- Great Britain, land of the Beatles, Big Ben,
the Queen, Queen.
It's also home to some of the most influential cars
ever made.
Jaguar. Land Rover. Lotus.
But one car stands out above the rest.
Or should I say below.
The most British car of all time.
One so iconic that they didn't change it for 40 years.
It's the best selling icon of British motoring
that changed car design forever.
It's also really cute.
It is the most British thing since the queen herself.
Ello govner. This is everything you need to know.
Ello govner. This is everything you need to know.
To get up to speed.
Oh my God.
This is everything you need to know to get up to speed
on the mini.
Mhm.
The mini was built to answer a question.
Yo. How do we fit the most stuff
in the smallest space possible?
The Morris company wanted a car
that was efficient, roomy,
small enough to conquer London traffic,
and still be fun to blast down in English B roads.
The job was given to Morris engineer Alec Issigonis.
Who had previously worked on the Morris Minor,
another icon of British post war design.
In 1952, Morris and Austin had merged
to create the British motor company.
Issigonis and his team struggled to strike a balance
between a small exterior and a roomy interior
until they had a major breakthrough
that would influence economy cars for decades.
They turned the engine sideways
and made it power the front wheels.
This little tweak changed everything.
The transverse engine mounting
saved room in the engine compartment
which made the cabin bigger.
Front wheel drive eliminated the drive shaft
to the back wheels,
allowing for a flat floor,
making more rear leg room.
Four fully grown adults could fit inside
the impossibly small prototype.
Even more impressive that the capacity was
the cars maneuverability.
The wheels were very close to each corner of the car,
which blessed it with incredibly nimble handling.
Issigonis was so committed to nailing the driving feel,
that Morris converted an air field
into a test track just so they could fine tune
the handling.
Basically they had the top damn test track
a couple of years before James May was born.
Once they had perfected the ride
the prototype was ready for mass production.
While other manufacturers built their cars
on an assembly line,
Morris built their new car on a jig.
Welding every piece of body work together
piece by piece.
The process was slow and meticulous,
but it insured quality fitment all the time.
This commitment to precision in minis
would soon become one of the brand's defining factors.
The mini debuted as the Morris Mini-Minor
and Austin Seven in 1959.
And people went batshit over it.
- Whoa! That sounds so familiar.
- Bat droppings.
- The small stature made it perfect for city driving.
And driving it was fun.
BMC was satisfied with the public's perception of the mini
as the practical family four seater.
But they wanted the little rascal to be something more.
Like when my dad told me I could be so much more
if I just applied myself
instead of just doing the bare minimum like I always do.
Well guess who's on the internet now, dad.
So Morris did what any parent would do
and signed the mini up for some sports.
BMC prepared cars to be entered in the Monte Carlo rally
in 1961.
The race took place in January,
meaning the scrappy little mini has to deal
with icy roads and snow.
All while racing with Ferrari and Lotuses.
The car did okay.
Leading it's class until suffering an accident
that ended the run.
It was never gonna win with 34 horsepower
but while other cars were spinning out on the ice,
the mini's front wheel drive gave it awesome grip
in the crappy conditions.
BMC and Issigonis knew they were onto something with this
cool little front wheel drive racer car.
Good job you little guy.
Good job you little mini.
You did so good in Monte Carlo.
You did so good in Monte Carlo.
I'm very proud of you.
I think he's a natural.
No one saw the potential better than English racing legend
John Cooper.
Why is Cooper such a legend?
Oh well nothing huge,
he and his dad only changed formula one forever
when their mid engine race car won back to back
championships in the late 50's.
Convincing everyone else to go mid engine.
Influencing race and road cars for decades to come.
That's it.
No big deal.
Cooper saw the minis racing in Monte Carlo
and was like,
do you guys really want to win?
I can help you do that.
And Issigonis was like.
Okay chap.
Cooper tuned up the tiny engine to make 70 horsepower
and upgraded the brakes.
The result was the Mini Cooper S.
Ever heard of it?
John Cooper and the gang took the mini back
to Monico 1964
and kicked everyone's (beep)!
Then they went back the next year
and kicked everyone's (beep) again!
The next year they won again!
But they were disqualified because they had
the wrong light bulbs in their headlights.
Seriously?
But mini didn't get discouraged.
They came back the next year and won again.
The repeated success of the Mini Cooper proved
that you didn't need to have hundreds of horsepower
and an Italian name to win races.
You just needed heart.
So many people were inspired by the minis rally outings
that they began to race minis on their own.
Both the mini class leagues and against other sports cars.
The go kart like handling
made it a force to be reckoned with on road courses.
Here's the crazy thing about minis.
They were made for over 40 years with like
a million engine options
and little changes here and there
to make them safer.
But the look hardly changed at all.
To the untrained eye,
the classic mini that rolled off the assembly line
in 2000 would be nearly indistinguishable
from one made in the early 60s.
