Having owned a number of Mini's (the proper ones....NOT the BMW badged ones!) I can say they were undoubtedly a real fun car to own. Easy and cheap to maintain and a plentiful supply of spares. Yes the 850 engine was abysmal and lacking any 'puff' often struggling on a short climb. The 1000 was better but the 1275 made a big difference. Mini Coopers tended to be better looked after as they were generally enthusiast owned and finding one in decent condition was relatively easy until the early 80's when prices just started going daft. Mk1 Minis were extremely hard to source as, unlike Coopers, they had been treated as 'just another Mini' yet a number of features set them apart.....door hinges on the outside, sliding windows as opposed to wind up, push button starter on the floor, huge door bins (those disappeared once windup windows came!). A great little car and engineering genius.
It was probably bathed in water and i bet there was one single worker who thought '' I bet we're gonna be building this old dated thing for years on end''
Maybe your cars were made on a Tuesday. I heard on Tuesdays they didn't bother to rustproof them..................some bad luck there, my friend.............
Most British cars left the factory unpainted underneath and if you wanted it Zeibarted it was so expensive. It got worse when BL started building Marina's as they would build the bodyshells leave them outside and then when it came to painting them they were already rusting.
What was adopted first in British culture small roads or small cars? Or is that the result from living on an island with a growing population and limited room?
Many of the roads were created before some countries existed. The oldest surviving road map of Britain was acquired by Robert Gough, a collector, in 1774. It is believed the map, itself, dates from around 1320.
Only HALF the way there, in those days. If they'd as as many robots as they do today, they would have been able to keep up with demand, and sell MORE than 5 millions. The Volkswagen Beetle had a robotised factory I imagine, because a new Volkswagen was produced every SIX SECONDS!
RML Bobby D Excellent , robots don't go on never ending strikes like the old world British Communist Working Class looking for a "Never Ending Free Lunch" promised by the Unions and Labor .
@@bruceburns1672 Pity that problems at British-owned car factories continued unscathed well after the "Communist Working Class" had be tamed to submission by the Cons, which sold off the whole business to the Capitalist sharks (namely, Phoenix) who raked in the chips and sailed off. It all ended in 2005 with Communism long dead. Meanwhile, the foreign-owned car factories kept churning out all along well-made cars, assembled by that very "Neverending Free Lunch" despicable Working Class. Tip for you: when faults and rust are designed-in it's not workers' fault, neither is ugly styling. Look higher up.
How sad BMC was (and I mean that with some affection). The Mini was probably the most famous car - in a good way - that they made. And they apparently lost money on every one sold. ☮
A brilliant design, but shocking quality control, nobody cared. The union hate-the-boss attitude didn’t help. The early Minis always leaked, and the delivery drivers complained about wet feet. Instead of fixing the leaks, they issued the drivers with Wellington boots! I was in the industry then, plenty of funny stories, but sad because it killed the whole industry.
Paul Hickie No it wasn’t simply a union or design problem. A good company has everybody working together, and quality products require commitment from everyone involved. The British motor industry at that time failed because of bad attitudes, from the top down and the bottom up. They say now that the single most important feature of a car company is its culture.
Minis made in Australia were just as bad, where the union problem was nowhere near as bad as in Britain. The Aussie Minis had just as many problems and a few more - bad design and bad components supplied by England. Go thru a puddle and it would stop. Things like distributor caps lasting about half as long as any other brand. At low speed it would pull to the left - and at high speed, pull to the right. No alignment mechanic was ever able to fix this. Minis were very noisy, and you felt every tiny bump in the road, due to the cheap suspension and the tiny wheels. In the 1960's I worked for a company that had a fleet of Ford Anglias for their city service techs. Anglias were a tiny cheap basic car but the techs liked them as they had no vices and were easy to park. When the Anglias got old after several years, they were replaced by Minis. The Minis were all worn out in 18-20 months, and the techs didn't like them because if you had to change gear quickly, the east-west engine would rock and pull the gear lever out of your hand as you worked the accelerator.
I had a 1980 1275GT and it was the most unreliable car I've ever owned although it was only about 6 years old at the time. You could not drive at 70 on the motorway without overheating.
Eventually the convoluted top heavy British Leyland decided they couldn't make money making Minis either. By then they had been making Minis for about 20 years but the loss was covered up by other vehicles.
They probably concluded wrong. It gets tiring hearing the same old story repeated over and over again 😒 There's no way they would keep the car in production for 41 years if they wasn't making a profit.
when visiting the factory the body panel presses had so much play on them and do a double take, the operator had far more rejects than good ones, the japanese took over
In fairness, the rustproofing was probably only meant to give the car seven or eight good years. By the time it was on its third owner, it wasn't BMC's problem. It's been said the company lost money on every one. Ford got one, stripped it down, and couldn't figure out how it could be made for the price. Looking at the video, it looked like a costly process.
MJK- The Porsche Fuchwit My first car in 1972 was a Austin mini Cooper had it four years and swapped it for a motorbike still regret doing it 44 years later😭😭.
