Cheer up fatty

[mk1]

[AndyB72]

HaHa, like it!

[foxy52]

....Yes very witty !!!.. stick that up on the M c r site and see who hasn't got a sense of humour !!! ??? ..foxy52

[madaboutcherry]

I,m missing something here.

[steve1071]

Brilliant that Mark. Gonna nick it for a screensaver!

[Smiffy]

Reminded me of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6fQnTyEniM

[morris-miner]

Love it, even mother laughed...

[nick rogers]

Excellent ! But don't forget, according to their advertising, BMW actually won those Monte Carlo rallies in the 1960's.

[m1cH1]

Haha, brilliant one!

(And really catches the difference in size of the Mini to the Bini, or BMW 0.5, how I like to call them.
And since they started to get bigger and bigger, I need to call the bigger ones BMW 0.75... )

[mk1]

Apparently they are planning on calling the next one the MAXI

Disclaimer: I personally have nothing against the BMW "MINI" range of cars whatsoever. I think it is a creditable successor to the original BMC Mini. My only regret regarding the whole thing is that it took a non UK based company to recognise the potential in the "Mini Brand". Good luck to BMW, they have only done what BMC, BL, Austin Rover, Rover Group etc. Never had the vision, the balls or the money to do.

Please DO NOT Let this turn into one of those senseless BMW MINI slagging threads, if it does, I will delete what I thought would be a light hearted image / thread, that I thought would make everyone smile, no matter what their "persuasion".

Mark F

[mab01uk]

I think it is a creditable successor to the original BMC Mini. My only regret regarding the whole thing is that it took a non UK based company to recognise the potential in the "Mini Brand". Good luck to BMW, they have only done what BMC, BL, Austin Rover, Rover Group etc. Never had the vision, the balls or the money to do.
Mark F

IT should also be remembered that the R50/53 MINI platform and engineering (including the supercharged R53 S) was mostly carried out by Rover engineers and developed at Gaydon in the late 1990's, hence the R development code. BMW may have had the final say on the overall concept and taken over towards the end, but Rover were pretty much left to design and develop all the engineering details, packaging and interior design, even the Chyrsler Tritec engine was re-engineered by Rover to suit and the changes later adopted by Chrysler. The 2001 R50 platform underpinned all MINI variants right up until the just launched Mk3 F56 (the first truly BMW MINI).....but although Rover get very little credit for the original MINI's ultimate success it at least showed that with the right finances in place and marketing they could still design a desirable top selling small car here in the UK.

[mk1]

"although Rover get very little credit for the original MINI's"

In all fairness this was because they went bust

M

[mab01uk]

"although Rover get very little credit for the original MINI's"

In all fairness this was because they went bust

M

True, Rover went bust under the Phoenix Four a few years later......but (understandably) BMW took full credit in the media at launch for the MINI's engineering and design, which was not really true. However I believe the MINI launch was also delayed by a few months in 2001 because when BMW knew the MINI was no longer going to be sold from Rover showrooms, they had to upgrade the quality of the R50 to bring it up nearer to BMW standards.

Extract below is from the MINI development history - AROnline:-
"Despite post-launch hints from BMW that it was a mostly German engineering effort, former MINI development engineer Robin Hall was keen to point out (in an interview for CAR in 2001) that initially, BMW’s input into the MINI amounted to setting a number of parameters. ‘The brief from BMW was for a MacPherson strut front and Z-axle rear-axle layout. That was it. There are no BMW components in the systems and they were entirely designed at Rover’s Gaydon engineering centre in Warwickshire. The geometry, component stiffness, durability, compliances – all were specified and designed by Rover engineers.’
Hall was the front-axle system engineer responsible for the packaging, design and integration of the MINI chassis. ‘When we started, very little was defined. BMW didn’t ask for any BMW components, it let us go away and get on with it. Even the MINI’s engine and transmission was engineered at Longbridge and Gaydon. The engine was worked on at Powertrain, who also did the gearbox, which is based on the unit used by Rover. The Cooper S uses a Getrag box, but the development was carried out at Longbridge. I’d say there were hundreds of British engineers on MINI, maybe as many as 300 or 400."
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/mi ... t-history/