Building a baby Austin7 MK1 Mini - BMC, Longbridge PART 1/2

A very early BMC film of the original Mini being built from Start to finish at the Austin Factory, Longbridge - happy times. Sadly, most of the factory has recently been demolished. The Mini production assembly remained virtually unchanged for 40 years.

[@fordlandau]

the A class engine was old by the
1960s...gear box and sump in one..meant the engine wore out the gear box prematurely..but there was a magnet on the sump plug to attract bits of rogue metal ..thats real British know how!!..great clip .thank you!!

[@jackdanveggie]

Brilliant car, I remember as a kid 2 adults and 4 kids & all the lugage going from birmingham to rhyl on holiday and the bonnet just popped up on the motorway and i shat myself...i was only 11,...but truely an iconic car ,deserved to be car of the millenium

[@Robkizzy]

Blow me away !! I have a 61 Austin seven. Thank you... for showing me how my baby was born

[@Leafster1973]

and it still proves to be a super little car 50 years on. We went shopping today, 4 people in the mini, and still managed to get all the weekly Tesco shopping in the boot, less is more! We cover a 100miles a week, 50MPG, and they are so easy and cheap to service it all makes perfect sense!

[@Leafster1973]

Nice to hear from you, and sad to see the Old West works is no more.

[@spifflication]

Brilliant. Thank you for posting.

[@arobekie]

That was a excelent film Mr cholmondley warner,Thank you grayson.

[@Malcolmstuartcole]

Rover was a great place to work,I luved walking round the die park trying to work out which panel was for which car...listening to the presses...Then came the robots.......Will i get to 3d print a mini before the terminators get me.......haha...Cheers for uploading

[@MrRobster1234]

I think that the rust-preventing bath was actually a rust-delaying bath. IE until the car was out of the showroom.
While the cars may have been sold at a loss BMC sure started making money when front shafts started wearing out and rear sub-frames rotted away.

[@NZWolf]

A mate of mine used to work at Longbridge, on the Mini's. He said they were right Bas*ards to work on.

[@deathbyramen_]

Cool video. I have a classic Mini and I love it. :)

[@MedievalRichard]

The good old Mini hey. I've got a 1998 Rover Cooper MPI. Rebuilt, tuned up & mint. Worth top end at 7 grand... Love my Mini. Would love an Austin however. ;)

[@mfiddynz]

Yes, Motor, Gearbox & Diff all slosh around in the same oil. A fault in one sent metal thru the other components.

[@Thanhkim]

the mini is a great car, best invention ever, unfortunately it wasn't the safest, thats when BMW came in with their safer version, ok its not a true mini but more a fashion icon, still best car ever, both.

[@unigateman]

they still are, I ve had one 20 yrs

[@MrClassicDoctorWho]

The rust preventing line made me laugh!

[@DimVid]

you re like the luckiest man in the world for me!!!!

[@grahamkeithtodd]

the early minis used to leak like sieves...but for the time it was a brilliant design to say the least....

[@MikeJF355]

4:22 The rust proofing rotor dip.... It didn't really work did it!

[@kekman3923]

lol

[@mikelovatt6625]

Expressed in dollars and cents pounds shillings and pence. The originals with huge pocket doors were the best basic motoring

[@00Donkey00]

@Guardtheheart
Yes the original mini uses engine oil for the gearbox.

[@Leafster1973]

Not some much use it, but lose it from the driveshaft and gear selector oil seals!

[@alexsbikesandmotors]

this is back when Britain was strong

[@MrMarmaduke1]

I worked there in1990 we used some of that stuff to do a special run of metro bodies
the track had been retooled to make the r6 seriesThe ones we were making we were told was for a car hire firm tha wanted the old type Those spot wleding guns didnt come any bigger.

[@MrMarmaduke1]

I dont think it was Bmws fault They were going to kill it off earlier but we were making loads for the japanese market. They said it was because they were buying them, coz they could not have cars over three years old in japan, and making them look like Italian job cars.

[@DjokaStokic]

gear box shared the oil with engine :)

[@Leafster1973]

Its was in the very early 60s!

[@mikelovatt6625]

gearbox and crankcase all in one using same oil

[@CynicalBastard511]

Now I know why they, BMC, were making a loss on each Mini they sold.

[@AJ-qn6gd]

They didn’t know that we’re making a loss on them until Ford told them so.

[@JGeiger15]

I wonder if this is my mini... :D

[@irishmikelley]

too bad the "rust preventing dip" didnt do a better job

[@LittleGar95]

welll the rust pretecting stuff didnt work on mine now she is off to the scrap :(

[@gorsian1979]

THis Vidio in 1959

[@ggoodan]

4:22 no that cant be right :L

[@aly369]

Rust Protection? HA!

[@Leafster1973]

@alexsuchapimp before the rest of the World caught up

[@NewGenerationModels]

Just pUt somestraight mk1 mini doors on eBay, just search up mk1 mini doors on the eBay search bar :)