini Cooper revival, with the uprated metro "A+" version of the 1.3 L engine fitted in to the car. The engine was also fitted with modern electronic fuel injection�first single-point, then on the final models, a multi-point system. Production of the original Mini outlasted its major competitors—the VW Beetle (at least in Europe), the Citro�n 2CV and the Metro, its intended replacement—running until October 2000 with a total of 5.3 million cars. A new Mini Cooper was briefly relaunched from 1990-1991, with slighter lower performance than the 1960s Cooper. A thousand examples of this type were manufactured with a 63 bhp (47 kW) 1275 cc engine. It proved so popular that the new Cooper-marked Mini went into full production in late 1991 and continued to be manufactured until October 2000. From 1992, Coopers were fitted with a fuel-injected version of the 1275cc engine, and in 1997 the multi-point injected engine was introduced, along with a front mounted radiator and various safety improvements. In 1994 under Bernd Pischetsrieder, a nephew of Issigonis, BMW took control of the Rover Group, which included the Mini, fitting an airbag to comply with European legislation. By 2000, Rover was still suffering massive losses, and BMW decided to dispose of most of the company: MG (car) and Rover went to Phoenix Venture Holdings, a new British consortium; Land Rover went to Ford Motor Company. BMW kept the Mini brand name and now sells a completely new Mini, technically unrelated to the old car, which the Rover subsidiary had almost finished developing. == New MINI == Launched in 2001, the new MINI (note capitals, sometimes unofficially called ''BMW MINI'') is built in Cowley, Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. Historically this was the Morris car plant. The new MINI has a Brazilian-built Tritec engine. Like the original, this is a transverse four-cylinder unit, driving the front wheels. The styling of the car, like that of the VW Beetle, is deliberately reminiscent of the original. The car has been criticized for its poor space-efficiency compared with the original, but it has quickly become a sales success in Europe and (from 2002) in the US. It comes in 4 models: the MINI One, MINI One D (with a Toyota-built diesel engine), MINI Cooper, and MINI Cooper S. In the US market, only the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S are sold. The car is featured in the 2003 remake of ''The Italian Job''. New for 2005 production are the MINI Cooper (and S) convertibles, as well as a redesigned front and rear fascia for the hardtop models. At the Geneva Motorshow 2004, BMW/MINI introduced a convertible model to be released in mid-2004. The car is available in 'One', 'Cooper' and 'Cooper S' versions worldwide (although the 'One' convertible, like its hardtop sibling, is not sold in the US). BMW have received a significant backlog of orders in the short period since its announcement. The MINI Cooper/Cooper S won the North American Car of the Year award for 2003. === Next-generation New MINI === BMW will introduce a new MINI for 2006 on a reengineered automobile platform. This architecture is shared with PSA Group and will be more flexible. Additional MINI models, including a roadster and sport wagon, are likely. The Tritec engine will be replaced by a new BMW unit with an optional turbocharged rather than supercharging. [http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=102232 ''AutoWeek'' reports] that a long-wheelbase version (reminiscent of the original Mini Clubman) will also be produced. This may include a 5-door rear-hinged version similar to the Saturn ION and Mazda RX-8. == Mini sales in the United States == Between 1960 and 1967, a small number of BMC Minis were imported to the US. Sales were discontinued when federal automobile emissions regulations were imposed; BMC felt that it would be too expensive to make the Mini's engine compliant. Despite this, a small band of enthusiasts keep the legacy of the original car alive in the US. Ironically, similar legislation was later introduced in Europe, and the A-series engine, with minor modifications, proved perfectly capable of complying with it. The new MINI is US emissions compliant and is sold in the United States with great success. == External links == * Minifinity, the worlds largest mini club http://www.minifinity.com/ * MINI International http://www.mini.com/ * MiniClassics http://www.miniclassic.co.uk * MINI2 http://www.mini2.com (site for BMW Mini owners) * MINI Canada http://www.mini.ca (MINI site for Canada) * MINIUSA http://www.miniusa.com (MINI site for the united states) * History of the Mini http://www.outmotoring.com/mini_history.html * North American Motoring http://www.northamericanmotoring.com * Mini Blog http://motoringfile.com * AUSMINI http://www.ausmini.com (australian mini owners group) === Source === * Engines of the ADO15 and family http://www.mgcars.org.uk/carclub/sf020201.html Automobile manufacturers BMW vehicles Front wheel drive vehicles ==See also== � BMW � Counterfeit � Copyrights � Logo � MINI

