20 Jun 01
With their tiny tail fins, bustle boot-lid and pompous radiator grilles, these were perhaps the most extreme examples of BMC's badge-engineering philosophy, loved neither by Mini purists nor Riley/Wolseley devotees. Even so, they have their benefits: the engine is a less feeble 1000 rather than 850 cc, the boot is much bigger and the interior far more luxurious, featuring not only the usual leather and wooden facia (Elfs got a full-width plank, Hornets an elliptical slice) but screenwashers, a heater and windtone horns. They received wind-down windows way before the standard Mini too. The Hornet and Elf were marketed as the perfect runaround for the '60s mum-about-town. If the Radford was 'chic' and metropolitan, there's something banal and suburban about the Elf and Hornet. But they do have a certain ironic appeal - don't they?
