The Mini is 50! In its half-century of production in various guises and for various owners has become one of the most successful and best-loved cars of all time.
Yet the event has come as 850 workers face retrenchment at the UK factory.
It was launched in 1959 and it was soon dubbed the "classless car". Almost anybody, from film stars to factory workers, could be driving one.
The car was an instant success with its terrific manoeuvrability and easy-to-park qualities and spawned equally popular spin-offs such as the Monte Carlo rally-winning Mini Cooper that featured in the cult first version of the 'The Italian Job'.
More recently the Mini was relaunched by German auto giant BMW with significantly more power and a larger body but with references to the cars' original shape.
The Mini was designed by Sir Alec Issigonis and had an 848cc engine and top speed of about 115km/h.
Initially known as the Austin 850 or Morris 850, the Mini was first unveiled in April 1959, with the name Mini first being officially used in 1961.
It proved an instant hit with the public but, despite excellent sales, did not produce that much money for its manufacturer the British Motor Corporation.
In later years it was thought that BMC sold the car too cheaply and there were even suggestions that the company did not actually know exactly how much it cost to produce.
The Mini hardly needed any more publicity but it got it in 1964 when Paddy Hopkirk won the Monte Carlo Rally in a Mini Cooper S that Issigonis and now iconic designer John Cooper had created.
The same model also triumphed at Monte Carlo in 1965 and 1967.
Variants of the car included the Mini Traveller, the Mini Countryman and the Mini Moke which featured in the TV series 'The Prisoner'.
Just as TV and film directors liked to show a picture of a red London bus in their productions in the 1960's, they also wanted to display the Mini. One appeared in the Pink Panther movie 'A Shot in the Dark' and a psychedelic version of the Mini was shown in the Beatles' 'Magical Mystery Tour'.
Peter Sellers, George Harrison, John Lennon and Steve McQueen were among a host of celebrities who drove Minis.
The cars were assembled at Cowley in Oxford, at Longbridge in the West Midlands and later at sites abroad and the Mini became popular not only in the UK but all over the world.
ORIGINAL DIED IN 2000
Before the rise of what became known as the superminis the original had the small-car market pretty much to itself for many years. The Austin Mini Metro, which became known simply as the Metro, was meant to replace the Mini when it was introduced in 1980 but the two sold side by side.
Production of the original Mini ceased in 2000 but BMW decided to launch a new bigger, more-powerful version and the new basic Mini, the Mini One, has a 1.4-litre engine while the new Mini Cooper has a 1.6-litre BMW engine.
SA LAUNCH AT AUTO AFRICA
The new Mini has proved as big a hit with the public as its predecessor with BMW able to celebrate the production of its millionth Mini in April 2007.
The Millennium Mini was launched in South Africa at the Augo Africa show in 2000.
The 500 000th new Mini was delivered in 2004.. - The Independent, London