Saturday, September 4, 2010

A Brief Overview Of The History Of A Mini Classic Cars.USA

A Brief Overview Of The History Of A Mini Classic Cars.USAPicture of Classic Mini Cars 1

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered an icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout (that allowed 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car-makers.The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent to its German contemporary, the Volkswagen Beetle, which enjoyed similar popularity in North America. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th Century, behind the Ford Model T.

A Brief Overview Of The History Of A Mini Classic Cars.USAPicture of Classic Mini Cars 2

This distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. It was manufactured at the Longbridge and Cowley plants in England, the Victoria Park / Zetland British Motor Corporation (Australia) factory in Sydney, Australia, and later also in Spain (Authi), Belgium, Chile, Italy (Innocenti), Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia. The Mini Mark I had three major UK updates: the Mark II, the Clubman and the Mark III. Within these was a series of variations including an estate car, a pickup truck, a van and the Mini Moke—a jeep-like buggy. The Mini Cooper and Cooper "S" were sportier versions that were successful as rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times from 1964 through to 1967, although in 1966 the Mini was disqualified after the finish, along with six other British entrants, which included the first four cars to finish, under a questionable ruling that the cars had used an illegal combination of headlamps and spotlights. Initially Minis were marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minor, until Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. The Mini was again marketed under the Austin name in the 1980s.

Design And development.Classic


Design And development.ClassicPicture of Classic Mini Cars 1

Designed as project ADO15 (Austin Drawing Office project number 15), the Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis. Petrol was once again rationed in the UK, sales of large cars slumped, the market for German Bubble cars boomed. Leonard Lord, the somewhat autocratic head of BMC, reportedly decreed: 'God damn these bloody awful Bubble Cars. We must drive them off the road by designing a proper miniature car'. He laid down some basic design requirements: the car should be contained within a box that measured 10 × 4 × 4 ft (3 × 1.2 × 1.2 m); and the passenger accommodation should occupy 6 ft (1.8 m) of the 10 ft (3 m) length; and the engine, for reasons of cost, should be an existing unit. Issigonis, who had been working for Alvis, had been recruited back to BMC in 1955 and, with his skills in designing small cars, was a natural for the task. The team that designed the Mini was remarkably small: as well as Issigonis, there was Jack Daniels (who had worked with him on the Morris Minor), Chris Kingham (who had been with him at Alvis), two engineering students and four draughtsmen. Together, by October 1957, they had designed and built the original prototype, which was affectionately named "The Orange Box" because of its colour.

Design And development.ClassicPicture of Classic Mini Cars 2

The ADO15 used a conventional BMC A-Series four-cylinder water-cooled engine, but departed from tradition by mounting it transversely, with the engine-oil-lubricated, four-speed transmission in the sump, and by employing front-wheel drive. Almost all small front-wheel-drive cars developed since have used a similar configuration, except with the transmission usually separately enclosed rather than using the engine oil. The radiator was mounted at the left side of the car so that the engine-mounted fan could be retained, but with reversed pitch so that it blew air into the natural low pressure area under the front wing. This location saved precious vehicle length, but had the disadvantage of feeding the radiator with air that had been heated by passing over the engine. It also exposed the entire ignition system to the direct ingress of rainwater through the grille.

MAINE classic

MAINE classic
Boothbay Railway Village
Route 27, P.O. Box 123
Boothbay, ME 04537
Features: What began as a village restoration has morphed into an eclectic collection of transportation memorabilia and village history. The car collection includes such attractions as a circa 1830 one-horse shay, an 1860 carriage built in Farmington, ME, an 1897 Haynes-Apperson Surrey, a 1904 curved dahboard Oldsmobile, a 1923 Ford Model T depot hack, a 1926 Franklin Victoria sport touring car, a 1929 Packard Model 640 limousine, a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr 12 cylinder, a 1941 Willys Americar Speedway Sedan and a 1962 Rolls Royce.

Cole Land Transportation Museum
405 Perry Road
Bangor ME 04401
(207) 990-3600
Features: This is a repository of vehicles and memorabilia that chronicle all areas of transportation in Maine's history. That includes a collection of more than 2,000 photographs, the largest display of snow removal equipment under one roof in America, and 10 fire trucks ranging from a 1910 hand tub to a 1948 Ahrens Fox.

Jay Hill Auto Museum
Route 4, Jay Hill
Jay , ME 04239
(207) 897-5257
Features: (No Web site.) Small exhibit of antique vehicles.

Owls Head Transportation Museum
Route 73 adjacent Knox County Airport
Owls Head, ME
(207) 594-4418
Features: The facility deals with more than 100 historic aircraft, automobiles, bicycles, carriages and engines on permanent display. The aircraft collection contains replicas and originals representing the first century of flight, from Cayley’s unmanned glider (1804) to the legendary Curtiss Jenny of the barnstorming era. The auto collection spans the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and includes the 1963 Prototype Mustang and a 1935 Stout Scarab, called the world’s first mini-van. Only six were made.

Seal Cove Auto Museum
PO Box 190
Pretty Marsh Road
Camden, ME 04843
(207) 244-9242
MAINE classicFeatures: One of the largest, if not the largest, collections of brass cars, containing more than 100 rare autos -- such as the 1907 Chadwick seen here -- and about 30 antique motorcycles.

Skyline Farm Carriage Museum
95 The Lane
North Yarmouth, ME 04097
(207) -829-9908
Features: Housed in one of Maine's first indoor riding rings, the horse-drawn carriages and sleighs represent the types of vehicles used for personal tranportation prior to the 1920s.

Stanley Museum
40 School Street
P.O. Box 77
Kingfield, ME04947
(207) 265-2729
Features: This is a sister entity to the Stanley in Estes Park, CO, established in 1981 and located in the Georgian-style Stanley School built in 1903. Kingfield is the birthplace of the Stanleys — important to note because the steam car for which they're most often remembered was built in Watertown, MA. The Museum commemorates and preserves the heritage of the Stanley family that created the famous Stanley Steamer automobile. The exhibits cover all facets of Stanley family history and memorabilia — airbrush painting and photography, violins and examples of Stanley steam cars from 1905, 1910, and 1916.

Wells Auto Museum
Route 1
Wells, ME
(207) 646-9064
Features: More than 80 cars covering 1900-1963. Some of the gems are a 1963 Studebaker Avanti, a 1949 Cadillac Fleetwood, and a 1907 Stanley Steamer. Also, a collection of nickelodeons, antique arcade games, license plates and toys.