The Mini, now an emblem of the Swinging Sixties, was in fact the product of an age of austerity and shortage, a simple design intended to make motoring more accessible and affordable for the average family. Ironically, it would become something very different: a modern, classless style icon that appealed across the boundaries of social status, age and gender and lent its name to everything from fashion to furniture. Using illustrations from the archives of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, Gillian Bardsley here tells the Mini's story, from the inspired conception of designer Alec Issigonis, through the car's shaky infancy and up to its glorious heyday when it was beloved of film stars, royalty and the public, as well as having a prominent presence in motorsport.

Lavishly illustrated with unique images from the official company archive, this book charts more than 100 years of car-making at the Longbridge factory, near Birmingham. Herbert Austin founded the Austin Motor Company here in April 1905 and it was subsequently home to the British Motor Corporation, British Leyland, Rover Group and, latterly, MG Rover. Its products include some of the most famous British models ever produced, such as the pioneering Austin Seven, the innovative trend-setting Mini, the popular Austin Metro and, in later years, the best-selling MG TF and elegant Rover 75. The factory was a major employer and an integral part of the local community from its beginnings until the sad events of April 2005, when MG Rover went into administration. This radically changed the landscape, spearheading the long-term regeneration of the area. The community is looking to the future with confidence, never forgetting its long and proud tradition of manufacturing. This fully updated version honours the 110th anniversary of the first motor production at Longbridge as well as the 150th birthday of Herbert Austin. It includes a new colour section showing various stages in the life of a car, from the design studio to the showroom.

In 1913 an ambitious young businessman named William Morris converted a derelict military college on the outskirts of Oxford into an assembly hall for motor vehicles. He thus opened the first chapter in one of the most extraordinary success stories of the British motor industry, becoming Lord Nuffield and a multi-millionaire in the process. From Morris Motors and Pressed Steel, via the British Motor Corporation and British Leyland to its role as part of BMW and their successful manufacture of the new Mini, car manufacture at Cowley has been a significant player. Though the old factory chimneys have given way to more modern developments, Oxford today would be a very different place without its influence. Most of the photographic material in this book is taken from the comprehensive archive collections of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, located at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon. Now in this revised and fully updated edition, new illustrations and text seek to show further how important Morris was to Cowley.

At its launch in 1948 the Morris Minor was an exciting and fresh concept, with radical engineering and daring 'American' styling. Morris Motors had given a young engineer named Alec Issigonis his first chance to head up a design team and, though he would become most famous for the Mini ten years later, the Morris Minor was just as innovative in its time. Manufactured for twenty-three years, some 1.6 million would be made before production ended in 1972. Behind the Minor's success as the first British car to reach 1 million sold, however, there was a fierce battle to get it into production in the face of opposition from the company's founder and chairman, Lord Nuffield. Sold as an estate car, a convertible and a van, and used in motor racing and rallying, the versatile Morris Minor was much loved as a production car and has retained its popularity as a classic, with many clubs devoted to keeping it on the road. Using period illustrations from the BMC archive, Gillian Bardsley tells the story of this iconic British car. This book is part of the Britain's Heritage series, which provides definitive introductions to the riches of Britain's past, and is the perfect way to get acquainted with the Morris Minor in all its variety.