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Mini is 50: a Mini celebration by CAR writers and readers

By Tim Pollard Motoring Issues 13 October 2009 12:45 Mini is 50 this year and we've published a 33-page Mini special in the new November issue of CAR Magazine – packed with memories, drives and analysis of and with the cars and people that made Mini great.  Here we've asked some of CAR's top writers to remember their personal highlights from the past five decades. Gavin Green explains why he recently drove across Australia in a modern Mini, while Anthony ffrench-Constant recalls why crashing a classic Mini caused him to start a lifelong nicotine habit. Click on the links below for our new Mini stories – and don't forget we want YOUR Mini memories too.

Bentley Hunaudières: The Bentley that became a Bugatti

Bentley Hunaudieres Now seemingly forgotten, the Bentley Hunaudières Concept car from the 1999 Geneva Motor Show was the forerunner to the Bugatti Veyron. At the end of the 1990s Volkswagen embarked on a buying frenzy that would see them become makers of some of the world’s most desirable cars, acquiring Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in the space of a few months in 1998. But even though VW had bought Bentley and Bugatti it seems they weren’t entirely sure at first where they would take their new marques, and at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show they revealed a W16 hypercar.

Morgan booted from Morgan

Charles Morgan may have his name emblazoned across the bonnet of every Plus Four and Three-Wheeler that leaves Pickersleigh Road, Malvern Link, but he's no longer in charge. The board of directors at Morgan Motor Company has made a decision for Mr. Morgan to step down from his role as strategy director, as well as the international face of the car company that his grandfather founded.