| Home | News | Stuff | Kane | Mini | Gallery | Guestbook | Links | Contact | Contents |
Wednesday, October 4 2000 - just another ordinary early autumn day? Sadly not, for motoring enthusiasts all over the world it was to be a sad day and the end of an era. This was the day when, 41 years after 621AOK, the first production Mini was built, Lulu, that other '60s icon, drove X411JOP, the 5,387,862nd, and last, Mini off the line in Longbridge.
Of course, there will be the new mini, though to differentiate it from its glorious ancestor, BMW have named it "MINI" - ie, name in upper case only. For reasons we find difficult to comprehend, though, if you visit their website, it's almost impossible to find any reference to the original car, but if they're that embarrassed about the real mini, why not call the new one a BMW 1-series and have done with it ? Mini's new masters even managed to show their lack of understanding of the car's history by officially launching it at the Paris Motor Show, rather than waiting a fortnight to give it its debut in Birmingham, its spiritual hometown.
We've had two of the wee beasties, you can read about them here.