Mini Cooper - Kit Cars and Customisation

Kit Cars and Customisation

The cheapness, simplicity and easy availability of used Minis make it an ideal candidate for body replacement. There are over 120 Mini-based kit cars from various small companies and individual enthusiasts. There are also numerous dramatically modified Minis such as a set of three street-legal cars made up to look like giant oranges as a promotion for the Outspan company (one of which is on display at the National Motor Museum), a Mini that was made to look like a half-timbered cottage, complete with thatched roof and windows with curtains. Some enthusiasts have drastically shortened or lowered their cars to make them yet smaller. There is also a "sprint shell" which has a lower roof and a small body chop, which dramatically reduces drag. Others make small versions of stretched limos, double-decker buses, monster trucks, motor homes and many other kinds of vehicles from used Minis.

BMC operated a Competition Department at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, under the control of Stuart Turner, which built specially prepared Minis (mostly based on Cooper and Cooper S versions) to compete in international rallies and other motorsport. This department played a key role in ensuring the Mini's huge success in motorsport throughout the 1960s, in particular, winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965 and 1967.

Largely because BMC didn't, the 1960s spawned a host of third party companies who offered modified parts and tuning services to the general public to improve the performance of their Minis for both motorsport and road use. The most notable of these tuners were: Arden; Broadspeed; Downton; Janspeed; Longman and Oselli, who variously offered modified cylinder heads, bigger carburettors, gasflowed manifolds, high performance exhaust systems and competition suspension parts.

Years after the Mini finally ended its production run, there are still ample third-party parts—both spares for restoration and performance parts for race tuning.

Given the low weight and good handling of the Mini it is also popular to do an engine swap putting in a modern, high performance engine like the Rover K Series, a Honda VTEC B16A2, a Suzuki Swift GTi, a rear mounted Yamaha R1 motorbike engine, or the Vauxhall 16v 2 litre c20 XE "red top" engine, amongst various alternatives.