I’m obsessed with mini hatchbacks. It’s so hard to believe that in the 41 years of production they didn’t just do it. Would have made the car so much more practical and would have been just great.

I once got to ride in a mini with a breathed on metro turbo lump in it (it had been bored out to around 1400cc I seem to remember) was a 70s car with drums all round, certainly made it an adrenaline rush!

Tom, yet another gem of deep research delivered with breathless enthusiasm which I thoroughly enjoyed. My experience pf Minis was a ride in an early cooper which amazed all of us in the car club by its awesome road holding. I then co-drove on in the RAC rally in the dark ages which sadly collapsed on the last stage as the hydro elastic suspension gave way and all attempts of jamming it up just to cross the line failed amid much frustrated weeping! I hope you slip some of these such car vids into to dedicated ones as all are utterly fascinating. Well done and thank you! Rob

Remember the ERA Mini from the 1980's, with the Metro Turbo engine. Was kinder to the clutch/gearbox due to it being a much lighter weight car.

I first drove a mini in 1960 so I've seen them from the start. I thought the clubman was a great change but the minis in this video are something else. Great research and presentation. Thank you

I'm 50 years old and absolutely love mini . I had a mini as my second car ,my first being a Morris minor 1000 . In new Zealand minis were quite common back then . When I was 20 I had a Riley elf , I absolutely drove these to the limit . And never did any one of them break down.. I would only have to replace a set of points on one. I kick myself almost every day and as I write this tears come to my eyes as I don't see minis anymore. I'd give everything I own to get a mini but people realize how valuable they are now I don't even see them for sale. I remember them in the local dump when I was in my teenage years..😢 my Riley elf could do 100 mph with it's 1300 and twin SU carbs , in England I suppose there alot easier to get hold of . But now in NZ I'd be lucky to see one. Over the years I've heard people calling them a brick. As they stick to the road . The performance of a mini is unmatched, I could get around a corner like on rails. The best car I ever owned . 100% 😢 ❤

When I worked at a car dealership in Chelsea back in the 1960s we took in PX Ringo Starr,s Radford Cooper Deville hatchback & I was lucky enough to use it until we sold it , also we sold Peter Sellers a New Mini Coopers with a full Wood & Pickett conversion & with a stage 2 Downton Engineering head , the car was finished in Metallic Silver with Mercedes Vertical headlights & VW Beetle rear lights .

Great little history mate, that hatchback version would have been a big hitter if it had gone into full production!

I first rode in a Mini when on a trip to Ireland, I was 7 years old at the time, I for some reason fell in love with Mini's and wanted 1 when I grew up.

Great facts on "Mini Specials", I had not realised what an extensive list it would be.👍👍

In the 1980's I loved the Domino Pimlico and the Midas Bronze...The styling of both hasn't aged too well, but with some tasteful modifications can still look really nice in 2024.....Both pretty rare these days

I knew of the mini sprint but not the mini sprint traveller that looks incredible. Amazing what a roof chop and cutting off the seems does for the looks, incredible looking forward to more on these conversions

Love minis ❤❤❤😊 35 years ago I had an ex Wessex hill climb Mini Cooper 1360 fully raced I'm fully tuned would be worth 50 grand now part exit for a Mk2 Escort Estate xx

I had a Crayford convertible, a cooper and a funked up Mini City back in the day. All made you grin like an idiot !! Awesome little cars

Look up Oscelli Engineering, Oxfordshire. Modified A Series (and B-series) cylinder heads they were best know for, as well as top spec engineering machining etc.. And David Vizard too - last heard living in USA.

Thanks, I really enjoyed that. Can we have a programme dedicated to Downton engineering please? Their conversions went all the way from the 850cc Mini to the Austin 3 litre. Looking forward to the special programme on Speedwell.

Great video, I've had over a dozen Mini's. Still got two Mk1's, including a Swiftune Cooper. Always on the lookout for 'specials'.

Just found your channel. Really enjoyed this video. Very well researched and presented. Subscribed 👍

Fantastic video Tom being a mini fan myself so much amazing history there So I really liked 👍👍

Great videos! For me, the most elegant were the final Rover minis. They seemed to get everything just right!

I absolutely love your videos Tom but it saddens me as probably many people to think of how great the British car industry should have been. Keep the videos coming .off to Gaydon soon .

Love old skool car's mate great video again 👍

The amount of mini based kits would make a good video.

