00:00The thing I love the most about the car really is the reaction I get from other people, people love the car.
00:09My name's Chris and this is my classic MINI LEMO.
00:15For me the word LEMO conjures up images of luxury which isn't really what you get when you own a MINI.
00:23But Chris has managed to create a vehicle where the words MINI and LEMO come together.
00:27This is the MINI LEMO.
00:30You'll see that we have an extra door. This door is exactly the same size door as this one.
00:37Inside we've got two rear facing seats. These were donated from a Land Rover Discovery.
00:42They're the seats out the back that fold down.
00:45The rear seat has actually been extended by four inches to make it four inches deeper.
00:53Right, let's take it for a spin.
00:58Come on.
01:00Yeah.
01:22Because it's got a longer wheelbase, it rides bumps more smoothly and it's got a bit more stability.
01:29Top speed, it'll cruise at about 85 kmph.
01:34It costs approximately £13,000 to £14,000 to build a MINI LEMO, including the parts that we used at the time.
01:42We have a slightly modified 1275 GT engine.
01:47This has been bored out to 1293 and then it's got a long gearbox in it so that it cruises at a high speed quite nicely.
01:54With a few extra trip bits on it just to give it a bit more power.
01:57And what was the reason for building such a unique MINI conversion?
02:02For love, of course.
02:05I had a classic MINI and I joined a MINI club, met Chris and then you asked me out.
02:12And the rest is history.
02:18I'd say it was my idea. I thought it would be a nice wedding car for us seeing as the MINIs brought us together.
02:24But we struggled to find one, didn't we?
02:27So Chris thought he would just build one. Easy.
02:34I did a lot of the assembly of the car.
02:37She built the one-piece headlining that's in it and she recovered all the interior.
02:42Working very late at night, working weekends on it, there was a lot of stress and a lot of expense.
02:49It was ready three days before the wedding.
02:54It made the wedding.
02:56It did make the wedding, yeah.
02:58It made it very personal to us, didn't it?
03:00After all the effort building this car, it's served the couple well as their family has expanded.
03:05It provides the perfect vehicle for family days out.
03:10Albeit with the occasional difficulty.
03:13You don't really want to do a three-point turn in it.
03:17It's really heavy on the steering.
03:22There is no power steering and it's long.
03:26You really just want to back it up until you find somewhere where there's a space to back it into.
03:38And it's not just Chris and his wife.
03:40And it's not just Chris and his family that love the car.
03:43It picks up new fans at every turn.
03:47It gets a lot of attention wherever you go.
03:50People love the car.
03:52My kids love it, my wife loves it.
03:54This car is part of my life now.
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