Used Mini Cars in Pennsylvania
Few cars are as instantly recognizable as the Mini.
The brand was briefly discontinued, but was revived in 2002 with help from BMW.
Successfully paying homage to the original Mini Cooper of the 1960s, the
reincarnated Cooper combines an athletic, BMW-engineered chassis with a
space-efficient interior and a generous standard features list.
The history of the Mini make began in 1959. The
original Mini motorcar was produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) in
England and its mission was to be a lightweight, agile four-passenger car that
took up minimal space. In a sense, the brand was born out of necessity. The
United Kingdom was subject to fuel rationing in the wake of the Suez crisis, and
British consumers clamored for vehicles that offered optimum fuel efficiency.
The car was originally sold under BMC's Austin and
Morris brands; the Mini name didn't make an appearance until 1961. Although it
had just 34 horsepower, the Mini was the ideal urban car and proved popular in
crowded European cities. In 1961, John Cooper, a man who built Formula One
racecars, put his magic hands on the Mini and the result was the ferocious Mini
Cooper. His Cooper S model had (at 76 horsepower) more than double the output of
the standard Mini. That infusion of power, along with suspension tweaks and some
really good driving, had Mini winning the Monte Carlo Rally four years in a row
(1964-'67). The marquee landed on American shores in 1962.
The '60s truly was the decade of the Mini motorcar.
New variations on the car's theme came with the introduction of vehicles like
the Mini Pickup and the Mini Moke, a vehicle that resembled a quirky cross
between a Mini and a Jeep. The car's abbreviated proportions are even rumored to
have played a part in sparking a fashion trend; the miniskirt raised hemlines
and became emblematic of an era. Mini motorcars tore up the asphalt on the
silver screen, with the brand's appearance in the 1969 film, The Italian Job. By
the mid-'80s, more than 5 million Minis had been produced worldwide. In 1994,
the brand was acquired by the BMW Group. The marquee went on hiatus in 2000, but
was resurrected (and brought back to American shores) in 2002 with the launch of
the entry-level, front-drive Mini Cooper hatchback. Thoroughly modern in every
way, right down to its BMW-engineered suspension, steering and brakes, the Mini
Cooper has become one of America's most desirable small cars and is available as
a hatchback, convertible or the specialized Clubman.
Find Used Mini Cars in PA
After production of the classic Mini ended in 2000,
BMW, the new owner, announced a successor to the Mini – which was called the
MINI (written in capital letters).
The MINI shares the FWD architecture of
its predecessor, but is no longer an affordable vehicle. With top technology for
this vehicle class, the MINI is now an object of fashion, oriented towards the
pleasure of driving. In comparison with classic, the new car is around 21 in
longer, 12 in wider and weighing 2300 lbs, rather than 1450 lbs. For comparison
we are offering you the technical details for the 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S and
the 2006 BMW MINI Cooper S. Find more information on MINI Cooper corporation on
KBB.com