In what year did 'Austin' launch the Mini?
"Mini (marque) Mini (stylised as MINI) is a British automotive marque, owned by BMW since 2000, and used by them for a range of small cars. The word Mini has been used in car model names since 1959, and in 1969 it became a marque in its own right when the name ""Mini"" replaced the separate ""Austin Mini"" and ""Morris Mini"" car model names. BMW acquired the marque in 1994 when it bought Rover Group (formerly British Leyland), which owned Mini, among other brands. The original Mini was a line of iconic British small cars manufactured by the British Motor"
"1966 the Mini was disqualified after the finish, along with six other British entrants, which included the first four cars to finish, under a questionable ruling that the cars had used an illegal combination of headlamps and spotlights. Initially Minis were marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor, until Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. The Mini was again marketed under the Austin name in the 1980s. In the 1990s, BMW was seeking to broaden its model range through the addition of compact cars and SUVs. This sparked a"
"early versions of the A30 in 1951 and Mini in 1959. Until the First World War Austin built mainly large cars, but in 1909 they sold a single-cylinder small car built by Swift of Coventry called the Austin 7 hp. After this they returned to bigger cars. In 1920 Sir Herbert Austin commenced working on the concept of a smaller car, mainly to meet the needs of young families aspiring to own an affordable motor car. This idea was spurred on by the introduction of the Horsepower Tax in 1921. His design concept marked a departure from his company's conservative"
"and the Morris version outsold its Austin twin, so the Austin's name was changed to Mini to follow suit. In 1970, British Leyland dropped the separate Austin and Morris branding of the Mini, and it was subsequently simply ""Mini"", under the Austin Morris division of BLMC. The principle of a transverse engine with gearbox in the sump and driving the front wheels was applied to larger cars, beginning with the 1100 of 1963, (although the Morris-badged version was launched 13 months earlier than the Austin, in August 1962), the 1800 of 1964 and the Maxi of 1969. This meant that"
"as well. The Morris name Mini (Mini-Minor) was first used for Austin's version by BMC in 1961 when the Austin Seven was rebranded as the Austin Mini, somewhat to the surprise of the Sharp's Commercials car company (later known as Bond Cars), who had been using the name Minicar for their three-wheeled vehicles since 1949. However, legal action was somehow averted, and BMC used the name ""Mini"" thereafter. In 1964, the suspension of the cars was replaced by another Moulton design, the hydrolastic system. The new suspension gave a softer ride, but it also increased weight and production cost. In"
"frame had some larger bushings introduced. Twin stalk indicators were introduced with larger foot pedals. From 1977 onwards, the rear indicator lamps had the reverse lights incorporated in them. In 1980, the engine was upgraded to the improved A-Plus unit from the new Metro. This was then followed by a number of later incremental developments: In 1978, the Mini was one of the key cars made available to disabled motorists under the new Motability scheme. Reports of the Mini's imminent demise surfaced again in 1980 with the launch of the Austin Mini-Metro (badging with the word ""mini"" in all lowercase)."
