The iconic car has been the witness of a world hit by oil scarcity, problems faced by car industry and many more. It has seen a series of ownership changes. In spite of all the happenings, the Mini still stands upright to tell us the unfortunate tale of its original maker British Leyland.

The company first got nationalized and then privatized and then got demerged, was sold again and before it went bust finally.

In 1968 the Labour government engineered the merger of British Motor Corporation with Leyland and was nationalized in 1975. In the 1980s, Jaguar dominated the stock market and the rest of British Leyland had been sold to British Aerospace which was resold to BMW in 1994. BMW sold the company to the Phoenix Four and MG Rover and the company broke in the subsequent year.

The Mini is a front-wheel drive car with sideways-mounted engine, small wheels and external hinges. It was launched as the Austin Seven in 1959. It was sold as the Morris Mini-Minor, adapting the marque of its decade-old Morris Minor. After a decade it officially became the Mini.

The Mini personified the Swinging Sixties. It has the credit of winning three Monte Carlo rallies and was a favourite among the popstars. The Mini itself became a film star in The Italian Job.

While the Mini was shining, the British motor industry faded. The Mini carried a price tag of £500 without heaters, mirrors, sun-visors or radios. In those days, British cars had wind-up handles and the Mini still had sliding panes, where as most of the foreign cars had electric windows.

The Mini has won many awards over the years. The most notable ones are the “Car of the Century” by the Autocar magazine in 1995, “Number One Classic Car of All Time” by Classic & Sports Car magazine in 1996 and “European Car of the Century” in a worldwide Internet poll run by the prestigious Global Automotive Elections Foundation in 1999. The Mini managed second place, behind the Model T Ford, for “Global Car of the Century” in that same poll.

Around 5.39 million units of the Mini were sold over forty years making it Britain’s most popular car. The last old Mini was manufactured in October 2000. But there are still thousands of these cars on the road, with the remaining pre-1980s versions being firmly established as collectors’ items.