The original Mini launched in 1959 under the British Motor Corporation. Alec Issigonis’s transverse-engine, front-wheel-drive layout helped fit useful passenger space into a very short body. Small wheels, upright windows and short overhangs make that packaging visible. It ranks third because efficient use of space becomes the design itself. The classic car is distinct from the larger modern MINI family, even when familiar visual cues connect them.
Related reading: Fiat Nuova 500.
Source: Classic Mini.
Image credit: DeFacto · CC BY-SA 2.5. Resized and JPEG compressed.
.jpg){kind=link}