"official drawing office project number (""ADO15"") so that the thousands of drawings required for production could be produced. In August 1959 the car was launched as the Morris Mini Minor and the Austin Seven, which soon became known as the Austin Mini. In later years, the car would become known simply as the ""Mini"". Due to time pressures, the interconnected suspension system that Issigonis had planned for the car was replaced by an equally novel, but cruder, rubber cone system designed by Alex Moulton. The Mini went on to become the best selling British car in history with a production"
"has a remote shift selector. An automatic, 4-speed transmission was introduced in 1965. In 1960, a 2-seater van was launched, along with an estate, both sharing a longer wheelbase In 1961 the pickup was introduced, also based on the longer wheelbase The Mini received some minor modifications in 1967 as sold as the Austin or Morris Mini in most markets. The Mark III Mini was launched in 1969, which was an updated version of Mark II with a modified bodyshell. The most visible changes were larger doors with concealed hinges. The boot lid lost the original hinged number plate and"
"""Austin 1500"" on its spring 1969 launch, and a saloon version the ""Morris 1500"" was to follow in the autumn. However, upon the merger of BMC and Leyland the new management abandoned the four-door saloon notchback and developed the Morris Marina instead. The Marina, launched in April 1971, was a rear-wheel drive car available as a saloon, coupe or estate. The new chairman Lord Stokes decided to also change the hatchback's name to the Maxi in homage to the Mini of 10 years earlier. All Maxis were produced at the Cowley plant in Oxford, although the E-Series engines were made"
"Museum in Hampshire. The Mini was marketed under BMC's two main brand names, Austin and Morris, until 1969, when it became a marque in its own right. The Morris version was known to all as ""the Mini"" or the ""Morris Mini-Minor"". This seems to have been a play on words: the Morris Minor was a larger, well known and successful car that continued in production, and ""minor"" is Latin for ""lesser"", so an abbreviation of the Latin word for ""least"" – ""minimus"" – was used for the new even smaller car. One name proposed for the almost identical Austin version"
"in 2019. It will also be produced in China. Launched in August 1959, the Mark 1 Mini (code name ADO 15) was initially marketed as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. Mark I Minis can be identified by exterior door hinges, sliding door glass, tail lights smaller than later cars and a “mustache” grille. The A-series engine came in a wide range of capacities, initially as an 848 cc, but later the 997, 998, 1071 and 1275 cc engines were added. The non-Cooper cars had gearboxes with the “magic wand” selector, with 4-speeds (no synchromesh on 1st) while the Coopers"
"a Mini was at a Bonhams auction in 2007, when a works rally-prepared Mini (DJB 93B) sold for £100,500 ($196,980). Between 1960 and 1967, BMC exported approximately 10,000 left-hand drive BMC Minis to the United States. Sales were discontinued when stricter federal safety standards were imposed in 1968 and the arrival of the larger and more profitable Austin America. Mini sales fell in the 1967 calendar year and the US importer was expecting the forthcoming Austin America to find a larger market. The America was also withdrawn in 1972 due to slow sales and the introduction of bumper-height standards. Today"
"run of 5.3 million cars. This ground-breaking design, with its front wheel drive, transverse engine, sump gearbox, 10-inch wheels, and phenomenal space efficiency, was still being manufactured in 2000 and has been the inspiration for almost all small front-wheel drive cars produced since the early 1960s. In 1961, with the Mini gaining popularity, Issigonis was promoted to Technical Director of BMC. He continued to be responsible for his original ""XC"" projects. ""XC/9002"" became ""ADO16"" and was launched as the Morris 1100 with the Hydrolastic interconnected suspension system in August 1962. ""XC/9001"" became ""ADO17"" and was launched, also with the Hydrolastic"
"design was the 1959 848 cc FF layout Austin Mini from the British Motor Corporation, designed by Alec Issigonis as a response to the first oil crisis, the 1956 Suez Crisis, and the boom in bubble cars and Microcars that followed. It was the first front-wheel-drive car with a water-cooled in-line four-cylinder engine mounted transversely - the BMC A-Series engine. This allowed eighty percent of the floor plan for the use of passengers and luggage. The majority of modern cars use this configuration. Its progressive rate rubber sprung independent suspension (Hydrolastic 1964–1971), low centre of gravity, and wheel at each"
"to equip its factories with the latest capital-intensive production methods. BMC's Mini, designed by Alec Issigonis, had revolutionized the small car market in 1959, and the car remained among the UK's best selling cars for more than 20 years after its launch, the last version finally rolling off the production line on 4 October 2000 after a run of 41 years. The Rootes Group launched the similar-sized Hillman Imp four years later, but by the end of the 1960s Ford and Vauxhall had yet to launch a comparable product, and even with foreign imports slowly starting to gain ground on"
