The Minissima is a small

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

city car that was designed by

William Towns William Towns (1936–1993) also known as Bill Towns, was a British car designer, most known for his designs for Aston Martin, including the 1967 DBS, as well as the futuristic and angular Mk.II Lagonda and Bulldog concept car. Design career ...

(as the Townscar) as his idea for a replacement for the original

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

in 1972. It was displayed by

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

on their stand at the 1973

London Motor Show London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thame ...

after they bought the prototype from Towns. In common with the early Mini, it was designed around its initial 10" wheels and the

BMC A-Series engine The Austin Motor Company A-series is a British small straight-4 car, automobile engine. Launched in 1951 with the Austin A30, production lasted until 2000 in the Mini. It used a cast-iron block and cylinder head, and a steel crankshaft with thre ...

. It is shorter than the Mini and designed to park end-on to the curb (like the

Smart Fortwo The Smart Fortwo (stylized as "smart fortwo") is a two-seater city car manufactured and marketed by the Smart (marque), Smart division of the Mercedes-Benz Group for model years 1998–2024, across three generations — each using a rear-engi ...

), having only one door - at the rear. It has four seats, two at the front, front facing, and two facing inwards at the rear. The Minissima design re-emerged a few years later as a prototype car for the disabled, adapted by engineering firm GKN Sankey by ex Ford engineer Fred Hart. During the engineering process, the layout changed to feature a central driving position in which a wheelchair user would enter through the back door using a fold-down rear ramp, and drive off. The styling was simplified by William Towns to suit mass production and won a

Design Council The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom Charitable trust, charity incorporated by royal charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instr ...

award in 1978, it did not gain government support due to high costs and the project was cancelled. GKN sold the rights to British bicycle manufacturer Elswick, and a small number were manufactured from 1981 to 1987 and were sold as the Elswick Envoy. In 2007, an Elswick Envoy was the subject of a 24-minute

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

, ''Elegy for the Elswick Envoy'', which shared the prize for best documentary in the 2008

Aspen Shortsfest The Aspen Shortsfest is an annual Oscar-qualifying short film festival held in Aspen, Colorado. It is run by Aspen Film, which has also run the feature film festival, Aspen Filmfest, since 1979. History and description Aspen Film was founded b ...

film festival.{{cite web, last=Adelman, first=Kim, title=Jury, Audience, and Industry Buzz Agree: Docs Rocked Aspen Shortsfest 2008, date=17 April 2008, publisher= IndieWire, url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/shorts_column_jury_audience_and_industry_buzz_agree_docs_rocked_aspen_short , accessdate=21 July 2013 1972_Minissima_Side.jpg, Side View Minissima_Dashboard.jpg, Dashboard Microdot_and_Minissima.jpg, Together with Microdot

References

*An article about the car written by British motoring journalist,

Paul Walton Paul Walton is a British motoring journalist and photographer. He started his career in 1999, working for ''Classic Cars'' magazine before moving to BBC '' Top Gear'' magazine in 2002. Highlights during his time at the two magazines included dr ...

, was printed in the August 2008 edition of '' Classic & Sportscar magazine'' Concept cars Cars of England Microcars British Leyland vehicles