Mini:60 Years

by Giles Chapman

Mini celebrates 60 amazing years of this iconic car, from its revolutionary introduction to the popularity of its new-generation models. The first two-door Mini, introduced in 1959 and built until 2000, revolutionized automotive design with its innovative front-wheel-drive layout that made the car appear bigger on the inside than the outside. In 1999, the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T. Designed for British Motor Corporation (BMC) by Sir Alec Issigonis and manufactured in England, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Chile, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia, the Mini was as successful in competition as it was on the street, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times from 1964 through 1967. Originally built by BMC, the Mini’s later parent company, Rover, was acquired by BMW in 1994. In 2000, BMW sold most of the Rover Group but retained the Mini brand. The last and 5,387,862nd original Mini rolled off the production line in October 2000. In July 2001, BMW launched production of the new-generation of Mini which was soon joined by Countryman, Clubman, convertible, Cooper Works, and numerous special editions. Nearly 20 years later, the new Minis remain as popular as the original from 1959.

176 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2019

About the author

Giles Chapman is an award-winning writer and commentator on the industry, history and culture of cars. He began his career in 1984 in automotive consultancy, moving into magazine publishing in 1985. By 1991, he was editor of Classic & Sports Car, the world's best-selling classic car magazine. Since 1994, he's worked freelance across a huge variety of media. Today, he contributes to national newspapers and motoring publications, and was voted Jeep Consumer Journalist Of The Year in 2005, BCA Feature Writer Of The Year in 2008, AA Environment Writer Of The Year 2011, and Classic Writer Of The Year in 2022 as well as being shortlisted as the 2022 Royal Automobile Club Journalist Of The Year.

He's the author of almost 60 books including 'My Dad Had One Of Those' (co-written with Top Gear's Richard Porter) that was a non-fiction hardback best-seller in 2007 and has since sold almost 200,000 copies. This makes it one of the best-selling – and most popular – car books of all time.