Sure, they may have long-term health problems, but to call them blabbering fools is disrespectful 🙄 I suggest you are the judgemental blabbering fool 😉 Probably never done a hard days graft in your life lol
Funny to watch a video....you are right there...if you could only reach in and take a whole shell out into today. All I've ever known is old rusted and tattered Minis. My videos show shells...but not in this pristine condition.
1:09 as the new owner will find out quickly enough - totally unnecessary and pointless. From the very first drive, the new owner will quickly discover to their absolute disgust, just how weak, lazy and under-powered the new engine is, and from that day forward, every single minute of the engines life, it will be hammered to death and have its guts revved out of it, as it rightly should.
I've got a '74 Mini in the garage. Sure wish I had one of these '61's fresh off the line.
I have a horse and carriage, it never drank any petroleum.
Give me an old school car any day! Nice and simple and doesn’t require a degree to operate it or work on it.
Outstanding video. This the same system used to build the MGBs in 1962 to 1980.
Very decent work, it's a wonderful video, and happy to see the oldest company workmanship.
Not the oldest company, and it doesn't exist anymore.
Having owned a number of Mini's (the proper ones....NOT the BMW badged ones!) I can say they were undoubtedly a real fun car to own. Easy and cheap to maintain and a plentiful supply of spares. Yes the 850 engine was abysmal and lacking any 'puff' often struggling on a short climb. The 1000 was better but the 1275 made a big difference. Mini Coopers tended to be better looked after as they were generally enthusiast owned and finding one in decent condition was relatively easy until the early 80's when prices just started going daft. Mk1 Minis were extremely hard to source as, unlike Coopers, they had been treated as 'just another Mini' yet a number of features set them apart.....door hinges on the outside, sliding windows as opposed to wind up, push button starter on the floor, huge door bins (those disappeared once windup windows came!). A great little car and engineering genius.
Rust prefenting baths? Did they forgot to add the actual rust preventing stuff?
I own a fully shell restored '93 customised mini here in the UK. They are awsome little cars.
I didn't know the instrument dial once entertained the 'spit' during rust proofing
The rust protection bath was about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.
It was probably bathed in water and i bet there was one single worker who thought '' I bet we're gonna be building this old dated thing for years on end''
Gee, what are the odds of all 7 Minis I’ve owned over the years obviously missing the rust protection bath?
Maybe your cars were made on a Tuesday. I heard on Tuesdays they didn't bother to rustproof them..................some bad luck there, my friend.............
Like to see inside a Japanese factory of the same year🤔.
That Rotodip worked well.....these things were rusting out after just a few years. 🤣
A good ol' video with information, have no idea why my teacher sent me this!
How they made cars 9 years ago is actually impressive.
60 years ago...@@sefo10235
Great little Car 🚙 pity the Rust proving didn’t work!!! 🧐
Al Cars of that time Rusted rapidly...Vauxhall held the Record for rapid Corrosion.
Low tech ,leaky oily crap,but bags of fun,easy to fix,
I can clearly see why Minis rust so badly if they are spraying them by hand like that.
I notice they didn't actually show this mythical "rust prevention bath". Lol.
Most British cars left the factory unpainted underneath and if you wanted it Zeibarted it was so expensive. It got worse when BL started building Marina's as they would build the bodyshells leave them outside and then when it came to painting them they were already rusting.
Did he say 'rust prevention bath' ? Lol
Cheers !! 🍺 😎 👍
What was adopted first in British culture small roads or small cars? Or is that the result from living on an island with a growing population and limited room?
Many of the roads were created before some countries existed. The oldest surviving road map of Britain was acquired by Robert Gough, a collector, in 1774. It is believed the map, itself, dates from around 1320.
Spot welding sparks flying and no eye protection... oh well.
What to think about those guys in the spray paint booth?
Only HALF the way there, in those days. If they'd as as many robots as they do today, they would have been able to keep up with demand, and sell MORE than 5 millions. The Volkswagen Beetle had a robotised factory I imagine, because a new Volkswagen was produced every SIX SECONDS!
Fantastic. All done by robots now!
RML Bobby D Excellent , robots don't go on never ending strikes like the old world British Communist Working Class looking for a "Never Ending Free Lunch" promised by the Unions and Labor .
@@bruceburns1672 Pity that problems at British-owned car factories continued unscathed well after the "Communist Working Class" had be tamed to submission by the Cons, which sold off the whole business to the Capitalist sharks (namely, Phoenix) who raked in the chips and sailed off. It all ended in 2005 with Communism long dead. Meanwhile, the foreign-owned car factories kept churning out all along well-made cars, assembled by that very "Neverending Free Lunch" despicable Working Class. Tip for you: when faults and rust are designed-in it's not workers' fault, neither is ugly styling. Look higher up.
Did they reuse all the leftover nuts and bolts?
Very nice.
DKW, Saab and Trabant used transverse engine front wheel drive prior to the BMC Mini.
How sad BMC was (and I mean that with some affection).
