The Mini Cooper is the most iconic British-built car of all time, survey shows – but did your favourite make the top 40 list?

The Mini Cooper has been voted essentially the most iconic British-built automotive of all time, in accordance with a brand new survey of motorists.

The ballot of two,000 automotive aficionados discovered {that a} third of Brits (27 per cent) really feel affection in direction of the small motor, beating even the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (23 per cent) and James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 (22 per cent) to the highest spot.

Whereas Jaguar got here out on prime for Britain’s favorite producer, the traditional Mini – now celebrating its sixty fifth birthday – cemented its place as a worldwide icon with its famed look in The Italian Job (1969).

By 1999, the Mini was voted the second-most influential automotive of the twentieth century – after Henry Ford’s Mannequin T – and stays a mainstay in in style tradition, that includes in The Italian Job’s 2003 reboot and provoking generations of in style descendants ever since.

The unique Mini was designed for British Motor Company by Sir Alec Issigonis and first hit the streets in 1959.

However it was within the swinging sixties in Britain that it grew to become an icon, rounding off the last decade with an influential look in The Italian Job.

Since then, Minis have featured in every little thing from Mr Bean to the movie variations of Robert Ludlum’s Bourne franchise and Austin Powers.

In a ballot of two,000 drivers, Mini clinched pole place by a 5 per cent margin, forward of the Jaguar E-Kind on 22 per cent. 

Jaguars seem within the prime 40 checklist seven occasions making it the nation’s favorite automotive model, with the XJ6 MK1 (9 per cent), XK120 (9 per cent), MK2 (9 per cent), F-Kind (eight per cent), XF (six per cent) and F-Tempo (5 per cent) all being thought of among the many finest British vehicles ever constructed.

15 per cent of the two,000 Brits surveyed selected the Morris Minor as their favorite British constructed automotive, whereas 15 per cent love the Aston Martin DB11.

An extra 13 per cent went for the Land Rover Defender, in accordance with the survey, commissioned to have fun the a centesimal episode of TV present Bangers & Money which airs on Thursday 19 April at 8pm on TV channel Yesterday.

Ford Escort MK1 (13 per cent), Ford Cortina MK1 (13 per cent), Aston Martin Vanquish (13 per cent), Rolls-Royce Daybreak (12 per cent) and Triumph Stag (12 per cent) even have locations within the nation’s coronary heart.

Derek Mathewson from Bangers & Money stated: ‘The analysis reveals that there’s a lot of affection and love for the Mini Cooper even now, and rightly so. 

‘It was a little bit of a revolutionary design when it first arrived, and though it really began fairly slowly the truth that it bought upwards of 5.3 million and represented the British automotive trade on a worldwide scale for thus lengthy isn’t any shock to me.

’65 years later, the Mini Cooper continues to be held in excessive regard and has confirmed itself to be a preferred selection over time.

‘We have seen a good few come by way of the public sale on Bangers & Money, some in higher situation than others, it needs to be stated, however all of them have at one time been cherished and include some nice private tales with them.

‘We discovered a uncommon Cooper S in a shed in our first ever episode and we get a Mini Mayfair out of a barn in our a centesimal episode which is a good way to spherical of our century!’

As a nation we love our vehicles a lot that over half (53 per cent) see their automotive as a part of the household, with the typical Brit feeling affection in direction of 4 vehicles of their lifetime.

81 per cent suppose it’s regular to like a automotive like it’s a part of the household, even going as far as to really feel unhappy (68 per cent) once they’ve needed to eliminate it or commerce it in.

Actually, nearly half (45 per cent) go as far as to call their vehicles with Child (eight per cent), Speedy (seven per cent), Flash (six per cent), Beast (six per cent) and Betty (six per cent) the most well-liked names throughout the nation.

84 per cent agree that their automotive expresses their type and persona.

Our love for our 4 wheels goes so deep that 57 per cent admit they’ll get jealous of a member of the family or buddies’ automotive, whereas 61 per cent secretly choose individuals primarily based on their selection of automotive.

