The term “oil crisis” is often associated with fuel shortages during the 1970s, but the first sizable oil crisis of the 20th century arguably started on July 26th, 1956, when Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. In response, Britain, France and Israel joined forces and launched a controversial attack against Egypt on October 29th, 1956.

As expected, the conflict had repercussions on the oil industry. In addition to numerous pipelines in Syria being set on fire or otherwise destroyed, King Saud of Saudi Arabia showed his support for Nasser by initiating an oil embargo against Britain and France. Fuel became scarce and expensive in the British Isles and city-dwelling motorists flocked towards bubble cars such as the BMW Isetta and the Messerschmidt KR200.

The new-found popularity of bubble cars irritated the British government, and it urged BMC to quickly develop a small, affordable and economical car with four seats. The task was given to Alec Issigonis, an engineer that had made a name for himself during the development of the Morris Minor, and work on what would become globally known as the Mini began. Affectionately nicknamed “Orange Box,” the first functional Mini prototype was built in 1957 and months of rigorous testing began.

The Mini went from a concept to a production car in just 27 months and rushed to production. To save precious time, story has it that Issigonis personally designed most of the machinery required to build the car in BMC’s Oxford, England, factory.

Launched in England in August of 1959 as the Austin 850 and the Austin Seven, the Mini stood out from everything else on the road, including the hoards of bubble cars that had led to its creation and other popular economy cars like the Volkswagen Beetle and the Citroën 2CV. Its exterior design was penned largely by Issigonis himself and was characterized by rounded lines and tiny ten-inch steel wheels pushed as far towards the corners as possible.

Inside, it featured a speedometer mounted in the center of the dash to facilitate the conversion from right-hand drive to left-hand drive, storage bins mounted in the doors and below the rear seats, and door windows that slid open horizontally to free up extra inches of shoulder room.

The Mini’s most innovative aspect, however, was found in the engine bay where a water-cooled four-cylinder engine was mounted transversally on top of a four-speed manual gearbox. This highly compact setup cleared up a large amount of interior space and eliminated the need for a bulky transmission tunnel.

Once the problems encountered with early cars were solved, the Mini became an instant hit and it took BMC just six years to build one million examples. The car outlived Issigonis – who formally became Sir Issigonis in 1969 – and exceeded all period expectations by staying in production until October 4th, 2000.

The Mini inspired others, too. Dante Giacosa’s Autobianchi A112 was designed as a direct competitor to the Mini and it single-handedly kept the Fiat-owned firm alive for the better part of two decades. Lamborghini chief engineer Gian Paolo Dallara considered the Mini a masterpiece of engineering and he carefully studied the engine bay before mounting the Miura’s V12 engine transverally behind the rear seats.

More recently, BMW’s resurrection of the Mini put it on the map in the premium compact car market, something it certainly couldn’t have done as easily with a sub-1-Series model.

The Mini Red Hot

Based on the entry-level Austin Mini City, the Red Hot was one of the numerous limited edition Minis offered during the 1980s in order to lure buyers into showrooms. The Red Hot and contrasting Jet Black editions featured model-specific decals, velour upholstery with red seatbelts and noticeably more equipment than the bare-bones City for a modest price increase. 3,000 examples of each version was built in 1988 for Europe and Japan.

We’ve made a list of thoughts and impressions that came to us while driving a 1988 Red Hot on back roads and through small villages.