Imagine deciding which car to buy based on if it had a vanity mirror, handbrake grip etc 😅 I want the 1275GT because it has the the bigger engine and the rev count etc 😉 I can buy the other accessories from Poundland 😂
Wow, I've got twin coach lines made from sticky back vinyl. A real-world beating selling point in 1970s Britain. Nothing about the lack of a radio or heated rear screen. Nothing about the lack of synchro on the first gear of a four-speed gearbox. Dipping rear mirror. who wants on anyway. No wonder the Japanese cleaned up.
And someone had to clean the piles of rust that remained of those Japanese cars of the time 😂 Tens of thousands of minis still survive to this day in the UK. The popular Japanese cars of the day are almost exist. But I'm sure a few survive elsewhere, maybe 😅
I had a 1976 P reg 1275 GT, its doors rusted out after 2 years, the steering rack broke, the fuel tank corroded, the front suspension collapsed and it always broke down! It was only 3 years old when I got rid! I was so upset after having had a 64 & 70 minis. I blame Red Robbo. I then went with Toyota for reliability in 1980; I never looked back.(oh just to add I tried a Volvo S40 on a 08 plate, only 20K miles. Even a bigger piece of Junk! - Don't get me started! Soon rushed back to Toyota. Phew!).
@@deanosaur808 It Was, really only 2 years old, registered in 76, I got it in 78. Alas it had already done 35K, and I learned, had not been looked after well. When I traded it in in 1980 for a New Starlet, it was fun to see it on a cold morning. Smoke everywhere! The engine was trashed, a sign of poor servicing in early life. I paid £850 for it in 78, got £960 on the Trade in! So a good ending! My new Starlet was £3,200 in January 80 "V" Reg
A FWD car needs Constant-Velocity U-joints for steering, and these had always been bulky double-cardan units. Then some boffin decided that those were not good enough for the control rods in British nuclear submarines, and paid a million pounds for a special machine to make the Rzeppa pattern. This compact unit was the key to the whole FWD revolution.
Everyone one had a job and pride in what they did, a time where the car makers had identity, proud of their product and it wasn’t just about total profits
Owning quite a few and working at longbridge in 1980 I really believe the biggest mistake they made was not building a factory in every part of the world producing minis for every country
had a mini 850 new in 1968 . had a new mini van in 1972 .£550 including radial tyres . went to donnington park to the 25 th anniversary of the original mini. remember seeing the first ones in the showrooms 1959 / 1960 .as a10 year old boy . now 74 in march this year. my mum was an insurance agent collected the money house to hose .the mini was the best car in snow ,they would go anywhere.
Happy music; a real man, not a cocky, jeans-wearing satirist who'd like to be a comedian: all missed, so very much. It makes me not care that the cars were much more unsafe than todays, as life itself was safer.
Raymond Baxter 1922-2006. Would have been 100 years of age this year deffo. A well respected commentator when it came to cars, trains & aeroplanes. My late dad used to like his commentaries from Farnborough Air Shows especially.
The late Raymond Baxter having just stopped presenting Tomorrows World regularly on BBC. I remember him on washing machine ads in the early 1980s, and occasional appearancez on special editions of Tomorrows world from then until the programme went off the air
A new Mini Clubman or 1275 was used in a BBC Morecambe and Wise spoof Starsky and Hutch sketch. It looked quite well, and could have been valuable free advertising for BL
Nuts and bolts economics didn't kill the Mini as it never made any money anyway. Occupant and pedestrian safety done for it. Emissions compliance could of been managed given time and money but, the shell could never be reworked to satisfy safety regs.
FFS The Rover boss saying BMC forgot about fwd..... Erm millions of ADO16 best selling car nearly every year in the 60's and early 70's, Austin 1800, Maxi, Triumph 1300, Toledo
The boss of Rover declaring that the Minis in the Italian Job were Coopers....most weren't being copirs and last we saw of the Minis being chucked out the back of the coach were 998s
Still love the REAL British classic MINI They never fail to raise a smile and bring back memories of so much enjoyment and fun. The BMW design may be more modern and technically advanced but were an ugly poor attempt compared to a Proper MINI and should never have carried the name.
I agree absolutly with you Sir. The new car had nothing to compare with the classic ones, I had a 1070cc 1966 restored Morris Cooper S, of course the news Cooper S and Cooper JCW had much more power,safety, but are only littles BMW´s without nothing to compare with the pure and charismatic old Coopers and Cooper S of the sixties.
Willy Morris, really, what a misogynist, racist, homophobic arsehole. No wonder Issigonis buggered off to Alvis right away. Thank God, Leonard Lord was able to get him back. I don't even care for the stuff Morris did after his retirement. It's all charitable, but has a really foul taste to it when you know about this episode.
It is forever amazing that these numbties got this half right in the end. I think Issigonis was the only one who knew what he was actually doing. Management was totally baffled.
Epic video, they looked so smart but what a dreary depressing looking production line, so dark, noisy and just yuck 😬 Hats off to the men and women whom worked these lines, albeit if the cars where sadly less than great
Why the hell was the mini sold as a Morris, Austin, Riley and Wolseley. Having such big mouths in the British industry, they sure as hell do NOT know the first thing about business. Sell one thing under four different companies gets you to divide the profit by four. Daft as a brush.
