29 replies to this topic

[Cooperman]

I was driving from Wellingborough towards Milton Keynes yesterday in my road car when I caught up with a Mini on an E-registration (E at the beginning). It was red with white roof and looked in very good condition. Then I thought how small and dated it looked compared with the other cars on the road.
On reflection I thought that, well, it's a 54 year old design and will always look 'old fashioned' now. Imagine how we looked at a 1905 design when the Mini was introduced in 1959. It will never look modern or 'in fashion'.
But, what a timeless classic it really is. So evocative of the 60's & 70's when Minis were used by so many as everyday cars along with the Anglias, Cortinas, Vivas, etc, against which they looked just as modern and technologically equal or even superior.
Is the Mini, therefore, the 'Ultimate Classic' U.K. designed and built car? I think it is, but then I'm just ever-so-slightly biased!

[Ryang556]

I don't think you can argue with a car where the design had been kept the same for it's whole life, ultimate classic car!

Edited by Ryang556, 02 June 2012 - 12:33 PM.

[jaydee]

The mini, along with a few designs like the fiat 500 or the VW beetle is the only classic which will never look OLD and outdated especially compared to other classics from the 70ies and the 80ies..

[Richey]

I don't think it looks outdated at all.

[Cooperman]

Yes, the VW Beetle will always rival the Mini as the Ultimate Classic, but for we Brits the Mini has to be 'The Ultimate Classic'.
I guess for us the connotations with Hitler will tarnish the Beetle a bit, although it was built all over the World in huge numbers. They look very dated alongside modern cars now as well.

[leroy26]

an e type for everyday folk!
itll all come round again soon having a car so small you can park anywhere look at the vw up!, how bmw get away with the name of MINI when vw has done that! theyll have to respond and i cant wait!!

[jaydee]

To be honest i dont like neither the beetle or the 500..but worth considering them icons aswell..

[leroy26]

( along with the landrover cooperman thats hardly changed either!)

[Jake Didsbury]

I think your dead right, I know others will disagree, but in my opinion its the greatest car ever made and the greatest car that ever will be made, there's nothing like it, the looks, the drive, the sound, everything.

The mini changed how cars are built today to a massive extent, I mean you see people pull up at the lights in a flash modern sports car no one takes much notice, you could pull up and the biggest shed of a mini the most non mint condition one and someone will always look.

And to say it was in production for 41 years with very little changes, the design remained the same just prooves how good it is, and to say 41 years, its really 53 years as they are still making shells... says it all

[minispaniard]

as it has been said, they don't look as outdated compared to other classics.

We went to Minispares in Potters Bar to collect a few bits and saw a couple of Minis on the M25. We were driving the boring Focus and first thing I said to the wife was precisely that: "Minis look so great, so tiny compared to modern cars but still blend so well, and add a bit of joy, in modern traffic"

[Cooperman]

I don't think it looks outdated at all.

You are as biased as me and all the rest of us on here
But of course, the Mini was never 'styled'. It was, quite simply 'engineered' by Alec Issogonis to meet Leonard Lord's mandate in the same way as the VW was 'engineered' by Dr. Porsche to meet Adolf Hitlers requirements. Both are total engineering icons, but for we Brits, it has to be a Mini that is the ultimate. Long may it be so.

[jaydee]

an e type for everyday folk!

to break down everyday!

E type are gorgous by the way

[leroy26]

as long as your around uncle cooperman to help us young pups out it will be!

I don't think it looks outdated at all.

You are as biased as me and all the rest of us on here
But of course, the Mini was never 'styled'. It was, quite simply 'engineered' by Alec Issogonis to meet Leonard Lord's mandate in the same way as the VW was 'engineered' by Dr. Porsche to meet Adolf Hitlers requirements. Both are total engineering icons, but for we Brits, it has to be a Mini that is the ultimate. Long may it be so.

[Jake Didsbury]

one of the big factors for me is the simplicity, your not messing about with torque drives you need 5 or 6 different size spanners and your laughing, when something goes wrong its usually a quick fix.... this morning my indicators wernt working, I wiggled a wire an wahhyy there working again, go some sand paper, cleaned the earth on the back light and problem solved, try doing that with a 12 plate car

[leroy26]

you wont be allowed to do that to a 12 plate car before long i bet europe will outlaw it!