What was your first car?

The Rover Mini Italian Job Special Edition was released in January 1993. It was astandard Mini Sprite with extra trim and decals. It was available in red, white, blue, and the popular British Racing Green. All models had white grilles, white Minilite copy wheels, and black bonnet stripes to represent the leather bonnet straps on the film cars. Special decals and bonnet badges were on the exterior, consisting of a crossed English and Italian flag with 'The Italian Job' white lettering - except on the white cars where it was in black. Interior upholstery and equipment was based on the Cooper, but with small Italian flags on the front seats and steering wheel. Halogen driving lamps were fitted at the front, the windows featured smoked glass, and the rear side windows opened like Cooper/Mayfair models. Later production models featured the interior bonnet latch and a modified grille. One unwanted alteration was the placing of the screen washer reservoir and pump in the boot, with a long pipe going up through the roof and down again into the engine compartment. This meant that the washer spray was particularly pathetic, and froze up completely in cold weather conditions.
Some dealers fitted extra lights and a sunroof, although none were fitted as factory standard. 1000 right-hand drive models were produced for the UK, whilst 750 left-hand models were sent over to Italy to contend with the Turin traffic. Doubtless they are still there, cutting up Fiat Cinquecentos, haring down piazzas and hiding in the carparks at Rover Garages!