20 Sep 07
Hmmm. Large carmaker brings out small-yet-appealing car to great acclaim then adds new versions to grab more sales... Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Maybe the new Mini Clubman isn't so much Frankfurt 2007 as Birmingham 1969 remixed.
That was when the original Clubman was unveiled, but in fact the British Motor Corporation had started to pop out derivatives mere months after the Mini's 1959 debut. As the car had the then highly unusual feature of having all its mechanical bits at the front, you could add or subtract bodywork behind the engine at will - and they did.
The Mini van arrived in 1960, followed a year later by a pocket-sized pick-up. This handy little number was an instant success with businesses from plumbers to the AA, and it trundled along until 1982. Then there was the flat-pack Mini Moke. Designed for the Army to drop onto the battlefield, it flopped through lack of ground clearance or four-wheel drive. It lasted a mere four years in the UK but prospered as an upmarket golf buggy, Caribbean hotel runaround and kooky TV show transport. You could still get them in Portugal as recently as 1993.
A much smarter move was to add windows, seats and carpets to the van to make a dinky estate, the Mini Traveller - the old Mini variant that's closest to the new Clubman. It sported stuck-on wood decoration, like the Morris Minor, or a bare version was available for less cash.
