Saturday, 22 November 2025

Still miss my Mini car...

Mine looked somewhat like this

My family had a series of (about five?) Minis across about twenty-five years, and starting with a very early model - about when I was a baby.

I learned to drive and passed my test on one of these - a mid 1970s model.


I always enjoyed driving the Mini. 

Road-holding was good; engine-braking was so marked that you hardly needed to use the foot-brake; it was good in the snow; and I found it quite acceptable even on long journeys (e.g. Edinburgh to Bristol, about 400 miles). 

The seating was comfortable - or at least did not give me a backache (as so many car seats did), despite me being 6ft tall.

(And Mini's were small - only about 10 ft long, with tiny wheels - taking up less space with wheel arches; but a miraculously clever maximization of internal space, that owners other similar-external-sized cars could only envy.)

Early Minis had more and better design features such as sliding windows allowing large door pockets; a boot lid that opened with a hinge at the bottom, to make a shelf for extra luggage (number-plate was hinged to remain vertical and legal!); hydrolastic suspension would stick the car to the road.


I later inherited a late 70s/ early 1980s model that was the only car I've owned with which I had a kind of personal relationship.

I still miss the Mini - the only care I ever owned who I feel this way about.


See what I did then? I said "who" about a car. That's it, really.


2 comments:

Stephen Macdonald said...

A charming and iconic vehicle that hearkens to a more noble Britain.

Of interest is the size difference between the original Mini and the current one, which in the US is considered a small car. If you google the size comparison there are numerous photos of the old parked alongside the new.

Bruce Charlton said...

@Stephen. Indeed! Nothing "mini" about the new one - which would have been a medium sized hatchback family saloon in the 1970s - the new Mini is just about 10cm shorter than the Austin Maxi - an expanded Mini which was huge inside! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Maxi