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From MOTOR magazine - July 1962
(seen on another forum)



In the early 1960's I remember my late father, who owned a local garage repair business, was not very keen on Mini's due to their cramped underbonnet working and what was then a very unconventional fwd transverse engine/gearbox layout. He much preferred the conventional simplcity of Fords and Vauxhalls and often complained that Mini drivers were always following far too close behind because of their short bonnets! However when it came to steep hills it was easy for him to leave most of the 850cc Mini's behind with his Ford Zephyr 6 (unless of course it was one of those new Mini Cooper versions!)

Good article that!

The weird thing is I strike the same attitudes from drivers of bigger cars today, nothing has changed.


Al

I totally agree, nothing has changed, & although Classic Minis have great respect among genuine motoring enthusiasts, they are still hated by drivers of many bigger modern cars. I think the worst case I experienced was seeing another vehicle about to reverse into my Mini, so I banged on the roof of the said car to stop it, explained to the driver that there was a car behind him that he was about to collide with, his reply was "Doesn't matter, it's not a very big car". After that I was rather less polite towards him!

I don't suppose it helped that, back when..., it was fairly common to have a sticker on the back window that read " YOU HAVE JUST BEEN MINIED.."

Cheers, Ian

mab01uk wrote:From MOTOR magazine - July 1962
(seen on another forum)



In the early 1960's I remember my late father, who owned a local garage repair business, was not very keen on Mini's due to their cramped underbonnet working and what was then a very unconventional fwd transverse engine/gearbox layout. He much preferred the conventional simplcity of Fords and Vauxhalls and often complained that Mini drivers were always following far too close behind because of their short bonnets! However when it came to steep hills it was easy for him to leave most of the 850cc Mini's behind with his Ford Zephyr 6 (unless of course it was one of those new Mini Cooper versions!)

....made me chuckle !!! ...how many old cooper and s type owners get cars that come zooming up behind out of curiosity and then want to race u ???!!!!... i jus drop a gear esp in and out thru roundabouts or narrow windy roads at speed till i loose them... then slow right down to let them overtake ,.. makes me smile........!!! great post foxy52

A few years ago I was going down some country lane and went to overtake a slow moving NEW Range Rover. The pleasant chap inside moved over on me as I was alongside. I have no idea if it was intentional but managed to get off the grass verge he forced me onto before the drainage ditch came up.
Not sure if it was mini hatred or couldn't see the small flying machine next to him!

In the Mini yesterday I had some muppet in a Jag decide he was going to overtake by going over a solid white line into a hatched area where some lanes merged, all he did was cause me to brake and then get stuck behind the car that was in front of me, pulled along side him at the next two lane approach to a roundabout to tell him the error of his ways and he swerved his car at me