The original Mini (in Austin and Morris versions) was introduced to the public sixty years ago on this date in 1959! It was an amazing design in its day, and would carry on for decades, despite the travails of the British auto industry. It is one of the rare low-priced vehicles with so much character that it would be owned by royalty as well as working-class folks. Mini became a grassroots motorsports hero, with untold success in autocross, road racing, "mini-stock" racing, rally, ice racing and hill climbing, even though it is perhaps best remembered for the getaway car role in The Italian Job. So raise a glass of warm beer to Sir Alec Issigonis and tell us about your Minis!
I'll start: I had a real Mini mini-stock race car, with the Austin America 1275 engine. I never ran it in an actual race, but they used to let me run on "test and tune" night on the 1/3 mile dirt East Bay Raceway. They put me out there with the "Thunder Cars" which were tanks, like old cop cars for example. You probably could have fit the Mini into the trunk of some of those cars. I had to be pretty careful, like a Chihuahua on a dance floor. I have a photo or two somewhere that I will stumble across one day.
