My Passion!

[tony105]

I hope that members new and longstanding, are enjoying the new injection of interest and enthusiasm that we are seeing within the automatic Mini register.

My thanks to Martin for bringing this new lease of life to the forum.

Well, as the name suggests 'Roger's Corner' is a new section that Martin and I have agreed upon to give a space for my ramblings, and to hopefully evoke discussion and to focus on what I aim to be the automatic Mini's (and all AP) cars lesser known story and points of interest. I will make very clear from the outset that I am no mechanic but have learned a great deal about the automatic Mini over the years and remain as fascinated by the automatic model as I've ever been. In fact, I would argue that in recent times, our often derided auto' Mini is now gaining a popularity and interest that it sadly missed in the past.

This feature is aimed to give a background to my personal interest in the automatic Mini, my experiences and to set the tone for future articles.

I will naturally get some details wrong for example production start dates, specification changes etc; but I'm not precious and positively encourage your comments, feedback and corrections - it's our discussion and shared dialogue that encourages our shared passion.

So why the automatic?

Firstly, I have nothing against the manual transmission Mini and have over the years probably owned more manual Mini's than auto's - I currently own a Rover Mini Flame fitted from new with the 998 John Cooper Conversion and it's a joy.

During my childhood my father worked on the production line at Cowley - this was during the 1970's British Leyland years. In the early 70's my father owned a Mk11 Mini (Manual) and I remember that my mother loved that car. When my father replaced the Mini with a Morris Marina' I remember that my mother would often say how much she would love an 'automatic Mini.' The very mention of an 'automatic Mini' would evoke the shaking of head and sharp intake of breath from my father that some restoration garages make when you take a rusty car along (you know the reaction - like they've never actually seen a rusty car before!) A similar reaction would often be evoked by mechanic friends and garages alike.

The reaction must have made an impression upon me as it seemed to me that an automatic, just made sense - only two pedals, less likely to stall (for a new driver), no rolling back on a hill and most importantly - just less hassle - to steer a car through traffic and needing to drive and stop/slow the car with one foot - surely the bonuses outweighed the niggles?

Fast forward to the passing of my driving test in the early 1980's, my first car was a 1969 Mini 1275 GT (oh how I wish I'd kept that one!) but at the time - the Mini was still a common sight on the roads. I replaced the GT with my first automatic Mini - a 1975 Teal Blue Mini 1000. That car was a revelation and I loved it. Although a completely standard 998cc car, that Mini performed well, kept up with traffic and could hold its own on dual carriageways.

At that time, I knew little about modifications or indeed the importance of regular and correct oil changes; but in spite of years of hard use, the transmission worked well and never let me down.

My second automatic Mini was a 1979 Mini Clubman Estate in Sandglow - which I seem to recall had super low mileage and felt like a new car. The practicality of the Estate meant that I kept that car for longer and again, I was lucky in that the transmission worked perfectly.

I later owned two gold Austin Metro Vanden Plas automatics - both of these cars felt like a huge leap forward in terms of refinement but my first Metro just wasn't reliable and was one of those cars that we just could never get to the bottom of why it just broke down so often but the second Metro ran faultlessly.

A break from having a Mini as my main car saw me owning a number of Honda Preludes - all but one being an automatic - but my desire to have another automatic Mini in my life came about when I saw my first post 1993 Mini Mayfair. You may recall that Rover Group really went to town on the Mini's trim level around this time - adding (at last) bigger seats from the Metro.

Following on from the success of the newly relaunched Rover Mini Cooper in 1990, the entire Mini range eventually gained the 1275 A' Plus engine - this mated to the automatic transmission, initially with carburettor and later with single point injection - was a 'must have car for me.'

I eventually owned a beautiful Charcoal Grey Metalic 1.3 spi Mini Mayfair - known as Mr Bridger for 17 years and can honestly say he was my absolute favourite Mini. I sadly had to sell him to fund the purchase of the Mini Flame Cooper Conversion, as mentioned earlier. I had actually owned the Mini Flame new in 1990 and this purchase was me buying him back!

In many ways this sums up my passion for the automatic Mini - my mother never did get to own an automatic Mini, but she did in the 1980's own an automatic Austin Metro.

A huge part of my passion for the automatic Mini is in many ways associated to the slight 'underdog' reputation the car had, the horror stories and the fear of how new fangled and complicated it could be which for me rather missed the point. Rather like the concept of the Mini's design which was groundbreaking and initially met with suspicion, the automatic was such a part of Sir Alec Issigonis vision of not repeating the norm' but of being innovative.

I am so glad that we have this forum and I look forward to bringing new content often. I welcome your comments, thoughts and individual stories of your own passion for the auto Mini


Roger.