20 Sep 07
In late 1969 the Elf and Hornet were ditched to make way for the Clubman and some tweaks to the standard Mini. The Clubman ad campaign called it 'the big happening'. Not only was there a new look but, for the first time, a Mini had wind-up windows set in padded doors, and vents in the new facia. In case this was all too much, Leyland made it clear that the old-style Mini was still around, albeit with those decadent wind-up windows replacing its sliding glass. The Clubman also donated its nose to the estate, now with fake Traveller-style wood.
In 1970 a Mini 1000 was £702, a Clubman £749 - a handy little margin. The controversial Clubman was the 1275 GT, replacing both Cooper and Cooper S in time. BL management had decided to stop paying John Cooper a royalty for his name, although the badge was resurrected in 1990. There were complaints that, despite its go-faster stripes, the 59bhp 1275GT was slower than the Cooper S, which ran alongside for a short time, but its Austin 1300 engine had more useful gear ratios than an old-style Cooper.
Half a million Clubmans were sold before the Metro arrived in 1980. Tony Ball, who by then was back with the company, recalls: 'I fought very hard to ensure we retained the Mini as a marque, when in later years there was the prospect of the car being dropped in favour of merging it with the name Mini-Metro. I did believe that the Mini, with its Clubman and various other derivatives, could continue to retain an ongoing sector of the small car market.'
The Clubman was the only facelift the Mini had in its 41 years - a facelift abandoned in the car's twilight years of special editions that kept interest in the Mini ticking over until BMW replaced it with the all-new Mini, complete with John Cooper special editions, a rumoured van and, now, a car badged Clubman that looks a lot like the old Traveller.
Review: Mini One (2007-)
Review: Mini Clubman (2007-)
