"By meeting the people behind the MINI, Simon Garfield uncovers a fascinating story of British endeavour, ingenuity and masterful marketing"

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Product Description

How do you make an object that changes the way people think about travel, a small metal box that inspires huge devotion in those who own it, a car that continues to make headlines fifty years after its launch?

In May 1959, the first Mini was produced on an assembly line at Cowley, near Oxford. It would take a team of supremely talented designers, draftsmen, engineers and production-line workers to build a car that was unique in appearance and construction. They would clash frequently over an uncomfortable and unsafe prototype, and the public had to be convinced to buy a car that let in two inches of water when it rained. But somehow the Mini became an icon.

Originally designed for austerity and efficiency, the car soon came to represent individuality and classlessness. Today, the car is still produced at Cowley - it is now owned by BMW and called the MINI. A great British manufacturing story, it is more popular throughout the world than it has ever been, a symbol of the age that created it.

But who makes these things, and what do they think about their work? By meeting the people behind the MINI, Simon Garfield uncovers a fascinating story of British endeavour, ingenuity and masterful marketing.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86754 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

About the Author
Simon Garfield was born in 1960. He is the author of Expensive Habits: The Dark Side of the Industry, The End of Innocence: Britain in the Time of AIDS, which was awarded the Somerset Maugham Prize, The Wrestling, The Nation's Favourite: The True Adventures of Radio 1, Mauve, The Last Journey of William Huskisson, The Error World and the Mass Observation trilogy Our Hidden Lives, Private Battles and We Are At War.

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Customer Reviews

Interesting and different
It is slightly cheeky to claim that Simon Garfield is the author of this book because it is not a written history. What Garfield has actually done is interview many of the people who where involved in the development of both the original car and the BMW MINI and woven their responses into an interesting narrative which he fills in occasionally in italic script. Yu won't find much about the car itself here but you will get a fascinating idea of the development and the politics of building and marketing a car. Garfield speaks from everyone from former Chief Executives to shop stewards from Cowley and all this combines into making this an absorbing work which will give pleasure to anyone with an interest in the motor industry.

outstanding with no mistakes
I own rows and rows of MINI books. This one stands out and is outstanding.
I can only recommend that every Mini enthusiast reads this book with the facts and figures from behind the scene, including politics. It goes for both the Issigonis Mini and the BMW MINI.
Edward Preiswerk
incurable Mini enthusiast

A Mini Comprehensive.
A really good history of this car with interesting reading and good line drawings to accompany the book.