ABOVE THE photo of a shiny new H-reg BL Mini Clubman is the ad line: ‘The Big Happening. The New Mini Clubman.’

    Sandwiched between the large photo and two smaller ones, showing a Mini alongside its new big-nosed 1969 brother is the bumpf. It reads:

    ‘A new car is a new car. You like it or you don’t. A new Mini is something else. It could be the end of a 10-year love affair or the start of another. Well, we’re not going to break off a great relationship.

    ‘The classic Mini shape will still be in the showrooms, still offering the finest value in motoring. But something big has happened in the Mini range. The new Mini Clubman. The Big Happening.’

    So it sounds like tosh and adverts have a very long established relationship with each other, but at least this old BL ad actually tells you something about the car – which is something that cannot be said about ads promoting modern tin.

    ‘First thing you’ll notice about the Mini Clubman is the whole new front end. Bumper, headlamps, grille and the bonnet itself have been redesigned. It’s taken the best automotive designers we’ve got [please no tittering at the back] two years of careful consideration to re-style the Mini. And it shows.’

    At this point you’ll probably start reading it to yourself in that curious mock transatlantic voice, which certain voice-over chaps in the late Sixties used to use to hide their well-rounded and polished public school vowels. It continues:

    That’s not all. It’s a bi happening inside the Mini Clubman too. For the first time a Mini has wind-up windows set in padded doors. Then there’s air-flow ventilation out of a brand new fascia. The seats are new. The steering wheel’s new. In fact there’s so much new about the Mini Clubman, there’s only one way to discover it all. Go see it. Let it all happen.”

    Right-ty-o dad-dy-o, you old cosmic groover...

    Of course, what the Clubman was really all about was helping to establish a BL corporate face by giving the Mini a touch of the Maxies – and in return, helping to freshen up the old fella to make the most of its rekindled popularity following the 1967 fuel crisis. Yes, it had a lot of new stuff going on – but under the bonnet was our dear old iron-blocked pal, the A-series.

    Fast forward to 2009 and the Clubman has long been a favourite of Mini transplanters because its Maxi-like front gives a lot of opportunity for something more powerful to be fitted. After all, you can only go so far with an A-series before either it or your bank account will go bang.