Rethinking an icon of Sixties Britain: The Mini and its place in the post-war motor revolution

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
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	05 Apr 2022 14:30
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2022 03:21
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/84476
DOI:	10.1093/tcbh/hwac006

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