That's how much people love the mini.
If it isn't broken don't fix it.
Make little changes,
you don't need to reinvent the wheel.
But this doesn't mean there wasn't some experimentation
with the mini formula.
God knows we've all experimented.
Hey Chris.
1960 saw the introduction of the mini van.
Not the mini van, but the mini van.
Which was like any other panel van of the era
but mini.
That same year there was an estate which is British
for station wagon.
The estate even had wood trim
giving it the nickname Woody.
The next year a mini pickup was introduced
with a bed big enough for like a box.
Perhaps the strangest mini ever
was the mini moke.
And I'm not kidding,
this is actually real.
It's an off road version developed for military use.
The British army and Royal Marines took one look
at puny Jeep wannabe and they were like
you know what, mate? We're good.
Lack of military interest not withstanding,
BMC produced the moke anyway
and it became a cult classic.
But by far the coolest mini variant
was the ERA Mini Turbo released in 1989.
This wide bodied performance hatchback
made 100 horsepower and was the only classic mini
to come from the factory with a turbo.
It had a top speed of 115 miles per hour
which actually sounds terrifying.
Have you ever driven a mini?
It's scary.
The car was built by English Racing Automobiles
a company that specialized in building grand pre cars
in the 1930s.
Minis parent company at the time, Rover,
wanted ERA to build a performance based mini
in the spirit of the cooper.
Only 436 ERA Turbos were ever sold
and most of them went to Japan.
So they're super dupes rare.
In 1994, BMW bought the Rover group
and development of a new car started right away.
Rover kept building the classic mini
until BMW sold them to Ford in 2000.
The last classic mini to roll of the line
was built the same way it had been built for decades.
By hand.
In late 2000, BMW rolled out the new mini cooper.
The old king was dead,
but his son had taken the throne.
The mini cooper was unmistakably mini.
With round headlights and a signature white roof.
Yeah it was a little bigger than the old one,
but compared to other cars on the road,
it was still pretty mini.
Many minis - Heh.
Many mini purists weren't completely convinced
it was a proper replacement.
But that didn't matter because the new mini
was an immediate commercial success.
As a tribute to John Cooper
BMW revived the Cooper S name for the sport version.
The Cooper S was powered by super charged 1.6 liter engine
making 160 horsepower.
Giving it a better power to rate ratio
than the original.
These things are rad.
The block is cast iron,
so you can tune the hell out of it
without worrying about blowing it up.
And it handles twisty roads just as well as the old one.
The mini's like yo, dad, I'm bigger than you.
And I'm faster than you.
Which is the opposite of me.
I am smaller and slower than my dad.
Like the mini of old, the brand started introducing
fresh models to expand the brand.
You've the mini convertible of 2005
which is great for California
but not ideal for rainy Britain where it was born.
In 2007, mini introduced a diesel version
which we never got in the states because we never
get diesel cars.
It's like, hey where's the diesel pump?
And the guys like, uh ...
Across town.
And you're like what.
Yeah we don't really import that many diesel cars over here.
So ...
2008 gave us the mini club man,
which was a little longer for more leg room
and had a weird little baby door
on the right side and barn doors in the back.
In 2011, mini unveiled their very first crossover.
The country man.
It had all wheel drive.
More ground clearance,
and was all beefed up like that kid in junior high
who went through puberty over summer break
and beat everyone's (beep) now.
Darrel I know I used to take your lunch money
but can we work this out?
I'm sorry I'm not a bully anymore.
The country man also marked minis return
to the rally scene.
Both in the backwoods and rally cross events
all over the world.
The roided out mini won the brutal the car rally
four fricking times.
Making it one of the toughest rally cars ever.
The variation in the mini line up
established the brand not only as quirky, novelty
but a legitimate family to choose from.
The crown jewel in line up being
the John Cooper works model.
These are the fastest minis you can buy.
With turbo charge engines making 220 horsepower.
They've got functional break ducts in the front
to keep your breaks cool
while you're tearing up the track.
If you thought mini forgot about it's heritage,
you're dead wrong.
These things are real sports cars.
I mean it's British racing green with red stripes.
Those colors don't even match.
It's like Christmas race car.
That's race car as (beep) man.
The mini is truly an icon.
The British love this car.
In 2015, they voted it the most British car of all time.
Beating out the Land Rover, the Jaguar E type,
and the horse and carriage.
No car better encapsulates British sensibility
than this quirky economy car.
All right we obviously missed some things
so feel free to tell us what.
If you have a mini,
let us see them.
Is the new mini really a true mini?
If you're a British girl, hit me up.
Why don't any girls ever message us?
It's all guys.
If you're British, how often do you say pip pip?
Say what's up to the queen for me.
We got some more shows going on.
We're gonna have a science show,
my buddy's Barts hosting it.
It's gonna be really funny.
And really educational.
And as always, like, comment, subscribe,
and share. Cheerio.
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