BUILD IT, BMW
Everyone is getting in on the restomod act, except the manufacturers themselves. Hilton Holloway has a way to change that: a 2003 Mini Cooper S restomod BMW would be mad not to make
The world of the restored has come a long way since California company Singer started to reimagine the Porsche 911 in 2010. That Singer formula — taking the core and the spirit of an iconic car and polishing it up to a standard that would make Rolls-Royce flinch — has now become established in the ultra-luxury market. Indeed, a couple of bespoke Singers have already gone through auctions and achieved million-dollar bids.
As Singer figured, why wrestle with flimsy stamped steel exterior panels when hand-made carbon fibre panels are stronger and can deliver a much finer surface finish? Why make do with the thin factory door cards made of fibreboard and covered in vinyl? Why not redesign the engine’s factory intake manifold and reinvent it as an exquisite component in its own right?
The Singer formula has now been taken even further by ultra-luxury carbon fibre-hulled tributes to landmark cars such as the Lancia 037. Fancy a completely re-engineered but still raw enough Austin-Healey? Call Coventry-based Canton with £400,000 (17.4 million baht) and a donor car.
Of course, manufacturers risk missing out on this high-style niche. Some have “restarted” production of hyper-classics (think Jaguar’s C-Type and D-Type). Porsche, understandably given what Singer has achieved, has also pitched in with a single Classic Club Coupe restored based on the 996-gen 911, and the heavily retro-contemporary 911 Sport Classic, which is limited to a run of 1,250 cars at £214,000 each.
What we haven’t yet seen is a car maker reinventing one of its own classics as a proper series restored. But Autocar has heard rumours that some Mini executives have been mulling the idea of restored of the original BMW R50-gen Mini, most likely in R53 Cooper S form.
We should emphasise that this restored R50 project hasn’t, as we understand it, got much beyond being kicked around the Munich watercooler. However, it is seen as a strong contender for consideration because the original BMW Mini is regarded as ideal for running through the reinvention formula.
What any R50 restored project needs is a design theme and it seems highly likely that it would be inspired by the 1960s Mini Cooper rally cars, just as BMW’s original reinvention was.
Another hook for such a project is that 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of Mini Cooper S brand and, this year, we have seen the passing of Paddy Hopkirk, who is probably the most famous of the Cooper drivers. In 2024, if Mini’s Munich-based designers need more time to execute the idea, it will be the 60th anniversary of the Mini’s first Monte Carlo Rally win.
To our thinking, a 60th anniversary Mini Cooper S rally restored seems an ideal way of entering this niche. And we thought we’d have a go at proposing such a car, should BMW’s management need a prod in the right direction.
Despite being launched 21 years ago (the design was signed off 25 years ago), the R50 family hasn’t dated significantly. At launch, BMW said it wanted the Mini style to develop over time in the same way that the Porsche 911 has and it seems to have succeeded with the original model.
It’s also a soundly engineered base car for such a project. It has a pretty rigid shell and independent rear suspension. In addition, the Cooper S also used the basic but tough Chrysler Tritec engine and a supercharger which is a great basis for reliable power hikes.
Getting the exterior design theme right is key for this project. There are a number of variations of the classic Mini rally car, but none is as expressive and outlandish as the rally car of the 1970s and 1980s. You can’t really invent wings and air intakes where they didn’t exist.
What the classic rally cars did have were plenty of lights. Mini AJB 44B — the car that won the 1965 Monte Carlo rally — had five spots, three on the grille and two smaller ones on the bonnet’s leading edge.
Hopkirk’s 33 EJB — the famous No 37 that won the 1964 Monte — had five spots on the front, one of them mounted centrally, and a sixth spotlight on the roof. There were many other details on those works rally cars that could also be exploited for a restomod, including neat leather straps holding both the headlights and the bonnet in place.
But the 1967 Monte-winning Mini LBL 6D had even more rapidly engineered additions ready to exploited for design cues. At the front corners, over the production bumper, were roughly formed rubber flaps, presumably to deflect stones being thrown up from the road. That’s another feature we can adopt for the restomod, along with the small sump protector.
This car also had a basic roof rack carrying two spare wheels (could this have been the inspiration for the roof rack on the new Aceman concept?) and slightly widened wheel arches, painted black, which ties in nicely with the current Minis, although even this competition model still wore the production car’s chrome trim around the arches and down the sills.
All of those elements and design cues can be worked up for our R50 restomod. The huge clamshell bonnet can be remade in carbon fibre and we can tweak the R50’s styling by raising the bonnet line a little over the original, giving the notoriously tightly packed drivetrain and cooling system a little more breathing space.
Twin spotlights are enough for this concept, but we think the traditionally shaped housing should be filled with modern matrix-style LED lights. EJB’s roof light can be reborn as a slim matrix LED unit.
The biggest changes to the base R50 will be the new nose, side cladding and rear bumper. At the front, the nose moulding gives the R50 back the classic Mini’s proportionally larger grille, allowing the supercharger’s intercooler to be relocated. The design also incorporates a nod to LBL’s rubber stone-catchers and sump guard, reworked as a stainless steel skid plate.
The arch extensions and sill covers get a bright work strip, referencing the original Mini, and the ride height is also noticeably higher than the production R50’s. At the rear, the new bumper reflects the chunkiness of the front and gives the R50 body some much-needed visual weight at the rear.
Leather straps are fitted to the bonnet, hatchback and fuel filler. And let’s replace that distinctive panel in front of the front doors with a vented carbon fibre piece.
Inside, much of the production car can be disposed of. The rear seats can be removed completely and the front seats replaced with race-style buckets but of the more luxurious variety.
The production door cards can be junked for a new one-piece design in carbon fibre, more than nodding at the original Mini’s bucket-size door bin (not forgetting a reading light on a flexible stalk.)
Four-point harnesses mean we can dump the original airbag wheel. Out goes the centre console for something sparse and elegant in carbon fibre. The large centre dial is replaced by a smaller main dial and two smaller subsidiary clocks. We’ll redesign the column-mounted rev counter, but keep it in this concept.
The passenger airbag cover can also be replaced so it can host a pair of digital timers, referencing the Monte Carlo cars. The dash-top moulding can be covered in leather, as this is a luxury restomod, not a sparse rally car.
Under the skin? Hand-finished engine, more power, fabricated suspension components, bigger brakes and decent amounts of sound-proofing. Go on, BMW: make the restomod R50 a reality.