When a Mini isn't mini enough
Monday, 18 October 2021
The original Mini is a legend and an icon all in one, setting the template for compact cars for generations to come with its revolutionary FWD/transverse engine layout and clever packaging.
For some people however, four seats were two too many and over the decades a few Minis have been drastically customised to create truly unique, tiny two-seaters – named, quite literally, the Mini ‘Shorty’.
You have probably seen them around and wondered “who thought a Mini was too big?” and then moved on, but we bring the subject up because a particularly nice one has just gone up for sale in the UK, on our favourite website for slightly odd British classics, Carandclassic.co.uk.
While most Shorty customisations are in convertible form, this particular example is one of the rarer ‘saloon’ shells, and it has recently undergone a full body restoration and respray, making it, as the descriptions says, “a unique, eye-catching car in excellent condition which rarely comes around.”
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According to Car & Classic, the Mini began its life in 1968, with photographic evidence showing its previous life as a cream-coloured Morris Mini 1000. At some stage during that life, the transformation into a Shorty was undertaken.
More recently, the seller had the car worked on by The London Mini Centre in Putney in November 2020 where it was serviced and shortly afterwards, underwent the full body restoration.
The owner kept full photographic documentation of the restoration, showing that the car was taken back to bare metal with all rust painstakingly cut away, new metalwork put in its place and a full respray undertaken.
Car & Classic’s description says “It truly does look like it’s been rolled freshly out of the spray booth, with the colour-matched wheel arches matching the bodyworks condition and fresh black trim items setting off a well-kept look.
At the time of the respray and bodywork preparation, the car appears to have been treated to undersealing, ensuring that it remains in a rust-free state beneath the car for many years to follow.”
The interior isn’t quite so immaculate, however, with C&C describing it as having had “little modernisation”, nothing that the seats appeared to have been re-trimmed at some stage, but that “a torn gear stick gaiter and loose-fitting carpets could be remedied to tidy up the interior space, but otherwise it’s a pleasant place to sit and watch those smiling faces from as people watch you go past.”
Mechanically, the Shorty packs its original 998cc four-cylinder engine that has done 61,056 miles (98,260km) and which C&C says runs well, with no issues, although the seller apparently does say that the transmission “could do with some attention.”
The auction starts on the 21st of October, and we will be quite intrigued to see how much this particularly mini Mini eventually sells for.