mk1-forum.net

Sputnik

Legend has it that early prototype minis were nick named Sputniks, as ' everyone will have heard about them soon' was it Issigonis who said this ?

Sputnik the satellite was launched on the 4th October 1957, fast forward 43 years and Mini production finally ended on the 4th October 2000, was this just a coincidence or had someone in production planning let their heart rule their head and let sentimentality rule once again in the life of this remarkable car!

"Sputnik" drove a works Cooper S to 2nd on the 1966 RAC Rally....

Peter Tothill (production engineer)
Towards the end of 1957, Leslie Ford, the chief planning engineer, called me into his office and said, ‘There is a new highly secret model coming, and I want you to deal with it from scratch. I will take you over to E Block paintshop and show you where we will build it.’
We entered the south-east corner of the building and there was a vast area of pristine concrete floor.
So where the hell do I start?

Roy Davies(vehicle proving engineer)
Early in 1958, a prototype Mini appeared in the chassis experimental department next door to the drawing office where I worked. It was quickly locked away in a cabin, and access was only allowed to authorised persons. The cabin was guarded by
a works policeman.

Peter Tothill
The next task was to get some idea of the car. It was coded ADO15 (Austin Drawing Office, project 15) but already nicknamed Sputnik. I had already seen this strange little vehicle with wheels the size of shirt buttons. It was Prototype No. 1, and was being endurance-tested round and round Chalgrove aerodrome, south-east of Oxford.

Roy Davies
The Mini was called Sputnik because at the time they started doing the testing round Chalgrove, the Russians had just put the Sputnik in the air, an orange thing going round the sky. At night, the Mini going round Chalgrove was an orange thing going
round on the ground. The road-proving engineers christened it Sputnik much to Issigonis’s disgust. In later years he had a change of memory and said that he christened it, but he didn’t.
More:
http://www.simongarfield.com/pages/book ... s/mini.htm

Often wondered why Miniworld's staff Cooper 35LE was nicknamed Sputnik?