Mini Scrapbook

60 years of a British icon by Martin Port
Published by Porter Press International
RRP: £20.00

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Mini – a little car which made a big impact when it was launched in 1959 thanks to its unique combination of aesthetics, space efficiency, engineering approach, and handling.

The Mini was the brainchild of genius designer Alec Issigonis, and proved to be an instant hit – not just with the general public, but also with celebrities like The Beatles, Twiggy and Peter Sellers, and racers like Sir Stirling Moss. It became a much-loved staple of the British car industry – a position that it has maintained for 60 years and I think continues to enjoy today.

In this latest addition to the Scrapbook series from Porter Press, the story of this unique little car is broken up into accessible nuggets and supported by an extensive array of archive and contemporary photographs, to illustrate just what makes the Mini so special, so loved and such fun.

From revealing how Alec Issigonis and his team turned their thoughts from rough sketches to prototypes to production cars to Mini’s celebrity owners and its appearances in many movies (who doesn’t remember The Italian Job?), this book takes you into a journey of discovery, featuring Mini’s many incarnations (the Moke, the Midas…), including the 60th anniversary model.

Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of never-before-seen photographs, documents and memorabilia that document the car’s past, present and future.

About the author:
Martin Port has worked in automotive publishing for 18 years – the last 16 of these for leading classic car title, Classic & Sports Car. Over the last 27 years he has owned a variety of classics, from a Mini Metro to a Morris Minor, a Porsche 912 to a Series II Land-Rover, and, of course, the legendary Mini. The first of these was a 1968 Morris Mini MkII Super DeLuxe, driven from Cheshire to Berkshire with a hole in one of the valves. The second was a 1980 model rescued from a hedge in Richmond the day that it was due to be scrapped. Thanks to the Mini’s unique driving experience, which always puts a smile on his face, it will always have a corner of his motoring heart.