What makes a Cult Car?

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Beatle Ringo Starr was a Mini fan, even modifying his car so it could hold his drums.       The lure of the Mini strikes young and old alike.       The Austin 850 was one of the first Minis to come to the United States in 1960.       The gutsy little Mini came to be known as a racing champion after winning the 1964 Monte Carlo rally.       Mini's creator, Sir Alec Issigonis, stands outside the Mini factory at Longbridge, England. His first design for Mini was drawn on a napkin.   The original Volkswagen Beetle had it. So did the French Deaux Chevau. And the original Mini from the British Motor Corp. All were popular-selling small vehicles of their day. But they had something else, too—an intangible quality that helped launch a cult following. Today, with the arrival of new, retro-styled vehicles in the U.S. market—the VW New Beetle in 1998, the Chrysler PT Cruiser in 2000 and soon, the MINI—experts are again debating what it takes to make a small car more than just popular. MINI Latest to Test the Waters Certainly officials at BMW of North America Inc., who begin receiving new MINIs early in calendar 2002, are keenly focused on the cult image the previous Mini enjoyed around the world. (Note the capitalized spelling for the new MINI, as opposed to the old Mini.) "There's a great cult relationship with Minis; we hope the new MINI will create a similar cult," said Richard Steinberg, who is in charge of marketing the new MINI in the States. Mike McHale, communications chief for MINI who has lived all his life in the United Kingdom, is adamant that Mini "is the cult car." "It's the way it looks, it's the way it handles, it's the way it feels," he said. "It has the certain 'classlessness' thing to it so you're not saying, `Hey I've got loads of money, I'm driving a Mini' or `I can't afford a real car so I'm driving a Mini.' People drive them because they're just great fun. And just the way it looks, it's cute to look at, it's endearing. I don't know what it is, it's just personality." Members of the Irish Mini Owners Club in Ireland have their own way of describing their love of old-time Minis. "We find the first time around, the Mini would have been cheap transport," said Gerard O'Leary, organizer of a 1,000-kilometer Mini rally in Ireland in June 2000. "The second time around, the vast proportion of our current users would be people who had a Mini before and now have more disposable income and have the Mini [again] as a toy." One of the rally participants owns three Minis. Asked why he likes Minis, he replied: "It's a strange thing. It's a little like saying 'Why do you like football?' There's no explanation. I fell in love with Minis when I was 14, and I've had a Mini since I was 17, and I'm 48 now. I like making little cars go fast. It's nice to take a little car and beat the big guys. You can sit there and think 'Mine only costs a thousand pounds. Yours cost 10,000 pounds, and mine goes faster than yours.'" It's More Than Just Sales, For Sure Jim Dietzler, associate editor of Hemmings Special Interest Autos and Rods & Performance magazines, noted popularity is one thing; cult status for a car is quite another. "Popularity is more or less strictly a sales-derived number," he said. "It's the one that's just out there, selling really well. . . . But go back to the 1980s and the Ford Escort. Is that a [popular-selling] car that's ever going to become a cult car or collectible? I doubt it, except perhaps for a few Escort GTs." But imbuing a new car with the qualities necessary to make it a cult vehicle can be elusive, Dietzler noted. "It's very difficult to put your finger on it," he said. "It hits people in the gut, where they say, `I've got to have one of these and I will keep it forever.' They buy the car and it's their car, and God help them, its going to be handed down to the kids. It becomes almost like a member of the family." Culture Link Often, Dietzler said, cult cars are tied to and reflect what's going on in popular culture at the time. This helps give them an image apart from their own looks or engineering. "A car that relates to our culture becomes more than a car," he said, noting how the VW van in the 1960s wasn't just an odd-looking, boxy people-hauler but also became the vehicle of note for the generation's Flower Children and peace protesters. Another example, he said, are some of cars of the 1950s that sported jet rocket styling cues. "In the '50s, we see the jet rocket inspiration and the space race," he said. "Everything that came out at that time was influenced by rockets and jets. It was our [America's] fascination with the mysteries of space that we knew nothing about, but it permeated the auto industry even though the space race wouldn't affect 99.9 percent of the people. Still, out there in their driveway was a car reflecting the popular culture." MINI a Good Prospect Dietzler agreed the new MINI has a good chance at cult status. For one thing, there's a loyal owner base from previous Mini owners, he said. A starring role as the successful getaway vehicle for bank robbers in the 1969 movie The Italian Job created an indelible cinematic image, too. Celebrities in every decade since the original Mini's launch in 1959 embraced the little car. Beatle Ringo Starr modified a Mini so it could carry his drums. Actor Peter Sellers of Pink Panther fame owned more than one, and Prince Charles gave one to Princess Diana in 1982. Mini has been more than just a plaything for the rich and famous, though. More than 5 million Minis have been sold, primarily because they were simple, economical, little workhorses. They've also been in service as patrol cars for the Liverpool, England, police. Racing plays a part in the heritage, too. In 1964, Mini won its first Monte Carlo rally, a remarkable accomplishment for a car that had debuted just five years earlier with some 35 horsepower. But Dennis Adler, editor-in-chief of Car Collector magazine and author of the book The Art of the Automobile, The 100 Greatest Cars, noted some cult vehicles don't have a direct link to history. The Chrysler PT Cruiser is an example. "It plays on old themes," he said. "It's a unique attempt to capture a bygone era. . . . It's an instant cult car." Ill Will in the U.K. There are indications that the new MINI may face more hurdles outside the United States to become a beloved cult car than it will with Mini-starved Americans. Mini sales stopped in the States in 1967, but British production of Minis that trace their roots directly back to the beginning continued through the 2000 model year for home and non-U.S. markets. In fact, demand for the 41-year-old, last-of-the-original-line Minis sparked a 25 percent sales gain in calendar 2000 over 1999. German automaker BMW bought Mini's parent company, British-based Rover, in the late 1990s and began work on the new-generation MINI. But in 2000, BMW abruptly sold off Rover, while retaining the rights to the MINI name—a move that angered many in the Mini's homeland. Meantime, some in the British auto media have been cool to the new MINI. A writer for the English newspaper The Telegraph called BMW's MINI press materials "a masterpiece of revisionist history and style over substance." "More than one in nine U.K. drivers has been in a Mini, so we know what we are talking about and we don't need BMW's 21st century take on the kinky boost by way of an introduction," he wrote. Another newspaper writer weighed in, saying the new car is "as relentlessly honed as a Madonna video." She further complained that the "new MINI begins life as a fashion statement and continually revels in its own self-consciousness" rather than staying true to the original's genius of ageless, self-effacing design. Critical Timing Chris Cedergren, founder of auto research firm Nextrend in Thousand Oaks, Calif., said there's really no "blueprint" for a cult car. But he believes vehicles that carry a strong imprint of the designer—rather than being cars created by automaker committees, consensus and consumer research—are more likely to hit a strong cult chord. Timing is important, too. Small cars in the United States "are starting to make a comeback, especially as manufacturers are starting to put some passion into them," Cedergren said. "I think we're definitely seeing some small cars getting a cult status. . . . And the MINI has the potential." In the past, he said, U.S. small cars "were treated like boring appliances. I think small cars would sell better if we instill them with the same virtues that we instill in the bigger products—work on making them 'cool.'" Click here for more CarPoint news.

Ann Job, MSN CarPoint
Article Date: Sep 26, 2000
Car Accociations: NEW_MINI,
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