We planned ahead to make a day trip of traveling to Oxford and visiting BMW Group's Plant Oxford, home of the final assembly of the MINI Cooper and it's variations.
At the start of the tour, you're asked to put on a “lab coat” and safety glasses before you can go inside. We later found out that it was for real protection as we'd be a few feet away from the robots and machinery that moves and welds the body panels together for the car. Sparks did fly!
In the welcome area, there are a couple original Mini's. That's a picture of me next to them so you can get a sense of scale of the original one. (Curious to know how much bigger the new MINI is? See here.)
Also featured was one of the MINI's from The Italian Job. (See inside this car for something unusual, two steering wheels!)
Although we weren't allowed to take pictures during the tour, I've found a web site where someone was obviously allowed to do just that (ok, they're press shots). Take a look at what goes into making the MINI Cooper.