MINI COOPER (PICHARDO) The Mini is the small car icon of the 1960s.

It was produced by BMC (British Motor Corporation) starting with 1959 and was the first car to get the front-wheel-drive. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

The MINI was designed as a result of the 1956 Suez Crisis, which reduced oil supplies, and forced the UK government to introduce petrol rationing. Obviously, the sales of large cars, with high fuel consumption dropped and the market for so called bubble cars, including the MINI boomed. BMC realized that they had to produce a small vehicle quickly. Issigonis, had a reputation for been highly skilled in designing small vehicles was assigned to this task of creating a small, economical car. Together with a small team of designers Issigonis got to produce the original prototype of the MINI by October 1957. Originally called the New Market (as it was aimed at a New Market in the car industry), the name was soon dropped and changed to the MINI, a name reflecting its size and ecumenical prowess. The MINI used a conventional BMC four-cylinder water-cooled engine, mounted transversely with a four-speed gearbox transmission placed in the sump, and with FWD (Front Wheel Drive). FEATURES (JAUREGUI)

All of the small FWD cars developed since the 1970s have used a similar configuration to the original MINI. Another innovation on the MINI was the placement of the radiator at the left side of the car so that the engine-mounted fan could be retained, but with reversed pitch so the fan blew air into the natural low pressure area under the front wing of the MINI. This saved a lot of vehicle length, but had the short coming of feeding the radiator with air that had been heated by passing over the engine. The sliding windows in the doors allowed for storage pockets to be fitted in the space where a winding window mechanism would have been. MINI legend says that Issigonis sized the resulting storage pocket to fit a bottle of his favorite gin inside. Another smart feature was the boot lid that had the hinges at the bottom, so that the car could be driven with the boot open to increase luggage space. The MK I models had a hinged number plate that dropped down to remain visible when the boot lid was open. Another goal of the original MINI designers was to keep the manual labor costs as low as possible. Therefore, the simple construction of first MINI included quirky welded seams that were visible on the outside of the car and also external door and boot hinges. EARLY SKETCH (LOS DOS)

All of the MINIs smart technical novelties produced a car with minimum overall dimensions and maximized space for passengers and luggage. Other MINI enhancements included the mounting of the carburetor at the back of the MINI engine. This allowed for an extra reduction gear to be mounted between the engine and the transmission to reduce loads on the gearbox and prevent rapid wear. The MINI engine had 51.7 cubic inches and offered an excellent a top speed for this type of a car of 72 mph. Although the MINIs design had utilitarian origins, the shape of the classic model became so iconic that Rover Group (the heirs to BMC) registered the MINI and its shape as a trademark in the early 1990s.