Mini: One of Dozen Most Important Cars of All Time

Friday, January 18th, 2008

Time.com has a cool article listing the 12 most important cars of all time. Of course, the Model T takes top honor for obvious reasons, but you might be interested to know that the BMC Mini took 8th spot:

First car in the world to lie the engine across the vehicle rather than longitudinally. Revolutionary design proved that cars could get smaller —and still be hot. Its technical layout was copied by everybody and is still basically used in today’s small cars. Ten feet long with 10 inch wheels, it handled like a dream.

Big thanks to Snooter for this find!

[ Full Article Here ]

One Response to “Mini: One of Dozen Most Important Cars of All Time”

1. Ken Says:
   January 18th, 2008 at 11:07 pm

   I always like when time does one of these completely arbitrary vehicle lists because I alway take issue with a few of their selection.
   First of all, the SUV thing, it should just be the WWII Jeep, technically the first SUV, and much more historically significant than every other SUV put together.
   Next, I don’t really see why the Civic is on there. Sure it was a sign of changing times in the US, but this isn’t a US only list (hence the last one) so I’d think the Edsel (all of them) could replace it. Where the Civic’s an example of the right thing at the right time, the Edsel is an example of the wrong thing at the wrong time, and everyone can learn so much more from other’s mistakes.
   The Prius….I don’t like them anyways and wouldn’t the GM EV1 be a better representation of the going green trend, even though it was a bit ahead of it’s time with not fully mature technology.
   I’d replace the Tata, which is too new and it’s historical impact can not yet be determined with the Land Rover. It’s the vehicle of choice for every nature show, humanitarian aide mission, and NATO peacekeeping mission. It also happens to be a historical vehicle in the recovery of England’s post-war economy, as well as a status symbol in today’s SUV market, pretty versatile.
   Finally, why 12? they could have done a top 10 list, they could have done top 20…12 is so arbitrary.

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