Great Mini conversion info Tom 👍👍

Top video Tom , Thank you very interesting,

Rauno Aaltonen BMC works rally driver once fitted an hyrolastic pump on the backseat tray for the East Africa Safari Rally one year, to pump the suspension quickly higher for tricky parts.

Great video, few videos cover these exotic Minis. @2:46, looks like someone's dinged the grille on the Tickford.

Would be interesting to see a video on Mini based kit cars, Mini Marcos, Unipower GT and others, expanding the competitors to the Ogle SX 1000.

Well as a humble man that thought I knew alot about minis I never knew it was ADO15. Great video.

Great mate welldone

Great video 👍 They definitely ruined the look of some of those minis 😂

Me : God I hate those square headlights on the new Countryman. Tom : Hold my beer...

I had a mini 1275gt, w reg 1981 vintage as my first car. It was stardard apart from the janspeed centre exit exhaust fitted and in applejack green, so it stood out from the crowd. The janspeed made all the difference. It went like the clappers and at 90+ mph it was pulling for more. Loved it but some git stole it after 5 years in my ownership. Never seen it again and will never forget it. It was brilliant mini!

Last year on pistonheads i read that both Radford minis ordered by Peter sellers were for sale . The RHD sellers owned & the LHD starred in the Shot in the Dark he gave to Blake Edwards after the film finished. After the film it went to Beverly hills were Edwards & Julie Andrews kept until 09 when they sent it over here . The garage last year.wanted £155 grand for LHD & £240 grand for the RHD obviously both identical but LHD & RHD.

One of the missed opportunities by BL, was to engineer a hatchback into the rear of the Mini...

some class there tom

I am indeed, looking forward to part 2 already.

The Janspeed mini engine was Cosworth's first serious go at an engine, it was basically a pre crossflow Anglia engine with their own head (which was also raced in Anglias), it took it's inspiration from the popular Coventry Climax engine. This could be easily recreated but the original was probably raced into the ground, I would be suprised if it turned up.

My friend use to take me out in her ERA mini, what a hoot.

I could never understand why they brought the Clubman out. It made no sense to change the front when it was a hatchback that it needed (as designed by Bertone and being built by Innocenti).

I made a couple of chopped, de-seamed minis in the 90's. First was fairly crap because I was learning. Second hand a 1275gt front end and a metro GTi k series . Never channeled one tho. I wish they were still cheap enough to buy and cut up!

Early minis have really grown on me , i never liked them when I was younger.. I've owned 2 BMW minis an 06 R50 cooper & an 10 R56 cooper S . Never gelled with either car and doubt id ever buy another however i own a 13 DS3 Dsport+ with the same N14 BMW Engine and love it & would buy another DS3. Wish I'd bought a 60s mini and squirreled it away when 25 years ago a reasonably good 1 could be had for a £1000.

I only know about a couple of mini conversions l saw a Wood and Picket mini featured on another you tube channel very nice has any other car made had so many conversations done to a car the Mini was an extremely iconic car came in a small van and a small ute and a traveller and there is one of those fast back minis in Australia

Eddie Collins came over to Wood & Pickett from Radford in the late 60’s & really pushed the brand with the rich & famous. Omar’s TV double phone mini was put together early 70’s & went back many times for more.. Wood & Pickett today is just a eBay parts firm having the name sold to a parts company in Birmingham. Twiggy’s was not a Margrave (no full dash conversion ticked but had the early & expensive lowered door handle electric windows) Like Vanden Plas the tentacles of BL Austin Rover in the form of Henlys motor group Austin Rover killed W&P & threw all the car records for the mini & Range Rover conversions in a skip allegedly. Thanks for the video.

I also remember as a child I had a 3 mini set one of which was identical to the Peter sellers car .wish I had it now

Love 'em

Don't forget the Unipower GT. Not necessarily a conversion, it did use a fair amount of Mini components, and is possibly the best looking of them all.

There's a bunch of minis with gtir pulsar engines. That's definitely madness 😂 i saw one at Santa pod that had the intercooler Infront of the grill😂

I had a standard Mini as a buzz about in the early 80's , but Me being 6.4 my legs were up round my ears an it was like the eventual Metro , like driving a Go Kart..

Use to make convertibles, and mini hahas shortening to a two seater, can you remember them? I was not alone other people made them too back in the late 70s and early 80s

07:30 - That Peter Sellers Mini can be seen with him, in the Pink Panther movie, A Shot in the Dark - the French nudist colony camp scenes, at Camp Sunshine.

