Calling round for Jo, I saw signs of his love of Minis all over his flat - a Mini calendar on the wall, DVDs of The Italian Job (original and remake) by the television, and die-cast models of Minis, still in their boxes, around the living room. Jo agreed that we could take some of these on our drive, to photograph, and told me about the star of the collection - a Corgi model of George Harrison's car.

"I don't know what colour it started but he had it painted with Indian tantric symbols on the roof and all this psychedelic stuff - it's just fantastic! The first time the Beatles took LSD, it was given to them by a dentist friend who didn't tell them what he'd given them, and George Harrison had to drive John and Cynthia and Patti and himself home in his Mini! I assume that's the car he then had painted psychedelic... Ringo had his customised by a company called Radford's, who made him a hatchback so that he could get his drum kit in the back. It was sort of metallic blue. John's was red with a black roof. I don't know what colour McCartney's was."

Next I asked what he thought of the new version of The Italian Job. "The remake has some great sequences. Apparently they converted three cars to run on electric motors, because there's a scene in the subway, and they weren't allowed to take internal combustion engines in. There's a couple of good car chases. The white one is driven by Mos Def, the hip-hop guy - he's a great actor, actually. It's not as good as the original - nowhere near. Charlize Theron is quite tasty!"

We walked up the road to find Jo's MINI, which he affectionately calls "Monte" (after Monte Carlo). The car is white with a black roof and two black stripes running down the bonnet. Was it difficult to pick the colour?

"I decided I didn't want to get another metallic car - it's £300 more to get a metallic colour, and they're harder to touch up if they get scratched. They only made three or four non-metallic colours, and I just love white. It's slightly off-white. It reminds me of the classic Mini Cooper colours - white with a black roof. The original BMC (British Motor Corporation) colour was Old English White, which is slightly cream, and this is like that. The bonnet stripes are Cooper stripes - John Cooper's racing cars were normally British racing green with two white stripes running down the bonnet. That's why the John Cooper racing Minis always had stripes."

As we sat in the front, Jo pointed out the design features of the interior, which give the feel of the classic Mini.

"The original Coopers had oil and water temperature gauges on either side of the speedo, and they've imitated that look. These rocker switches are also inspired by the Mini. There's also the door pockets. The Mini was the first car to have door pockets at the front and back - added storage space."

We're off!

Jo started the engine and we were soon racing along the road into the countryside. What's it like to drive?

"It's powerful. It's like a cross between my old classic Mini and an MG I had. It's got the power of the MG but handles like the Mini - in fact, much better than the original Mini. Also you're sitting so low down that it feels like a sports car. You have a lower centre of gravity, so it's better at going round corners. It's just a nicer way to sit, lying down with your legs out straight. It just feels more sporty! This one has got the higher spec suspension. So it's quite bumpy around town, but once you get out on the open road it settles down. It will do 124, and the Cooper S will do 140 which is phenomenal for a little car. The original 1960s Cooper S would only do about 105."

Tell me about your earlier Minis.

"I had a red and white classic Mini, which was stolen. My parents had two - a Morris Mini Traveller, which was white, the same colour as this actually, with a half-timbered back. They traded that in for a Riley Elf, which is basically a Mini with an extended boot and it had a Riley badge. It had the ordinary Cooper engine but with only one carburettor. It was just fantastic! That's what I learned to drive in, actually. It had leather seats... I remember when the newspapers printed a picture of the Mini before it was launched, around 1958. The caption said, "Is this the way the new Mini is going to look?" I didn't believe a car could look like that. But it was spot on."

What was so different about the original Mini?

"It was the first car to have a transverse engine, which is now the favoured layout. The other revolutionary thing was mounting the gear box directly under the engine, so that the engine and gear box shared the same oil. Previously, each had its own oil supply. This saved on space and meant you only had to fill up with one lot of oil... Of course you had to be careful that you didn't run too low on oil. It was just a sensible little car."

Next Jo told me about the racecar builder John Cooper, who made the first Mini Coopers. "He used to use BMC A series engines in his Cooper racing cars. And because the Mini had the same type of engine and handled quite well, he decided to put a racing engine in one. The Cooper company still produces special customised parts for the new MINIs. You can get them factory fitted. I was tempted, but I couldn't really justify the expense."

Would that make it go much faster?

"It wouldn't make it that much faster, but it would make a nice noise!"

Are Mini drivers generally quite short people, like yourself?

"No, not necessarily. An old work colleague of mine was about 6ft 4in. He used to have his legs wrapped around the steering wheel!"

What do owners of the classic Minis think of the new models?

"They were a bit suspicious at first, but now they accept them. I felt the same. I'd always thought that BMW stood for 'Big Management W*nker'! But they should be commended for what they've done. It's funny that they've now re-invented two English icons - the Mini and the Rolls-Royce."

We stopped on the Downs and opened the car doors, when Jo pointed out another feature. "When you open the door, the window goes down slightly so when you close the door you don't have that vacuum that effects your ears. By the windows opening slightly, it reduces the air pressure.


"I didn't like the first version of the new MINI" he adds. "They had mock bumpers on the front and I thought they looked a bit naff. This restyle has just a simple strip underneath, which is much better."

We walked round to the back, where Jo showed me the exhaust. "It was designed by an American, Frank Stephenson. When the team were designing features, they were sitting outside drinking Budweiser and the impression the can made in the mud is the same shape as the exhaust!"

I pointed out another MINI in the car park, and mentioned that we'd seen several on our drive. "They've taken over from the Audi TT. That was the must-have car a few years ago. And now everybody seems to want MINIs, especially convertibles. As the original car was launched as a cheap family run-around, it's funny that it's now become the must-have trendy car."