The Independent American Magazine for all Mini Owners
Issue link: http://mc2.epubxp.com/i/33537
The Abingdon-styled version of ADO 34 was a simple and cute 2-seater adaptation of the Mini 850 platform, with sliding side curtains in the doors. Unhappily, the body structure was not stiff enough. by Graham Robson irst of all, there are two indisputable facts: When launched in 1959, the Mini handled better than any other road car in the world – and some people insist that it has still never been bettered. Also, when it was launched, it steered better, and more accurately than any other car in the world too. In which case, why on earth did BMC not make haste to launch a sports car based on its engineering? To put it simply, it came down to the state of company politics, to a series of mind-sets within management, and in particular to Alec Issigonis’s attitudes. Having conceived his Mini masterpiece, as stripped out, low-price, family car, the arrogant, single-minded, Issigonis wanted to secure his car’s legacy as the best and most F 52 MC2 Magazine www.mc2magazine.com successful small family sedan in the world. His mind was already set, and we now know that for years he actively resisted all attempts to broaden the car’s appeal. Did Issigonis agree with the development of the Riley Elf/Wolseley Hornet? No, he did not. Did he approve of the evolution of the sporty Mini- Cooper? Not at first. And did he ever consider producing a sports car derivative? Absolutely not! Sixty miles away, however, at BMC’s dedicated MG sports car factory in Abingdon, Syd Enever’s engineers were more open-minded. Although they were already heavily involved in developing an MG Midget version of the original Austin-Healey Sprite (the ‘bug eye’ had been introduced as recently as 1958), Enever’s team started thinking about front-wheel-drive sports cars as soon as they knew about the design of the Mini. Even before the Mini was launched, a front-wheel-drive Abingdon project (EX220) was started in April 1959 that was based on the ‘Sputnik’ (which is how Issigonis’s Mini was described by some BMC insiders). A handful of schemes, sketches and proposals were made of such cars over the next two months: Austin-Healey and MG branded types were discussed, as were open-top 2-seaters or fastback coupes. The problem at this time was that there was still no place in BMC’s product plan (or, more likely, in Sir Leonard Lord’s or Sir George Harriman’s traditionalist minds) for such a car to be designed – and, as far as is known, no-one else had yet Tphoe r Lts o S Os p nh w u c e ta hs on t e M in i ’ as er o m xk ce e lt M le in i s t M i Ca r n i s n -t h ba an sde l ind s g bp ec m re ks a as c or t n a w Gn s, a . os M