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Mini Cooper
The Mini is a small
car that was produced by the British Motor
Corporation (BMC) and its successors from
1959 to 2000. The most popular British-made
car of all time, it has since been replaced
by the New MINI which was launched in 2001.
The original is considered an icon of the
1960s[2][3][4].
This
revolutionary and distinctive two-door car
was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis
(1906-88)[5]. It was manufactured at the
Longbridge and Cowley plants in the United
Kingdom, and later in Australia, Belgium,
Chile, Italy, Portugal, Spain, South Africa,
Uruguay and Venezuela. The Mini Mk I had
three major updates: the Mk II, the Clubman
and the Mk III, within which were a series
of variations including an estate car, a
pickup truck, a van and the Mini Moke -
a jeep-like buggy. The Mini Cooper and Cooper
"S" were sportier versions that
were successful as rally cars - winning
the Monte Carlo Rally three times.
Prototype Mini and one
of Issigonis's original concept sketches.Designed
as project ADO15 (Austin Drawing Office project
number 15), the Mini came about because of
a fuel crisis. In 1956 as a result of the
Suez Crisis, which reduced oil supplies, Britain
saw the introduction of petrol rationing.
Sales of large cars slumped, and there was
a boom in the market for so called bubble
cars, which were mainly German in origin.
Leonard Lord, the somewhat autocratic head
of BMC, decreed that something had to be done
and quickly.
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