1960 Austin Seven 850

Designed as project ADO15 (Austin Drawing Office project number 15), the Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis. Petrol was once again rationed in the UK, sales of large cars slumped and the market for German bubble cars boomed. Leonard Lord, the somewhat autocratic head of BMC, reportedly detested these cars so much that he vowed to rid the streets of them and design a 'proper miniature car'. Issigonis, who had been working for Alvis, had been called back to BMC in 1955 and, with his skills in designing small cars, he was a natural for the task. The team that designed the Mini was remarkably small: as well as Issigonis, there was Jack Daniels (who had worked with him on the Morris Minor), Chris Kingham (who had been with him at Alvis), two engineering students and four draughtsmen.

This 1960 Austin Seven De Luxe has covered 2,600 miles from new and is without doubt one of the rarest of finds. The car was originally purchased by the respected collectors, the Shape Family, where it remained until a Christies estate sale in 2005. Having been on the road for only the first two years of its life, the car was retired into heated storage.

Virtually every component on this mini is original: the bodywork is in superb rust-free condition and the vinyl interior retains a factory fresh quality that cannot be recreated. The car is well-preserved with original underseal, original handbook, service book, tax disc holder, rubber boot mat, jack and wheel brace. In addition, 139 PKX is supplied with the original Austin Seven key ring, spare keys and the last tax disc bought for the car, it expired in 1962. There is a large amount of paperwork in the history file including all of the period registration logbooks and correspondence between owners. This has to be one of the lowest mileage minis in existence and is an important example of the model. It has survived unscathed for over fifty years and is a testament to Alec Issigonis' ground breaking creation, long may it continue to do so.