00:00The thing I love the most about the car really is the reaction they get from other people.
00:05People love the car.
00:09My name's Chris and this is my classic Mini Limo.
00:15For me the word limo conjures up images of luxury which isn't really what you get when you own a
00:21Mini. But Chris has managed to create a vehicle where the words mini and limo come together.
00:28This is the Mini Limo.
00:30You'll see that we have an extra door. This door is exactly the same size door as this one.
00:38Inside 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.
00:44The rear seat has actually been extended by four inches to make it four inches deeper.
00:53Right let's take it for a spin.
00:57So it's got a longer wheelbase
01:24Rides bumps more smoothly and it's got a bit more stability.
01:29Top speed it'll cruise at about 85cc speed.
01:34It costs approximately £13,000 to £14,000 to build a Mini Limo including the parts that we used at the time.
01:41We have a slightly modified 1275 GT engine.
01:46This has been board out to 1293 and then it's got a long gearbox in it so that it cruises at a high
01:52speed quite nicely with a few extra trip bits on it just to give it a bit more power.
01:58And what was the reason for building such a unique Mini conversion?
02:02For love of course.
02:03I had a classic Mini and I joined a Mini Club. I met Chris and then you asked me out.
02:10I shot on a date.
02:11And the rest is history.
02:13I'd say it was my idea. I thought it would be a nice wedding car for us seeing as the Mini brought us
02:23together. But we struggled to find one didn't we?
02:26So Chris thought he would just build one. Easy.
02:34I did a lot of the assembly of the car. She built the one-piece headlining that's in it and she
02:39recovered all the interior. Working very late at night, working weekends on it, there was a lot of
02:46stress and a lot of expense. It was ready three days before the wedding.
02:52It made the wedding. It did make the wedding, yeah.
02:56It made it very personal to us, didn't it? Yeah.
02:59After 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.
03:17You don't really want to do a three-point turn in it. It's really heavy on the steering.
03:22There is no power steering and it's long. You really just want to back it up until you find
03:31somewhere where there's a space to back it into.
03:40And it's not just Chris and his family that love the car. It picks up new fans at every turn.
03:45It gets a lot of attention wherever you go. People love the car. My kids love it. My wife loves it.
03:54This car is part of my life now.
03:59What do we do?
04:09There he is.
Comments