Mini old and new thought it was quite an interesting picture

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Saw a very unusual old mini in the local Morrisons car park. Reg, p26 sfw . White, red and blue , mural of Michael Caine on the front , but what really caught my eye was the fact that it had 15 or 16" alloys . On second look , the bodywork had been heavily modified , the back end appearing to be wider/longer than original , all deseamed , but nonetheless a rather stunning and no doubt costly Mini. Certainly got loads of admiring looks.;)
 
Saw a very unusual old mini in the local Morrisons car park. Reg, p26 sfw . White, red and blue , mural of Michael Caine on the front , but what really caught my eye was the fact that it had 15 or 16" alloys . On second look , the bodywork had been heavily modified , the back end appearing to be wider/longer than original , all deseamed , but nonetheless a rather stunning and no doubt costly Mini. Certainly got loads of admiring looks.;)

ijmini.jpg
 
All we need now is a side-by-side photo of a real Mini and one of those bleeding awful new 'Mini' Countrymans...

I followed one a few days ago (in my 211) and noticed that the roof was at least 6 inches higher than mine. Mini, my @rse...
 
All we need now is a side-by-side photo of a real Mini and one of those bleeding awful new 'Mini' Countrymans...

I followed one a few days ago (in my 211) and noticed that the roof was at least 6 inches higher than mine. Mini, my @rse...

The rear doors look like American fridge doors - yuk.
 
Yeah plus the guy who is driving it looks well chavy Eh !

Says it all nas pas
 
The old mini is indeed a car design icon. :cool: They were however terrible things to work on, had very old fashioned siamesed port engines in their original form, whiny transfer gears, a gearbox that shared oil with the engine and rear subframes that failed the MOT due to rust with spectacular regularity. :eek: But somehow they were sexy in that unique British "Austin Powers" way. ;) They did however open car ownership to the masses along with Ford Anglias and the like :thumb: when buying a Renault Dauphine or Citroen Deux Cheveau would get you funny looks down the local J Arthur Rank cinema or Mecca Ballroom of a Saturday night. :ban: They were of their time but were in fact death traps if you happened to be unfortunate to be in a collision in one one of them. :(:( And so we come to the reason why today's Minis are not so " mini" any more. They have had to grow in size to become safer and continue to do so. Bigger cars mean more room for safety equipment bigger crumple zones and greater resistance to side impacts. With our increasingly crowded roads this surely can't be a bad thing? :dk:
 
The old mini is indeed a car design icon. :cool: They were however terrible things to work on, had very old fashioned siamesed port engines in their original form, whiny transfer gears, a gearbox that shared oil with the engine and rear subframes that failed the MOT due to rust with spectacular regularity. :eek: But somehow they were sexy in that unique British "Austin Powers" way. ;) They did however open car ownership to the masses along with Ford Anglias and the like :thumb: when buying a Renault Dauphine or Citroen Deux Cheveau would get you funny looks down the local J Arthur Rank cinema or Mecca Ballroom of a Saturday night. :ban: They were of their time but were in fact death traps if you happened to be unfortunate to be in a collision in one one of them. :(:( And so we come to the reason why today's Minis are not so " mini" any more. They have had to grow in size to become safer and continue to do so. Bigger cars mean more room for safety equipment bigger crumple zones and greater resistance to side impacts. With our increasingly crowded roads this surely can't be a bad thing? :dk:

It's a good point.

Original Mini reached the end of it's life by not being able to meet legislation (emissions/safety).
 
MOCAS , I do not know how the **** you do it , but that is the very same one that we saw on friday at Morrisons , Weston-super-Mare !:confused:
 
Original Mini reached the end of it's life by not being able to meet legislation (emissions/safety).

That's not my recollection.

Sales had dropped. And with the Metro/100 not being produced there was presumably nothing that it shared engines with.

It was considered an antique in the 80s. It's amazing it lasted longer.
 
That's not my recollection.

Sales had dropped. And with the Metro/100 not being produced there was presumably nothing that it shared engines with.

It was considered an antique in the 80s. It's amazing it lasted longer.

When Metro became 100 in 1990 it used K series, not A series, but Mini continued on with the A Series until 2000.

This from Wiki:
"The Mini, challenged by increasingly demanding European safety and pollution standards, was planned by British Aerospace to be taken out of production in 1996, but BMW chose to invest to keep the Mini legal until the launch of the BMW MINI.[81]"
 
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Kind of on topic.

You don't realise quite small/big some cars are until they're parked side by side.

LotusElisevs.RollsRoycePhantom.jpg
 
^ wow a head on crash the people in the Rolls would probably think its a speed bump and maybe would have spilled some of their champaign

:)
 
Closest equivalent to an old mini front subframe construction I could get --I rest my case. ;) [YOUTUBE]sUs-h23sp7M[/YOUTUBE]
 
I was blessed with a clubman (twin back doors) for a day last week.

The inside felt the same size as an old escort estate.

But the driving was a million times better.
 
given the differences in age and prices when new, interesting to see how close the screen prices are today
 
Grober that video is scarry

I had a mini (a clubman estate) then 2 * MG metros (you think I would have learnt having one)

Both in my mad teenage years also....

Since then I have had much quicker (and safer) cars yet probably also drive Much slower :)
 
I've owned two classic Mini Clubman's and a limited edition Mini Chelsea (driven around Silverstone on the Mini 25th Anniversary event) - but while the 'new' Mini looks smart from outside the love affairs ends when sitting inside.

Even so, it looks as though BMW are planning to launch a 'mini' Mini (similar in size to the original) in 2014.
 

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