Mini maximised

Afew months back, a colleague of The Good Oil happened to attend a Mini media event in the UK, at which, for a lark, the manufacturer had organised for a fleet of original Minis of 1960s vintage to transport motoring hacks between London launch venues.

“Oh goody”, thought our colleague. He had been toying with the idea of buying an old Mini as a project car. The chance to travel in one — albeit as a passenger rather than a Paddy- Hopkirkhelmeted driver — should prove bags of fun.

How wrong he was. A wheezing heater that refused to clear misty windows in autumnal fogs, the perpetual smell of petrol wafting through the cabin, a semicollapsed passenger seat and the unceasing feeling that collision with the underside of a Ford Transit was imminent, made him swear off the pipe dream.

His experience might have been better had it been one of David Brown Automotive’s Mini Remastered cars.

DBA gets its bodyshells from British Motor Heritage and painstakingly de- seams them, so the original car’s unsightly roof gutters disappear along with those diagonal seams at the rear.

The suspension is new and every Mini Remastered gets a 1275cc engine. Inside, the old is redressed with new; new leather and alcantara trim, along with proper air conditioning and a Bluetoothcapable audio system. The weight- saving sliding windows that were a feature of original Minis are replaced with electric windows, although the starter button stays between the front seats. Assembly takes around 1400 hours. DBA has order books for 250 cars a year, with plenty of buyers keen on some modernised Mini nostalgia. The drawback? This Mini comes with a maxi bill; £ 80,000 ( about NZ$ 145,000). But if an olde worlde Mini that drives like a new one — and features all the mod cons of your average VWGolf — is your thing, then a DBA Mini Remastered will feel like the bargain of the century.