24039 ... Mini Cooper Mk. ITamiya - [TA 24039]
Marklin
TAMIYA
Many people who visited the London Motor Show in October
1959 met an
unfamiliar sight at the stand of Austin and Morris of the British Motor
Company. It had a strange styling which was quite different from the
current cars at that time; however most thought it was cute. They could
not quite believe that this car could seat comfortably, four large
British gentlemen or stout women, in a car that had a length of 3.05m
and a width of 1.41m. If they had known the amount of time and trouble
that the designers had taken to accomplish this feat, they would have
better understood why this was not only practical, but feasible as
well.
Prior to the release of the Austin
seven and the Morris Mini Minor, the Austin A40, designed by
Pininfarina of Italy had been successful in using the 2 box styling.
This same design styling was adopted for the Mini Cooper. A front wheel
drive was selected to keep the floor paneling level flat. A small
powerful engine was selected and developed to be mounted sideways, in
front, and driving the small diameter 10" wheels, which were laid out
at the four corners of the body.
By this design, 80% of
the
overall length could be utilized for the passengers and driver, and to
further increase the space, the gearbox was installed in the oil sump
of the engine. The suspension system of the Mini was one of its most
excellent features. Four wheel independent suspension using a double
wishbone and a rear trailing arm and the springing was a rubber,
semipneumatic, liquid filled and the front and rear wheels were joined
together with a thin pipe to equalize the pressures during running.
This type of dampening, using hydraulic springing is very compact, so
that it could all be mounted without interfering with the passenger
compartment. It was patented under the name of "Hydrolastic". The
designer of this vehicle was sir Alec Issigonis, a Greek who became a
naturalized British subject, and well known throughout the British
automobile industry.