"that time there was little that could be done to disguise the age of the design, and it was too late to make much of an impact on sales. By the end of the 1970s, the future of Austin and the rest of British Leyland (now known as BL) was looking bleak. The Austin Metro, launched in October 1980, was heralded as the saviour of Austin Motor Company and the whole BL combine. Twenty-one years after the launch of the Mini, it gave BL a much-needed modern supermini to compete with the recently launched likes of the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall"
"in order to avoid a traffic jam. Although the sequence was filmed, it was not included in the final cut. In June 2018, the Mini from the film was sold for US$70,000. The Mini eventually had its debut on the big screen when it featured in the film ""Mr. Bean's Holiday"" under the registration YGL 572T. Differently to the Minis before (which use the colour Austin Citron green) this Mini is painted in 'Nissan Amarillo Yellow'. The film also featured a second version of the Mini with exactly the same colour scheme but with left-hand drive, driven by the female"
"Mini The Mini is a small economy car produced by the English-based British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered an icon of 1960s British popular culture. Its space-saving transverse engine front-wheel drive layout – allowing 80 percent of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage – influenced a generation of car makers. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T, and ahead of the Citroën DS and Volkswagen Beetle. This distinctive two-door car was"
"better equipped, and had better under-bonnet access, but they were more expensive and aerodynamically inferior to the original 1959 design. The Mini Clubman and 1275 GT were replaced in 1980 by the new hatchback Austin Metro, while production of the original ""round-front"" Mini design continued for another 20 years. At the end of Clubman and 1275 GT production, 275,583 Clubman saloons, 197,606 Clubman Estates and 110,673 1275 GTs had been made. For the Australian market, all Minis including the Van gained the Clubman front in 1971 although the car was still basically a Mk I behind the A-Pillar. The Australian"
"the Turin Show in 1974. The new, Bertone-styled Mini was originally launched in two versions, the 90L and 120L – the former having the 998 cc A-series engine putting out , and the latter the 1275 cc unit, with an extra on tap. These outputs were later uprated to and respectively. As for the English-built Mini, the Innocenti received the ""dry"" rubber cone suspension, which provided excellent handling but at the cost of a very bumpy ride. All Leyland-engined Innocentis received a four-speed manual transmission. At one point there were even plans for the Bertone-designed Mini to replace the original"
"Austin Maestro The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car (and two-door van derivative) that was produced from 1982 to 1987 by British Leyland, and from 1988 until 1994 by Rover Group. The car was produced at Morris' former Oxford plant, also known as Cowley. Today, the redeveloped factory produces the BMW Mini. An MG-branded performance version was sold as the MG Maestro from 1983 until 1991. Although later models were sometimes referred to as the Rover Maestro, the model never wore the Rover badge. A three-box (non-hatchback) car, the Montego, was a derivative of the Maestro. British"
"claimed that a kangaroo can go all day without drinking which the advertisers used to emphasise the frugal fuel consumption and, possibly, larger fuel tank. Issigonis' friend John Cooper, owner of the Cooper Car Company and designer and builder of Formula One and rally cars, saw the potential of the Mini for competition. Issigonis was initially reluctant to see the Mini in the role of a performance car, but after John Cooper appealed to BMC management, the two men collaborated to create the Mini Cooper. The Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper debuted in September 1961. The engine from"
"its recess shape and a large rear colour-coded lamp was fitted in its place, along with larger rear side windows. Sliding windows were replaced with winding windows—although some Australian-manufactured Mark I Minis had adopted this feature in 1965 (with opening quarterlight windows). The suspension reverted from Hydrolastic to rubber cones. as a cost-saving measure. Production at the Cowley plant was ended, and the simple name ""Mini"" completely replaced the separate Austin and Morris brands. The Mark IV, launched in 1976, introduced a front rubber mounted subframe with single tower bolts and larger bushes in the rear frame. In addition twin"
"as a complete Mini replacement, LC8 would now become a separate car in its own right to replace the higher-end Mini models while the more basic Minis would continue (with some of the improvements from the ADO88 project such as the A-Plus engine and front disc brakes) as a budget model. The LC8 became the Austin Metro, which was initially launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini-Metro to signify its status as a supplement to the Mini range rather than a replacement. At the 1997 Geneva Motor Show, BMW and Rover revealed two Mini concepts called the Spiritual and Spiritual"
