Research into Glasgow and the Classic Mini

My name is Heather Robertson and I am a curator at the Museum of Transport in Glasgow. I am currently researching the Classic Mini and would really love to hear your memories. I have listed a few questions and it would be very much appreciated if you could send your answers to me via email or post them on this forum. May I also ask – do you have any photographs in which your Mini features? The Mini can be incidental to the shot or the main subject, either would be great. We're looking for photographs for our display. If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to email me: heathercls.robertson@csglasgow.org or write to me here at the museum.

There are a few things I'd particularly like to know about your experiences with the Mini. If you could answer them using whichever method you'd prefer (email, telephone, visit etc.) that would be wonderful. If you have any questions yourself then please don't hesitate to call. Also, don't feel you have to answer all the questions - only those you feel apply to you and that you feel comfortable answering. If you feel there are things you'd like to tell us that aren't covered in the questions please do go ahead! Some of the questions are only indirectly linked to the Mini as we're trying to get a very rounded sense of its impact and importance.

Questions:

1. What first drew you to the Mini?
2. When did you get your first Mini? Was it your first car? (If not, how did it compare to other cars you'd had)
3. Was it the car you'd always wanted?
4. Did you have to save up to buy it? Do you remember where you bought it?
5. Can you remember driving it for the first time? How did it feel?
6. Was there anything in terms of its design that you found frustrating?
7. Was there anything in terms of its key features that you altered for your own use? I.e. did you take anything off the car, add anything to it, and use it for a purpose that the makers hadn't intended it to be used?
8. Have you driven Mini's since?
9. Why did you eventually replace your Mini?
10. Where did you go in your Mini? - to work, out with your mates, just driving around town, on holiday?
11. Did you have a young family to transport around too?
12. Could you play music in the car? - If so, what music?
13. Was the 60's all it's cracked up to be?
14. Did people in Glasgow, in your opinion, actually experience the free love, high design, and mini skirt culture?
15. What do you think the reasons for the Mini's success are?
16. Was the car as advertised - efficient, affordable and practical?
17. What made the Mini different from other cars of the period?
18. How did people react to you and the car?
19. Were there design features of the car that you particularly like - sliding windows, smaller tyres etc.?



There are a lot of questions and some probably won't apply to you so please feel free to answer as many (or as few!) as you like.

Many thanks again for your help!



Heather

Be back soon with my reply :yes nod:

Think I’m too young and I’m thirty six as well or having not be an original Mini owner. But I did grow up around the original Mini Coopers and 1275 Mini’s and even Mini Vans….

So I’ve always had a soft spot for the Mini having watched and helped in so many Mini rebuilds. Memories of the Original being tinny, basic, small, rust magnets and easy to work on….Lost count of the hours helping friends service, fix and repair there mini’s but even with wipers that could not shift heavy rain and a heater that was like someone blowing through the vents and a button you hit to check wither the brakes were going to work that day, the whole Mini experience was extremely fun for me if frustrating for the owners always having to work on them…

The smell of leaded petrol takes me right back then I wake up to the BMW Mini that is solid, reliable and needing a Laptop to work on it…but that suits me down to the ground. The Charm is still there along with the character of the original and I don’t have to fix it every week…..and I don’t think the sills are about to drop off the BMW one like they did on the original. Plus the only chance of an airbag in the original was if your mate had brought his birthday balloon in the car, changed days with regard to safety and surround Airbags and impact protection…

I’d hate to think of the N-Cap the original would have got if they could do a Minus for safety. The first thing I noticed on the very first week of the New Mini going on sale in the showroom was the weight in the doors compared to the Classic version and the reassuring Thud when it shut.

Probably rambling useless rubbish, But the Memories of the Classic Mini’s a grew up around I can still touch driving my new Mini. It’s still quirky and a lot of fun if getting a bit popular these days to own a mini.

Never had an original mini, but just wanted to say the wee red one in the Transport Museum is my favourite exhibit in the whole building.

Don't know how many photo's I've taken of it over the years! Hope it is on display at the new site as well.

Hi,

Thanks for your messages! Our Mini is going to be displayed in the new museum and it's going to have a larger space around it and far more associated objects. We're going to make a real feature of it. I'm pleased to be working on the new display as it's a car that deserves its own space. Does anybody have any old photos with classic Mini's in them?

Thanks again!

Heather:computer: