Trunk Space - Part 1

The silver car pictured here is your typical Classic Mini, which you'd probably find 90% of the time full of junk thrown back there being the only space to have storage in the vehicle. On the driver side, you'll see the 8 gallon tank, centered (in a well) is the spare, and working to the far right side, you'll see the battery is in a pocketed area as well.

The red car shown is more suited to my thoughts on wanting to balance the car a little more, while also keeping things straight forward in terms of function. What I would do along with the fuel cell would be to add a race battery in order to cut down on the space needed, as well as keeping in tune with not adding too much additional weight.

These cars also use a typical front and rear subframe to hold all of the suspension componentry. My rear subframe is in serious need of a replacement due to rust/deterioration. I started giving this a little more thought, and am starting to research alternative options to the rear suspension rather than just buying a new frame and utilizing old technology. I'm starting to reference F1 technology/engineering on how they compact the suspension into the smallest of spaces while maintaining firm ride control.

More updates and photos to explain what I'm talking about to come later...

Exterior Options

So up until now, I was under the impression of doing a 'raced-out' mini that I could drive on the street everyday, and tear up near anything I come across if I so pleased.

In thinking about color options for this thing, I'm beginning to lean away from bold racing colors, and thinking that a more subtle approach to the thing might be the way to go.

I'm beginning to reference Cadillac a little bit, and what they're doing in the direction of Pearl White. I've gone through the PPG books, looking for color combinations, and look to be settling on Fiat "Bianco Perla Mica" with possible a Peugeot "Gris Futura Metallic" silver compliment color for the top/stripes/etc.. These two colors in some angles are very close to one another, then when "flopped" the contrast makes the two pop pretty nicely. I think that by doing this, I'll be able to have some fun with graphics if I choose to, but not be overwhelmed with them after a month. This treatment could be looked at as something like 'ghost-flames' on a hot-rod...

I'm thinking about first visualizing this in Photoshop first to plan what the cars going to look like, when I do so, I'll be sure to post something along...

Mini VTEC @ Nürburgring

Here is a video that actually represents what my car will be like upon completion.
This car is an actual Innocenti Mini (can tell from the dashboard gauge layout). This car is fitted with a 1.6 Liter Honda B16 Motor as well.
This footage takes place on the infamous Nürburgring in Germany. Although my car will never see this track in person, I will be tearing up the American roads in similar fashion.
Enjoy...

Innocenti Mini Restoration - R & D

I know I've taken some time since my last posting. As things always turn out, life takes a hold and some things take priority from the things we like to do best.


As of late, I've relocated the car to my new home. At least now I'll be able to have the car close instead of traveling to it everytime I need to work on it... As I get settled in, I'll photograph the garage setup in order to show what's new with all of this.

On a separate note... I've recently stumbled across http://www.superfastminis.com/ . Minitec, located in Royston, GA (20 minutes from me) outfits classic minis with Honda motors.

Shown here, you can see that they've taken the entire front end of the car, and turned it into the hood...this would allow full access to the motor which trust me makes things a whole lot easier!

You might be asking "Why?"

A standard A-Series runs you at about 60bhp, on a good day. A Honda motor tends to start in the vicinity of 140bhp and goes way up from there (up to 240-280ish) with modifications/additions that are far more 'off the shelf' in terms of availability vs what is avail today with the British A-Series motor. Coupling this with the reliabilty of a Honda Motor, this has the makings of being a pocket-rocket-daily-driver with a power to weight that blows the doors off of most anything you can run into on the streets.

Yes, this would compromise entirely the concept of restoring the vintage vehicle to its prime condition... so, I'm going to need to check the financial ups and downs in order to see if there is value in bringing the '72 back from the grave, or going towards this modern solution.














Images Copyright of superfastminis.com, Minitec LLC.