A contemporary incarnation of the traditional Mini. Pictured: the manufacturing line of Mini Cooper Electrics on the BMW Mini plant in Cowley, Oxford

Carlos Sainz and Alex Haro of Spain compete of their Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus throughout the SS4d on day three of the FIA/FIM Rally Raid Portugal 2024 on April 5, 2024

Seven in ten (71 per cent) agree that purchasing a automobile is as essential a purchase order as shopping for a home, with the typical Brit taking 5 months to mull over, analysis and resolve which make and mannequin they wish to get.

Value (70 per cent), mileage (55 per cent), age of the automobile (51 per cent), full-service historical past (45 per cent), insurance coverage (44 per cent), color (40 per cent) and engine measurement (39 per cent) are a very powerful components when shopping for a automotive.

One in 5 (17 per cent) all the time have a look at the variety of scratches, whereas 16 per cent will not even contemplate shopping for it if it would not have a sat nav.

The nation’s love of Mini’s run so deep that 31 per cent of the two,000 surveyed stated that world well-known automotive chase in 1969 movie, The Italian Job was their favorite automotive chase in cinema historical past.

The police chase in The Quick and Livid (21 per cent), the tube scene within the 2003 remake of The Italian Job (19 per cent) and the enduring race by way of San Francisco in Bullitt (12 per cent) additionally get our gears going.

Step again in time with the Mini: The historical past of Britain’s most iconic automotive

By Rob Hull, MailOnline & That is Cash Motoring Editor 

The unique Mini was the brainchild of Sir Alec Issigonis (pictured). The design broke the mould; tiny in dimensions however spacious sufficient for 4 passengers, it was aimed on the plenty to offer reasonably priced motoring at a time when the price of driving had escalated for all

An early sketch of the Mini by its designer, Sir Alec Issigonis. The purpose was to supply one thing gentle, compact in measurement however roomy inside for passengers

A longitudinal cross part of the 1959 Austin Seven Mini-Minor reveals how Issigonis managed to squeeze essentially the most inside house out of the compact dimensions

On 26 August 1959, the unique Mini was launched to the world. 

Penned by Sir Alec Issigonis, it is a design that broke the mould; tiny in dimensions however spacious sufficient for 4 passengers, it was aimed on the plenty to offer reasonably priced motoring at a time when the price of driving had escalated for all.

It nonetheless lives on right this moment – be it underneath the possession of German giants BMW – within the form of a not-so-dinky retro vary that has seen the normal three-door hatchback joined by a raft of variants, from the SUV Countryman to sporty Coupe and Roadster fashions.

Whereas it won’t be the identical diminutive unique that was constructed to a price range, its continuation does imply we will solid a watch again 65 years of virtually unbroken manufacturing to mark what’s, no doubt, Britain’s – and arguably the world’s – most iconic automotive.

The launch of the Mini Austin Seven in 1959

The Mini was commissioned by BMC (British Motor Company) due to the gas scarcity attributable to the 1959 Suez Disaster.

Petrol was rationed, costs soared and usually giant British vehicles grew to become immediately much less fascinating.

Elsewhere throughout Europe, ‘miniature’ mannequin gross sales began to growth as patrons seemed to downsize their automobiles and motoring prices. 

Bubble vehicles in Germany – just like the BMW Isetta and Messerschmitt KRs – grew to become an enormous hit whereas Italians flocked to purchase the Fiat 500 when it went on sale in 1957. 

Sir Alec Issigonis with the brand new Austin Mini. He was commissioned to design the small automotive by BMC (British Motor Company) due to the gas scarcity attributable to the 1959 Suez Disaster

The primary of many: The brand new Austin 7 (Seven) being examined for stability on the Chobham, Surrey, proving floor skid-pan by designer Alec Issigonis

Alec Issigonis, creator of the British Motor Company Mini, driving the 1,000,000th Mini off the manufacturing line on the Austin manufacturing unit at Longbridge, close to Birmingham

The tiny dimensions made it extremely simple to drive and park. It is nonetheless remembered as one of many best-handing vehicles of all time

Left: Mr H. Kennerley, of Cheshire, winner of Every day Mail Mini automotive competitors. Proper: Mrs L. Reynold, of Offerton, Stockport, winner of Every day Mail Mini automotive competitors

Mr Donald Dolan, of Kingstanding, Birmingham, being introduced with the keys to a brand new Mini Minor, which he received in a Every day Mail competitors, by Jean Morton, an ITV announcer

Denise Lilly in a Leyland Mini – a automotive received as a prize in competitors at Best Dwelling Exhibition, 1981

Michael Nesmith of pop group The Monkees, with spouse Phyllis Nesmith and his new Mini motor automotive

From the archives: Austin-Rover Mini 25 committee give the special-edition Mini 25 the lift-off

Thirty years on: The Rover Group marked the third decade of the Mini with this celebratory image

BMC president Sir Leonard Lord set out a design temporary for the automotive maker to supply its personal small-scale automobile, which importantly wanted to have box-like measurements, provide ample house and – to be able to maintain prices down – use an current powerplant. 