"Mini fifty years later. However, in 1909 the idea of a 'conventional lay-out' was less firmly rooted than it would have become by 1959, and for Cristie the vehicle's more striking novelty lay the fact that the entire ""forecarriage"", incorporating all the key mechanical components, could be detached and replaced in ""less than one hour"", so that the vehicle could stay on the road while the engine maintenance took place. The car's radical lay-out was to necessitate the manufacture of many complex components in-house, and problems encountered subsequently by other manufacturers producing or finding a dependable universal joint make it"
"and major advances in just-in-time and flexible manufacturing concepts. This factory produced the Austin Lancer and Morris Major models which were based on the Wolseley 1500 but modified for Australian conditions. In another example of the badge engineering prevalent at the time, the Morris Marshal was produced, based on the Austin A95 Westminster. In 1961 the Mini entered production in Australia as the Morris 850. The Mini proving very popular in Australia as it was in the UK. Its success prompted a revised Australian only model line up to be introduced in 1965, beginning with the Morris Mini Deluxe, the"
"obvious changes were larger doors with concealed hinges. Customer demand led to the sliding windows being replaced with winding windows—although some Australian-manufactured Mark I Minis had adopted this feature in 1965 (with opening quarterlight windows). The suspension reverted from Hydrolastic to rubber cones as a cost-saving measure. (The 1275 GT and Clubman would retain the hydrolastic system until June 1971 when they, too, switched to the rubber cone suspension of the original Minis.) Production at the Cowley plant was ended, and the simple name ""Mini"" completely replaced the separate Austin and Morris brands. In April 1974 a heater became standard"
"39,800 in 1986. By 1990, with the reintroduction of the very popular Cooper model, Mini production would pass 40,000. In 1988 Austin Rover decided to keep the Mini in production for as long as it was viable to do so, putting an end to reports that it would be discontinued by 1991 – by which time the original Metro would also be replaced. The fibreglass Mini built in Chile from 1970 until 1974 was not the only fibreglass version: in the summer of 1991, a fibreglass bodied Mini again entered production, this time in Venezuela. The producer, Facorca, intended to"
"Austin Metro The Metro is a city car that was produced by British Leyland (BL) and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro. It was intended to complement and eventually replace the Mini, and was developed under the codename LC8. The Metro was named by ""What Car?"" as Car of The Year in 1983 as an MG, and again as a Rover in 1991. During its 18-year lifespan, the Metro wore many names: Austin Metro, MG Metro and Rover Metro. It was re-badged as the Rover 100 series in"
"Mini Hatch The Mini Hatch (stylized as MINI hatch, or MINI Hardtop in the US), also known as Mini Cooper, Mini One, or simply the Mini, is a three-door hatchback first introduced in late 2000, with a second generation launched in 2006 and a third generation model launched in 2014. A convertible version was introduced in 2004, with the second generation following in 2008. The Mini Hatch was the first model launched by BMW under the Mini marque after the original Mini was discontinued in 2000. The new model built by BMW is technically unrelated to the former. The Mini"
"2, p. 121, ""Austin Allegro."" BMC A-series engine Austin Motor Company's small straight-4 automobile engine, the A series, is one of the most common in the world. Launched in 1951 with the Austin A30, production lasted until 2000 in the Mini. It used a cast-iron block and cylinder head, and a steel crankshaft with 3 main bearings. The camshaft ran in the cylinder block, driven by a single-row chain for most applications, and with tappets sliding in the block, accessible through pressed steel side covers for most applications, and with overhead valves operated through rockers. The cylinder head for the"
"wheels helped to reduce the intrusion of wheel arches into the interior of the vehicle and allowed a modest amount of additional luggage space in a ""boot"" area behind the rear seats. Overall the Mini represents some very clever packaging which has often been imitated but has never been bettered. An Austin de luxe saloon was tested by the British magazine ""The Motor"" in 1959. It had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0– in 27.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £537 including taxes of £158. Issigonis' friend John Cooper, owner of"
"fundamentally superior vehicles for their time. The Austin/MG Metro was regularly among the top five selling cars in Britain throughout the 1980s, and for two years in the early part of the decade it was the best selling supermini in Britain. The Metro, which was launched in 1980, gave the firm a much-needed competitor in modern supermini market and filled a gap in the range vacated by a scaling down of Mini and Austin Allegro production. At its peak in 1983, the Metro was Britain's third best selling car with more than 130,000 sales. The Austin Maestro, launched at the"