The Making Of The Mini: Factory Tour Film And Photos 1959 To 2013

THE new Mini has been launched. The latest BMW version of  Sir Alec Issigonis’ classic is bigger than ever before. The original car built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000 were  manufactured at the Longbridge and Cowley plants in England.

Let’s compare then and now:

 

NOW:

The car is built at the BMW factory in Oxford.

 

 

 

The production line at the BMW Mini plant in Oxford. 

 

 

 

THEN:

 

 

 

A view of the mini assembly lines in the new factory of Austin works in Longbridge, Birmingham. Date: 25/08/1959

 

 

Sir Leonard Lord, Chairman of the British Motor Corporation, at the Longbridge works in Birmingham as he gets into the driving seat of the BMC’s revolutionary new small car, announced today, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. Date: 25/08/1959

 

 

Sir Leonard Lord, chairman of the British Motor Corporation, inspects an exhibition of the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor at Longbridge in Birmingham. Date: 25/08/1959

 

At its height the Longbridge plant closed in 1985.

 

 

Workers spray the body of a car on the assembly line at the British Motor Corporation’s Longbridge site in Birmingham, where the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minors are being produced. Date: 25/08/1959

 

 

The Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minors are driven off the production line at the British Motor Corporation’s Longbridge site in Birmingham. Date: 25/08/1959

 

 

 

 

A promotional event for the Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minor. Five adults, one baby, two dogs and luggage were loaded into the small car at the British Motor Corporation’s Longbridge site in Birmingham. Date: 25/08/1959