Issigonis, who had been drafted in for the mission, sketched out a design that was a mere ten toes lengthy, 4 foot seven and a half inches broad and have become the epitome of ‘Tardis’ design.

That is as a result of regardless of the puny exterior dimensions, inside the unique Mini was unfathomably roomy – which was all all the way down to intelligent structure.

The oldest remaining  Mini, the Austin Mini 1959 (left) pictured with a Mini 35 SE exterior the Longbridge manufacturing unit in 1994

Again view of a Mini Cooper S owned by Bruce Reynolds who masterminded The Nice Practice Theft on 8 August 1963

Footballer Kevin Ball photographed together with his first Mini at his Farnham dwelling within the Nineteen Eighties

Quite a few variants of the traditional Mini have been produced, together with the Clubman and Countryman property. All of them retained the diminutive traits… till BMW took over within the late nineties and started producing new variations within the early 2000s

With the tried and examined BMC A-Sequence four-cylinder, water-cooled engine turned by way of 90 levels and mounted transversely, and using a monocoque as an alternative of a standard chassis – with the suspension and engine gearbox assemblies being carried on sub frames – it had freed up the vast majority of the cabin floorplan for passenger house.

BMC anticipated that orders would flood in and so, having previewed a manufacturing model of the automobile to the press in April 1959, had already assembled 7,000 examples for the official launch 4 months in a while August 26.

American actor Gene Barry – finest remembered for his main roles within the movies The Atomic Metropolis (1952) and The Warfare of The Worlds (1953) in addition to his portrayal of the title characters within the TV collection Bat Masterson and Burke’s Regulation – pictured sitting in a Mini

Former prima ballerina, Dame Margot Fonteyn, stage title of Margaret Evelyn de Arias, pictured together with her Mini

Lord Frederick Windsor, 13-year-old son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, studying to drive a Mini on the Queen’s property, Windsor

Prince Michael of Kent leaving Cambridge Theatre in his Mini years later

On its introduction it was provided underneath the Austin and Morris names – because the Seven and Mini-Minor respectively. 

It wasn’t till a decade later that Mini grew to become a marque of its personal (although it went again to the Austin Mini title in 1980).

It was produced at Oxford till 1968 underneath the possession of BMC earlier than meeting was moved to Longbridge close to Birmingham, the place it continued to be constructed till October 2000 underneath the guise of British Leyland (1968-1986) and Rover Group (1986-2000).

The Mini has seen a lot in its 65 years. This shot reveals a just-crashed Mini on the A6024 on the Derbyshire/Yorkshire border

The aftermath of a Mini left in reverse by the proprietor in a London roof-top automotive park. The automobile went straight over the sting, touchdown 15 foot down on prime of one other automotive beneath in Outdated Road

An nearly absolutely submerged Mini throughout torrential climate in 1983. This image was taken in Morecambe

John Cooper (pictured) famously remodeled the Mini into a contest automotive. Efficiency variations of the roadgoing Mini have carried his title for years

In complete, the classic-shape Mini went by way of seven completely different iterations and included the Traveller, Clubman, Countryman and Van variants – although all retained the identical character, dimensional components and legendary design.

Given how responsive it was to drive and the efforts of racing automotive designer John Cooper, motorsport accomplishments additionally got here.

Most notable of them was the Mini Cooper S profitable the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 within the arms of the late Paddy Hopkirk.

The Mini repeated the feat in Monte Carlo once more in 1965 (pushed by Timo Mäkinen) and 1967 (Rauno Aaltonen) – and was controversially disqualified from the outcomes after putting first to 3rd within the 1966 occasion.

