Ian Nicholls charts the origins and production history of the legendary Mini Cooper.

In doing so, Ian explains: "This article is not meant to be a rehash of the Mini Cooper story, but an attempt to show how the car fitted in with the BMC>Rover story."

The giant-killer

As is well known, when the 34bhp Mini 850 was launched in August 1959 BMC's publicity department lent a car registered YOK 250 to racing car constructor John Cooper of the Cooper Car Company Ltd, which operated out of premises in Surbiton in Surrey. At the time the Cooper team was on the verge of winning the Formula 1 world championship with its revoloutionary mid-engined cars, seeing off the challenge of Stirling Moss in the Rob Walker-entered Cooper, and Tony Brooks in the powerful front-engined Ferrari. Jack Brabham became world champion in 1959 and retained the title in 1960 when he and team mate Bruce McLaren were omnipotent. Cooper were at the cutting edge of development and very soon rival teams moved the engine behind the driver to compete.

Cooper also competed in other formulae, one of them being Formula Junior or FJ. This formula was an Italian idea for a low cost starter series in racing using mass-produced 1-litre engines. Italian FJ cars used Fiat engines but Cooper opted for the BMC 948cc A-series. Cooper was also working on producing a performance version of the rear-engined Renault Dauphine using a Coventry Climax engine. The French tuner Amedee Gordini had already tuned the standard engined version and a Renault Dauphine Gordini won the 1958 Monte Carlo rally. However Cooper aborted this project once he'd driven the Mini. He was so enthralled by the handling of the Mini that he took it to the 1959 Italian Grand Prix held at Monza that September.

Cooper was fond of telling the story of how during the race meeting the Mini was spotted by one Aurelio Lampredi. Lampredi had formerly been the chief designer of Ferrari, and had been responsible for the cars that Alberto Ascari had driven to the F1 world championship in 1952 and 1953. Lampredi was now working for Fiat and asked John Cooper if he could try BMC's new baby. According to Cooper, Lampredi was away for hours and when he came back he announced that the Mini was the car of the future, adding: "If it weren't so ugly I'd shoot myself"!

Although this has become a well known Mini chestnut, what is not generally appreciated is that Aurelio Lampredi improved on the Mini formula. The 1965 Autobianchi Primula and then the 1969 Fiat 128 used a transverse engine driving the front wheels, but instead of the engine being positioned on top of the gearbox using the same oil, the Fiat 128 employed an end-on transmission using a seperate oil reservoir. This has become the universally adopted system for front wheel drive cars. Two years later Fiat introduced the Fiat 127 – the first true supermini – and Lampredi even appeared in a press advert for the car, along with an F1 car he had designed. BMC may have got there first, but it was Fiat who made it reliable and a commercial proposition.