History of Mini

Simon Garfield (Faber, £16.99)

The original Mini has become an icon of the Swinging Sixties, but it was actually born in the dour 1950s, when Britain was poor and struggling with huge post-war bank debts.

Hitler had been proud of Volkswagen's Beetle, the people's car. Britain's answer was a tiny car using an engine from a bigger car. Designer Alex Issigonis solved the problem by making the Mini front-wheel-drive and turning the engine sideways.

From the start, when it was released in May 1959, motoring writers mentioned its go-kart handling and speed. And, like the new Mini, its market was affluent youth, not the working classes.

Celebrities adopted it, including the models Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton, film star Peter Sellers, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon.

Garfield was asked by BMW to produce this book for the Mini's 50th anniversary. It will ruffle no feathers and doesn’t quite live up to the hype of the subtitle, but it is well researched and provides a few interesting gems.

He tracked down engineers, managers, assembly-line workers and marketing people who were there at the original launch, and even spent time on the assembly line after going through BMW’s training process.

During the top-secret development, it was known as Sputnik, because it flashed around the former airstrip at Chalgrove like an orange rocket.

And Issigonis refused to admit that it leaked, although he carried Wellington boots in the back.

Despite its reputation as a rust trap, there are plenty of fans who will lap up this book — an estimated 25,000 turned up at Silverstone last month for the big 50th birthday bash with Paul Weller.