MINI 50 Years by Rob Golding is an interesting little book with a clever hardcover case. The bright yellow cover has a magnetic closure and is opened by lifting the bonnet section (to uncover the MINI engine) and then the main cover to uncover the glossy softcover book inside.
Published in 2007, the fifty years covered in this book stretch from the concept in 1956 through the MINI models of 2006 (rather than the usual 1969-2009 celebration from the original launch).
After an introduction titled “Mini Trinity: Classic, Current, and Future” the chapters are:
- Issigonis starts work
- BL to BMW
- Making It
- Cooper’s the Name. Speed Is the Game
- The Man Behind the Brand
- The Man Behind the Style
- Hello again, Sir. Now What?
- Mini and the Coachbuilding Tradition
- Get Involved: A Guide to Learning More and Seeing Other Dimensions of the Mini Tradition
- The Men from the MINIstry in Munich
- What’s Next?
- What’s New?
Golding, Rob
MINI 50 Years
St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks, 2007.
176 p.
ISBN-10: 0760326274, ISBN-13: 978-0760326275