The Mini was born in an age of austerity and shortage, intended to widen the base of motoring by making it more affordable for the average family. Ironically it would become something very different, a modern classless car which appealed across the boundaries of social status, age, gender, affluence or affordability. It became a key indicator of its era, lending its name to everything from fashion to furniture. Using unique illustrations from the Archives of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, this book tells the story of Mini's conception in the mind of the gifted designer Alec...

At its launch in 1948 the Morris Minor was an exciting and fresh concept, with radical engineering and daring 'American' styling. Morris Motors had given a young engineer named Alec Issigonis his first chance to head up a design team and, though he would become most famous for the Mini ten years later, the Morris Minor was just as innovative in its time. Manufactured for twenty-three years, some 1.6 million would be made before production ended in 1972. Behind the Minor's success as the first British car to reach 1 million sold, however, there was a fierce battle to get it into production in...