London, England – British coachbuilder David Brown Automotive has re-invented the original Issigonis Mini of 1959 as the Mini Remastered; once again what was intended by its designer to be budget entry-level transport becomes a (very expensive) high-fashion item.
What Sir Alec, or for that matter Corradino d’Ascanio, designer of the Vespa, would have thought of what has happened to their creations is dubious; what matters is that young hipsters for whom ‘retro’ is almost as cool as ‘over-priced’ will lap them up.
What made the Mini Remastered possible was, of course, the announcement in February by
that it would begin making exact replicas of complete Mark 1 Mini bodyshells for the historic racing market.
The new ‘old’ Mini is based on that body shell, deseamed and carefully aligned for perfect shut-lines, powered by a reconditioned 1275cc Mini GT engine, rated for 58kW and 124Nm, and four-speed gearbox.
Each car will be finished to ‘bespoke’ standards, with a multilayer paint finish that takes four weeks to complete, a bespoke leather-lined boot, and its fuel-tank painted in the car’s contrasting roof colour.
Standard kit will include push-button start, remote central locking, and a four-speaker infotainment system with built-in satellite navigation, USB connectivity and charging, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
As with David Brown Automotive’s first offering, the
, an aluminium-bodied reincarnation of the Aston Martin DB6 based on Jaguar XK underpinnings, each Mini Remastered will be built to the customer’s specifications, so the price will depend on just how outrageous that specification is.