When Alec Issigonis sketched his idea for a economical small four seater car with a wheel in each corner, seating for four, and a transversally mounted engine driving the front wheels, on a table cloth in the early 1950’s it’s unlikely that he could of predicted just how influential his mid dinner doodle was to become.

Trying to come up with a solution to steal sales from European bubble car manufacturers  Issigonis had just drawn what was to become the blueprint for nearly all future small cars: Issigonis had designed the Mini.

Step forward more than half a century and BMW – makers of the Isetta - and one of the European manufacturers Alec was trying to beat- now make the Mini including both the Clubman, and Cooper. All BMW Minis owe their names to versions of the original Issigonis designed BMC car, including this one, the new Mini Countryman.