Mini Remastered. Really?

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After the MGB a while back, the Range Rover a month or two ago and the Jaguar E-type last week, the classic Mini is now next to be revamped. But where the Jag and the Range get their reincarnations from the first hand now; the new B and ‘new classic Mini’ get revitalized by independent companies. And the one responsible for the ‘Mini Remastered’, as they call it, is David Brown Automotive. This establishment may have nothing to do with the David Brown we all carry in our hearts, but they were responsible for a Jaguar-based Aston Martin DB5-esque incarnation before. We can’t blame you if you have difficulties in following us! Read again, slowly, and it will fall.

Over to the Mini. Customers are said to be able to buy a brand new car, so we reckon it’s build up with a shell from British Motor Heritage Ltd. Next, at David Brown Automotive, they get rid of the outer seams on A- and C-panel and the shells are said to be further improved before being painted and fitted with rather horrendous rear lights. By that time an impressive 1,400 man hours have gone. Engines, meanwhile, are reconditioned 1275cc units with standard 4-speed gearboxes. They are believed to produce ‘up to 50% more power’, which would suggest using some 90 to 100bhp - quite a lot for a Mini. Most of the changes, however, can be found in the interior, with a touchscreen infotainment system shoehorned into the dash. Oh – plus hand-trimmed, sumptuous soft leather and luxury carpeting everywhere. Prices? £70,000 is rumoured elsewhere on the web, which raises the question: what was the essence of the Mini in the first place? So, over to you: will there really be a market?

(Words Jeroen Booij, pictures courtesy David Brown Automotive)

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