The Mini was probably the most famous car - in a good way - that they made.
And they apparently lost money on every one sold.
☮
And to think they lost money on every single one built!
Allegedly! 😉
4:34 The car is giving parts back it doesn’t need.
A brilliant design, but shocking quality control, nobody cared. The union hate-the-boss attitude didn’t help.
The early Minis always leaked, and the delivery drivers complained about wet feet. Instead of fixing the leaks, they issued the drivers with Wellington boots! I was in the industry then, plenty of funny stories, but sad because it killed the whole industry.
They were cheaply built because they cost £500
Richard Macfarlane that was not union problem it was design fault.
Paul Hickie No it wasn’t simply a union or design problem. A good company has everybody working together, and quality products require commitment from everyone involved. The British motor industry at that time failed because of bad attitudes, from the top down and the bottom up. They say now that the single most important feature of a car company is its culture.
Minis made in Australia were just as bad, where the union problem was nowhere near as bad as in Britain. The Aussie Minis had just as many problems and a few more - bad design and bad components supplied by England. Go thru a puddle and it would stop. Things like distributor caps lasting about half as long as any other brand. At low speed it would pull to the left - and at high speed, pull to the right. No alignment mechanic was ever able to fix this. Minis were very noisy, and you felt every tiny bump in the road, due to the cheap suspension and the tiny wheels. In the 1960's I worked for a company that had a fleet of Ford Anglias for their city service techs. Anglias were a tiny cheap basic car but the techs liked them as they had no vices and were easy to park. When the Anglias got old after several years, they were replaced by Minis. The Minis were all worn out in 18-20 months, and the techs didn't like them because if you had to change gear quickly, the east-west engine would rock and pull the gear lever out of your hand as you worked the accelerator.
I had a 1980 1275GT and it was the most unreliable car I've ever owned although it was only about 6 years old at the time. You could not drive at 70 on the motorway without overheating.
Those primitive fold-over body joiners were never supposed to be on the production model, but obviously someone forgot to tell someone, and so on.
No one forgot 🙄 they are part of the character of the car.
You can have them removed it you like, but it will just decrease the value of the car 😉
That wiring harness made me laugh uncontrollably
Ford took one apart in the 60's and concluded they couldn't make money if they made them like this.
Eventually the convoluted top heavy British Leyland decided they couldn't make money making Minis either. By then they had been making Minis for about 20 years but the loss was covered up by other vehicles.
They probably concluded wrong. It gets tiring hearing the same old story repeated over and over again 😒
There's no way they would keep the car in production for 41 years if they wasn't making a profit.
when visiting the factory the body panel presses had so much play on them and do a double take, the operator had far more rejects than good ones, the japanese took over
So much room for error!
Rust preventing?? That's a joke.
It worked a treat.
In 1961 the were the first and only ones to do it IDIOT,just sayin, so tell me how you would have done it in1961???????????????
Were there unions in Britain? I know we had em in America.
I’d hate to see the ones they didn’t treat 🙈
In fairness, the rustproofing was probably only meant to give the car seven or eight good years. By the time it was on its third owner, it wasn't BMC's problem. It's been said the company lost money on every one. Ford got one, stripped it down, and couldn't figure out how it could be made for the price. Looking at the video, it looked like a costly process.
Jeez my mini rusted away in 3 years.
+Stephen Hughes
Your mini rusted because you never maintained it and just assumed that it would go on and on in the wet British climate.
So did my dad's 1970 Mini Clubman needed new in and out of sills for its first MOT wouldn't mind he paid extra two have it undersealed from new
@MJK- The Porsche Fuchwit Did you have it from new?
If they're used they rust. I suggest yours has been restored considerably.
MJK- The Porsche Fuchwit My first car in 1972 was a Austin mini Cooper had it four years and swapped it for a motorbike still regret doing it 44 years later😭😭.
What a shit job working on that painting line! They started rusting in the car park outside the factory anyway.
That is pure nonsense.
🇾🇪🇾🇪🇾🇪👍👍👍👍👍
Only a paperfilter over their mouths when painting. After 10 years they became blabbering fools.
Sure, they may have long-term health problems, but to call them blabbering fools is disrespectful 🙄 I suggest you are the judgemental blabbering fool 😉
Probably never done a hard days graft in your life lol
Funny to watch a video....you are right there...if you could only reach in and take a whole shell out into today. All I've ever known is old rusted and tattered Minis.
My videos show shells...but not in this pristine condition.
1:09 as the new owner will find out quickly enough - totally unnecessary and pointless.
From the very first drive, the new owner will quickly discover to their absolute disgust, just how weak, lazy and under-powered the new engine is, and from that day forward, every single minute of the engines life, it will be hammered to death and have its guts revved out of it, as it rightly should.
The crankshaft wears faster than the bearings
What are you talking about. I've driven many 850 minis, mostly the bare bones mini van. Great fun!
soon as EU was joined it went down hill
Why?
The company was run by clowns it wasn’t gonna last long I don’t think the government cared to support UK businesses
JOKE get real there!!!