Cool britannia

How was it that the Mini became ‘cool’ during the Swinging Sixties? We investigate by attempting to separate fact from fiction

John Simister gets under the skin of six classics that are now officially ‘historic’

JAMES ATTWOOD Illya, shall we start with your Mini, given that it’s from 2001? ILLYA VERPRAET It’s significant on a number of levels. Originally it was meant to be just a car, but BMW built a whole br

Price new: From £18,950 Price now: £16,000-25,000 Engine: 1.8-litre, four-cylinder petrol Gearbox: Fivespeed manual Power/torque: 118bhp/165Nm 0-60mph: 5.8 seconds Top speed: 126mph HAD Lotus not come

It’s a quarter of a century since the last Issigonis-shape Mini was built, ending the run of Britain’s most enduring people’s car. We mark 25 years with an alphabetical trawl of Mini facts and figures

Whoever decided that drivers should have either practicality or performance clearly lacked vision. For much of its existence the estate car or stationwagon was just a practical workhorse. Aside from o