ERA was originally English Racing Automobiles founded by Raymond Mays, Humphrey Cook and Peter Berthon.

The £50,000 1997 Mini ‘Hot-Rod’ was an interesting one

Neville Tricket was still building Sprint bodyshells in France, I think it was, in his old age. A Mark from Yorkshire has his own social site, has one.

There was a brand new ERA Turbo in the showroom of the ESSO garage in Pershore until recently

P.s. my Colleagues collection is/was over 25 minis..... Austin.... Morris and Innocenti..... He'd quote part numbers of all models and types at the drop of a hat..... 😮😂😅😮

Man i had 13 minis in my youth now i look back at the price 😢😢

My first car was a 1966 mini . Someone put a 1275 engine in it . The car was rusty and my dad wasn't too pleased i brought it . I was 15 years old . My friend and me drove it all round the villages in Oxfordshire. I sold it to buy an Escort Mk1 . Sold the mini for £200 after spending a few hundred on getting the bodywork welded . Car would be worth a few grand now . Same with the Escort i sold for £300 . You never know do you?

It is interesting to point out Aston-Martin went to "mini-sized" business later, as lately as modern times, with Toyota iQ, amping it up to Aston Martin Cygnet for them quotas.

As surprisingly expensive as some of these cars were in their day, there are companies building bespoke minis today like David Brown that are almost if not more expensive.....almost like the price sets the level of exclusivity. Their electric minis can be £150k+

Mine was a 1964 cooper, white body, maroon roof a nd sliding windows. It went like a "Cut Cat".

Was the mini moke in wiyh this lot ,u saw one in luton Sundon park

allways love mini's makes me smile seeing one on the road i dislike the new mini but i suppose the owners think they are great, i did with some modification fit a k14 fuel injected twin cam lump and five speed gearbox from a crash damaged rover metro gta into an old mini van uprated the brakes ect and had loads of fun driving my bleeding quick little van for years. sadly due to family needs i had to sell it for a family car.

Arden 999cc Mini was quite impressive too, for the 1969 maybe 1970 British Touring Car Championship. Red lined at 10,500rpm or something, eight ported with petrol injection, if I remember correct.

Yes I agree with you but that what BMW have done with the Mini is an abmunation basikly over sized and its to see on the street as Misfit and a Mini any more.

Mini FTW

in the early 80's cars in new zealand (now the venezuela of the south pacific) were horribly expensive. a friend of mine and myself squeezed a 1750 austin maxi motor inc weber carbbs into a mini. 0-60 for the time was bloody awesome. top speed not so much

Hi Tom. What about the Mini Moke ???

Oh yes you did not mention the Unipower GT!

Ah, Minis - my subject of expertise. Anyone for a late GTM, the 12/13" 1980's redesign? I designed a different gear change mechanism for it, using hydraulics, for more rear gearbox ground clearance.

There was a company in essex that did 1480 cc mini engine my mate had a worsley hornet a mini based worsley it was turbo charged too man that thing was scarey as it had the original brakes it looked like a standard car apart from banded steel wheels and he thrashed the crap outa it at every traffic light lol.

WHAT! There was a tuning kit for a Humber ?

Daniel Downton and his twin engined Minis, called, imaginatively, Twinis. With John Cooper, who almost killed himself in one on the Kingston upon Thames bypass, then. A rusted rear trailing arm broke, and the car suddenly did an immediate left or right uncontrolled turn.

Had a Mayfair and my mate had a mini with a 1750 maxi engine in it

I had a wood and pickett mini, biggest regret was selling it, was owned and ordered from new by a cebeb b4 me 😢

I saw an ERA last week…

are mini park lanes not classed as modded minis ??

Surprised you missed out the Innocenti Mini..........or is that in part 2?

The SX1000 looks a bit like a scaled down allegro 3 🤔

You missed Votz.

Why was the Saudi mini infamous?

Great video but in 10 years, you’ll very much regret having a mullet.

Do you know anything about the Mini Rolls Royce?

The original and best modified or not

These tunng experts want to stick to just that, messing with the styling is beyond their abilities. That Tickford mini is the most hideous thing I've ever seen.

I thought Kylie Minougue was the "most desirable mini"......

A mini is not a saloon lol

can't take anyone with that hair seriously. and that tickford mini, what the fuck ugly

"AITCH" NOT "HAITCH" get yourself a dictionary.