Motorsport success was among the many achievements of the Mini, although not for this driver pictured at Manufacturers Hatch in 1965

Rally driver, Paddy Hopkirk taking Barbare Fortress (Baroness Fortress) for a spin in his Mini Cooper S rally automotive that famously took victory on the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally

Mr Bean, performed by Rowan Atkinson, drove a Mini within the hilarious ’90s TV sitcom

A scene from the 1969 movie, The Italian Job, starring Sir Michael Caine. The film helped to cement the Mini’s world fanbase

Three unique 1960’s Mini coopers, utilized by Paramount Footage to advertise the 1969 movie The Italian Job

And there was, after all, the automotive’s memorable look alongside Sir Michael Caine within the 1969 hit caper movie, ‘The Italian Job’ and its common function in ’90s TV sitcom ‘Mr Bean’ performed by Rowan Atkinson, each of which helped to cement its stardom.

Between 1959 and 2000 – when the Rover Group was finally damaged up by BMW – greater than 5.3million traditional Minis have been constructed.

Meeting returned to Oxford in 2001 following the takeover by the German auto giants, the place it stays right this moment. 

In August 2019, Mini celebrated the manufacturing of the ten millionth mannequin, marked by a gathering of 60 automobiles on the Cowley manufacturing unit – one for yearly the automotive has been manufactured. 

And the Mini Hatch continues to be highly regarded right this moment.

In 2023, it was Britain’s seventh most-bought new automotive, with Mini sellers promoting 33,385 examples. 

Left: The primary Mini motor automotive by Austin. Registration 621 AOK continues to be getting used for promotional functions by BMW Mini right this moment. Proper: The identical automotive featured on the British Design 1948-2012 exhibition on the V&A, London in 2012

Mini house owners celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the automotive drive by way of Crystal Palace Park firstly of the annual London To Brighton Mini Run on Could 17, 2009 in London

Birmingham Metropolis Council lined this Mini in flowers as a focus of the 2011 RHS Tatton Flower Present

The Mini for the following century: BMW’s not-so-Mini has been on sale since 2001 and is presently in its third era

Actually not Mini anymore: For some, the concept of a Mini being of this measurement (pictured, the newest Countryman) just isn’t becoming of the title

In 2019, Mini prepare a gathering of each era of Mini at Plant Oxford. It additionally marked the celebration of the ten millionth mannequin constructed (entrance, inexperienced). One automotive from yearly of manufacturing from 1959 to 2019 options on this image, together with the very first – the 1959 Morris Mini-Minor (entrance, white)

The traditional returns: British agency David Brown Automotive is presently creating bespoke, high-end, Mini Remastered fashions. They retail for round £75,000

Whereas they not maintain to the compact scale that made the traditional so well-known, it’s at the least becoming that Mini’s daring step into the following era of passenger vehicles – electrification – will proceed at Plant Oxford.

BMW and the UK Authorities will make investments a mixed £600million to remodel the Cowley manufacturing unit into an EV manufacturing website – a transfer described by each BMW and the Authorities as ‘a vote of confidence in Britain’ and one that can safeguard a nationwide automotive icon.

The announcement in September 2023 stated the transfer will safe 4,000 UK jobs and see the Oxford website change into an electric-only manufacturing line from 2030.

Authorities sources have declined to set out the extent of taxpayer help being provided to BMW, however didn’t dispute the beforehand reported determine of £75million.

Whereas the query of whether or not Alec Issigonis – who died on the age of 81 in October 1988 – would have authorized of BMW’s Mini of right this moment will stay unknown, it is testomony to his design that many refuse to contemplate the newest examples as a continuation of the a lot cherished and revered unique.

New unregistered Mini automobiles are parked on the BMW Mini automotive plant in Cowley, Oxford, on February 16, 2009

Manufacturing of the Mini Hatch on the Cowley manufacturing unit close to Oxford. BMW and the UK Authorities will make investments £600million to remodel it into an EV meeting website from 2030 onwards – which is when the model says it would promote solely electrical vehicles

Mini sellers within the UK bought nearly 33,400 examples of the three (pictured left) and five-door hatchbacks in 2023. The arrival of the brand new Cooper C and S petrols and Cooper E and SE (pictured proper) EVs ought to maintain it in direction of the steep finish of the gross sales chart in 2024 and past