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Mini Forum Few cars are as instantly recognizable as the Mini. Loved for its diminutive dimensions and cheerful good looks, the British-born car has inspired passionate devotion both in the U.S. and abroad. 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 marque 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.

miniforum.com - serving as the solution to an existing oil crisis, the chief designer of the British Motor Company crafted the first Mini. John Cooper added various tweaks to the car, including wider tires and beefier brakes, with the end result being the Mini Cooper. A subsequent round of upgrades gave birth to the Mini Cooper S.

minicooperforums.com - Mini motorcars tore up the asphalt on the silver screen, with the brand's appearance in the 1969 film, The Italian Job. By the end of the decade, more than 2 million Mini motorcars had been produced. Sadly, the vehicle was pulled from the United States in 1968, in the wake of strict new emissions regulations.

totalmini.com - provides a playground for enthusiasts who can share experiences, tips and plain good times with each other. It will provide a wealth of free advice from it's resident experts in the fields of tuning, styling, electronics, graphics & audio. It will offer social events to be established where members can meet personally.

chicagominiclub.com - during the years that followed, Mini soldiered on in other markets with updates and additional variants including a Mini pickup and the first Mini Clubman, but ultimately the Rover Group was purchased by BMW and the assets liquidated. The last of the original Mini Accessories rolled off the assembly line.

lonestarminiclub.com - the new BMW Mini partnership led to the development of the modern Mini Cooper, a BMW-designed front-driver that returned to U.S. shores. The larger Mini Cooper Clubman arrived for the 2008 model year, and the Mini E, an electric version of the Mini Cooper, was made available to roughly 500 drivers in 2009.