Description
By: Iain Ayre .
The Mini is an icon that remained in production for 41 years and was Britain's most popular car. Even when it first appeared, the Mini ignored many long-established design principles and bristled with innovative features, instantly becoming a favourite with tuners and modifiers. Today, with 5.4 million of these amazing little cars produced over the years, the Mini is still one of the most popular project cars with owners and custom builders wanting to make their own unique automotive statement, whether through wacky looks, wild performance or both.
The Mini has always been a cheeky little car, with clever packaging, terrific handling and giant-slaying performance on the track and rally stage, but for some owners and enthusiasts these appealing features are simply not enough...
This book offers a unique pictorially driven insight into the maddest and most fascinating of radical Minis, featuring 30 of the world's most extreme and unusual Mini-based cars. Coverage ranges from Belgian extrovert Mad Frank's twin big-block V8-engined example to bikeengined Minis, including along the way an ice-racing car, a Ford GT40-based Mini, a rear-engined Honda Vtec-powered example, a stretch limo, a hearse and a three-wheeler. Some of the cars described really are `Q-cars', with little outward sign of the wolf lying beneath the sheep's clothing, while some are decidedly unconventional, displaying only passing references to their Mini heritage. Others are unmistakably and unashamedly mad!
The humorous, sometimes irreverent text provides a description of each car, technical specs, driving impressions and a brief explanation of how, and sometimes why, each car was designed and built, along with a profile of the owner/builder.
Author lain Ayre is well known on the kit-car scene and in Mini circles, and is North American correspondent for the UK's Mini World magazine. He lives near Vancouver, Canada with his Mini, `Bubbles', his very tolerant wife and a small, fat dog.
