Celebrities spotted in Minis - gallery

Vijay Pattni takes a look at a celebrity favourite on its 50th birthday – the Mini.

Happy Birthday Mini!

One of the world’s most popular motors and a British icon turns 50 years old – but far from greying around the edges and getting a little paunch, this little motor goes from strength to strength.

In the 1950s the head of BMC reportedly wanted a miniature motor to take on the popular German ‘bubble’ cars of the era – and he wanted something designed in the shape of a box.

What creator Alec Issigonis came up with was a design classic – the Mini, despite its size, could accommodate four adults thanks to ingenious space-saving designs, including mounting the engine up front and fitting tiny 10-inch wheels.

And it seems alcohol had its part to play in the Mini’s practicality – Issigonis reportedly measured up a bottle of Gordon’s Gin and built the inside door compartments to fit them.

The engine itself came in at under 1-litre (848cc) and was mounted transversely to make sure its tiny cabin could fit as many people in as possible.

And it was born – the world’s greatest city car.

BMW saw something they liked, and its take on the classic British car is one of the car industry’s biggest success stories.

The new Mini is bigger, more powerful and roomier than its boxy original – but it has lost none of its predecessor’s charm. Add in the wild, rampaging 211bhp John Cooper Works Edition, and you have one stonking great supermini.

And the Mini has become a design classic and a must for all first-time drivers – as well as film directors. It’s scaled the seething streets of Turin (The Italian Job), been thrashed by the world’s hardest spy (The Bourne Identity), been given a power boost by American bank robbers on a revenge mission (The Italian Job 2003) and manhandled by an eccentric Englishman (Mr Bean).

And this celebrity status has transferred into the real world too – with the likes of Madonna, Britney Spears, Lily Allen, George Best, Liam Gallagher and Kate Moss lapping up the mint motor.

Want to see which celebs have been spotted in Minis? View our image gallery below.

We’ve got a whole month of Mini madness to come – check back with Auto Trader for all things Mini throughout May 2009.