Mini

==Merger== The mini/mini cooper Wikimerger is the the greatest merger in wikistory, costing 927,456,987,028 trilli-billy-gazillion wikidollars. Seriously though, I deleted the "Mini Cooper" article and pasted it here, almost verbatim. I tried to paste every section in the appropriate place, but if I made some mistakes, please correct them. I also deleted the two lines with the link and phone # to the counterfeit organization, as IMHO WP is not the appropriate place to advertise, even for a good cause. Besides, the link to ebay is very temporary in nature. The lines can be retrieved from the history page as I saved it prior to deletion. -www.jpfo.org ==I prefer 'characterful',== since that seems a better synonym for the word 'cute' that says what I want to say, but doesn't feel appropriate. 'Stylish' to me refers to Mercedes sports cars, things you'd be pleased to park outside the Ritz, 'characterful' to cars that only *some* wealthy people would be happy to be seen in. -- User:Hotlorp ----- ==Why== is the new one called the Mini Cooper? User:Rmhermen 02:37 14 Jun 2003 (UTC) ==: There are model names== besides Mini One called Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S. These models have more power than the Mini One. See [http://www.mini.com/COM/en/index.html?/COM/en/themini/datasheet/data.jsp data page] for technical details. User:Anobo 01:40 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) ::I see. I don't think they are selling the Mini One in the US. User:Rmhermen 17:03 16 Jun 2003 (UTC) :::No, they are not - in North America they're only selling the Cooper and the Cooper S. (BTW, the name "Cooper" honors one John Cooper, whose team of engineers and mechanics helped the original Mini win a series of rallies in the 1960s.) -- User:Jredmond 23:32, 7 Nov 2003 (UTC) == Second photograph? == Hi, all. Great article!
I wasn't sure whether another photograph was necessary, but I put it there so others can decide. Feel free to remove it if you think it's overkill.
Thanks, User:Rdikeman 11:56, Feb 11, 2004 (UTC) :I am usually against multiple photos, but in this case it works well because the two pics together give a good overview of the whole car. It might even be worth adding one for the new Mini - I might see if I can dig one up. User:GRAHAMUK 12:59, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC) ::Hi to Rdikeman and Graham! I put the first pic on. I agree that the new pic is worth having because my view is rear three quarter and the new one is front three quarter. So we have variety!
::User:Arpingstone 15:00, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC) ---- ''the Austin Seven (sometimes spelt Se7en)'' Looks like someone got this and the movie Se7en confused. User:TMC1221 01:42, Feb 12, 2004 (UTC) :Not necessarily. My memory is dim, but I do seem to recall that the Austin 7 had a stylised badge that incorporated the 7 in this manner. I could be wrong, perhaps somebody who knows for sure can confirm/refute this. Maybe the movie people got the idea from the car - after all it was about 35 years later. User:GRAHAMUK 04:48, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC) ::You're right! User:TMC1221 23:25, Feb 12, 2004 (UTC) == Mini "Woodies" == This article suggests that the Mini and Morris Minor "woodie" estate cars were something uniquely British; I'd posit that they aren't. Only the tendency to paint the panels inside the wooden frame distinguishes the British woodie from the American; see the picture of the Pontiac woodie in that article. What do others think? : The wood on the Morris Minor Traveller and the Mini Countryman are decorative and fitted outside the body panels - if the wood was taken off there'd only be a few holes to show. Compare with an austin A70 Hereford Estate where the framework and ''unpainted'' wood panels are structural User:GraemeLeggett 12:55, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC) (restorer of a Mini Countryman) :: NB The wood on the Morris Minor Traveller is MOT-testable so presumably its structural User:Conch Shell 11:53, 4 May 2005 (UTC) ::: My apologies, I am wrong on this - It is Morris Minor = structural, Mini = non structural.User:GraemeLeggett 15:14, 5 May 2005 (UTC) == Mini Moke == There is nothing here about the Mini Moke: which was a 'jeep like' version of the mini: sold in Australia and I only assume elsewhere as well. Does not have an article of its own as far as I can see. I am not qualified to write on it though! --User:GPoss 10:51, Aug 3, 2004 (UTC) :Also sold in the UK, and don't forget The Prisoner! I don't think it was a huge success, but definitely deserves a mention, if not an article of its own. User:GRAHAMUK 05:08, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC) == Two articles? == There are two articles on this car - the other is titled "Mini Cooper". I'm not sure technically how to do it without screwing anything up, but these two articles should be combined. User:Kevin in STL Oct. 14, 2004 :Disagree. The two articles link each other and don't contain much duplicate material. Combining them would make this page too long and full of excessive detail about the Cooper model, but Cooper fans would not be pleased if it was cut down. Leave it as it is. User:GRAHAMUK 05:08, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC) == New MINI section == Isn't the second parragraph in the New MINI section redundant? User:Martyman 22:37, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC) == MINI in the movies == I know it was prominently featured in both Italian Job movies. I am sure it has been in several other movies. A section on MINI in the movies? SteveBaker says: The classic Mini has played a key role in MANY movies - but that's true of many kinds of car. The two Italian Job movies are special in that they were primarily funded as extended adverts - rather than the car being merely a prop within a movie that was planned for other reasons. == Counterfeit Mini Coopers == This [http://www.counterfeitmini.org site] was advertised on the History Channel this evening. I'm not sure if this is for real or not? I have my doubts, it sounds to me like the work of a creative marketing department at Mini. User:Jesster79 03:50, Feb 18, 2005 (UTC) :I don't think it is real. A marketing campaign by Mini is a probable answer to it. My own answer was someone made the DVD and the comercials and he would sell the DVD's to those who were curious enough to order it. --User:Broco03 19:15, Apr 7, 2005 (UTC) SteveBaker says: The counterfeit mini site is certainly a part of BMW/MINI's unusual advertising approach. There were previous campaigns in which they alleged that one of their designers had deliberately over-designed parts of the car in order that he could use them to further his clandestine efforts to build 30' tall robots... http://www.r50rd.co.uk/research/internal/v2i/engin/ There are a number of fake web sites associated with the supposed builder of these robots, a journalist who had supposedly discovered this work and written a book about it. There is even a fake book publisher's web site where you could theoretically buy this mythical book. Excerpts from this non-existant book were published in a number of motoring magazines in the US. If you buy a MINI Convertible, they have you sign a fake 'contract' that obliges you to drive the car with the roof down 90% of the time. If somone catches you with your roof up, they can 'out' you by calling 1-800-DO-NOT-CLOSE - which is a HILARIOUS computer call system. MINI have a VERY quirky advertising approach. == The Queen? == While I recall that the Queen once had a ride in a Mini with Sir Alec while on an official engagement, I'm not sure she actually owned one herself. Does anyone happen to have a source for this info?

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