When it comes to cars that grow to fit a specific image, there is no doubt that the Mini Cooper is a car, which is quintessentially British, and is a vehicle which not only has millions of fans worldwide, but has also had so many famous fans down the years too. The car stemmed from the friendship of the owner of BMC which manufactured the Mini, and John Cooper who was himself an owner of a car firm who wanted to take the small and nimble Mini and to upgrade it so that it was possible to compete the mini in rally and other racing events.
It was this collaboration which led to John Cooper actually leading a redesign of the Mini to two different sized and sportier engines, with the top end car being given the letter S to indicate the more powerful model. Although there were only a limited number of the vehicles produced originally, their popularity grew so quickly that thousands more were produced in order to keep up with the demand for the cars.
The small and compact design and the inexpensive nature of the Mini was one of the success stories of British motoring, but the revamp that was led by John Cooper to give greater performance and leading to its inclusion in many rallies proved to be a great boost, with three victories in four years in the Monte Carlo rally in the 1960s being particularly noteworthy.
However, for most people who think about the Mini Cooper, it is usually the influence that the car has held within popular culture which people will refer to first, and foremost among these inclusions is the film ‘The Italian Job’, where three Mini Coopers were used in the making of the film which was typified by the classic Michael Caine line ‘You’re only meant to blow the bloody doors off’. Another film role for the Mini Cooper is also to be found in British detective spoof Austin Powers, where the Britishness of the character is emphasized by the use of the Mini.