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Harris, Jacob 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4081-0289
(2022)
Rethinking an icon of Sixties Britain: The Mini and its place in the post-war motor revolution.
Twentieth Century British History, 33 (4).
523–546.
ISSN 0955-2359
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Abstract
The Mini was launched in 1959 during Britain’s motor revolution. This iconic car has long been analogized with the popular iconography of the Sixties, but I argue here that this association only scratches the surface of its more complex meanings. Rather, the Mini embodied the tension arising from a motor revolution that was transformative yet limited. By looking at how the Mini was marketed, perceived, and used (and by whom), I suggest that it was a conduit through which Englishness and national decline were mediated against the backdrop of mass motorization. It also reflected the motor-car’s growing importance as a public and private space. I draw on a number of historical sources to make this argument, including automotive advertising, a source that is currently underutilized by historians. In doing so, I seek to overcome the normative tendency in academic history to overlook the car’s cultural significance.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | history ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1202 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Apr 2022 14:30 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Mar 2024 01:38 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/84476 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/tcbh/hwac006 |
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