The popular Mini Cooper is somewhat new to the United States. Some had never seen it until Mike Myers used it in his Austin Powers movie. Today you see them on the road everywhere in the US. But the car has been around a very long time. Here are some fun facts about this adorable automobile.
- Back in 1959, the very first Mini did not have a radio. The creator of the car, Alec Issigonis, was a heavy smoker, so he used the space for a very large ashtray instead.
- There have been many names for the Mini Company. They start out as Austin, then Morris (it was the Morris Mini Minor!), Cooper and now it is part of BMW.
- Queen Elizabeth II knighted the man who invented the Austin Mini about 10 years after he created it.
- The most people ever packed into a Mini on record, is 28. It was a new Guiness World Record in 2012.
- John Cooper, the inventor of the Formula One car, is the person the Mini Cooper is named after. He created the sporty version of the Mini in 1961.
- The original Mini sold for about £497 in 1959. That would have been about $1800 at the time.
- The Mini Clubman was first designed and released in 1969 is still sold today in its updated all-wheel drive version.
- The last Mini Cooper to be built in its classic style was purchased by Kevin Spacey. He paid $130,000 for it.
- Marc Bolan from the band T-Rex was killed in a Mini 1275 GT when it veered off the road into a steel reinforced post.
- Were the pockets in the door meant for maps? No. They were meant for a bottle of gin and several bottles of tonic water.
Cheers!
Read more about the popular Mini’s creator, Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis.
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