58 replies to this topic

[beardylondon]

Well said, I feel similarly, I’ve been into minis since the mid 90s, and like most, have seen every which way.

At the end of the day, everyones personal taste is different, and I’ve learnt to respect that.

I was laughed at by some of my friends in the late 90s for wanting to restore a 60s mini (which was weeks away from being scraped), but 23 years later I’ve still got it. there are probably still people that sneer at my factory 850 auto, which is now 1293 cooper-ish spec, but I couldn’t give a monkeys, as I just drive and enjoy, like everyone else should!

Edited by beardylondon, 19 May 2022 - 09:04 PM.

[Lowestoftmodder]

Sadly I think this is the result of people having a platform to be cnuts to each other and to builders of those cars! It’s too easy to ridicule them for their choices.
Barry boys, face trash etc etc
I’ve said for years on an old accounts that this would likely be the outcome if moderators on here and other platforms allowed this bile to continue.

We still mod the cars but don’t bring them to the mainstream shows now. It’s just not worth the key scratches and cig buts through the windows! Yes this happens!
Anyone remember l2b 2013 when the run cars had wheel nuts loosened?

I’m really happy to hear that the outspoken few have finally wrecked l2b (sorry but this is my genuine opinion) as I now think you deserve a crap show experience.

Yes tastes change, yes cars are more expensive to buy but we still build these cars and still meet up.. but we do so with like minded people in a like minded scene.
Kind of how you do but ours is more fun.

This has made my day! I signed up again just to say how happy I am about this.. honestly.

So here it is.. I TOLD YOU SO!!

Enjoy your same old cars and boring overpriced lines of bolt on basics. Row after row of the same car in a different colour.
Yes I’m a dick but I just can hide my delight

Oh and it’s not due to the Iva as we pass them regularly plus there’s loads you can do without losing your vehicle identity.

Peace I’m out! Again ;)

[Chris1992]

These sort of builds look great and really stand out from the crowd of BRG cooper replicas (which also look beautiful) but I kind of think of car shows like visiting a car museum... would you visit a museum with all pretty much identical cars in different colours or would you prefer different concepts and people's imagination gone wild on the same canvas

I think whoever said about the days of £200 minis has a good point... as some of what I remember seeing at shows growing up was essentially a rotten shell put onto a random chassis.. or like the early 2000s show Chop Shop where it was just filler formed in to any old shape over some hacked and tacked bit of bodywork.

But even IMM in 2019 I saw the orange air ride mini bouncing about.. one with a Harley engine out the front.. 6 wheeled pick n mix van and I'm sure a few more weird builds.. but it seems every year/event is less

 

 

Agreed, and it's why I don't go to quite as many mini shows these days. I know a lot of people still view the modern day custom car scene as 'just air ride and wheels', but it has evolved massively due to many people being exiled from their respective classic car communities due to wanting to build something unique, and so they join the modified scene. 

 

The theory of the cars rising value pushing away custom builders does play a part, but I also think that people who are planning an elaborate custom build will have a good amount of money to plow into the build anyway. 

 

The sad truth in my opinion is that the Mini community itself is mostly to blame. More and more people these days seem to have the opinion that a Mini should be kept factory original or modified for period correct motorsport events, and that's it. Lets face it, by most classic car standards Minis are not exactly rare, so I think it's perfectly acceptable to go crazy with a few of them. Don't get me wrong, the Mini is an important car and there should be examples preserved as they are, but not ALL of them lol. 

 

I've had my car described as and 'abomination', 'ruined', 'tasteless', 'wrong', and when I ask if they would rather I left it rotting where I found it instead of giving it new life they just shrug 

[mab01uk]

A selection below of the 'period' custom modified Mini's on show at the Mini 20th Birthday Extravaganza which i attended at Donnington back in 1979......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mab01uk]

Some more pics from the Mini 20th in 1979

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by mab01uk, 20 May 2022 - 09:01 AM.

[Ethel]

There have been very few new Minis of any sort for 20 odd years. I don't think it's so much negative attitudes as the natural attrition of RTAs & rust. Minis that would just have been personal transport have become part of the enthusiasts' scene & that's altered the mix I reckon.

[johnR]

Great pictures!

[mab01uk]

The 'anorak' rivet counter Mini enthusiasts on the early Mini forums never ceases to amaze me.....a common quest these days is to try to replace every date stamped component that may have been replaced over the years with an original item with the correct date stamped on it, even down to the Lucas dash toggle switches and it is not as if the date is even visible on most components in situ....but each to their own !

[Chris1992]

The 'anorak' rivet counter Mini enthusiasts on the early Mini forums never ceases to amaze me.....a common quest these days is to try to replace every date stamped component that may have been replaced over the years with an original item with the correct date stamped on it, even down to the Lucas dash toggle switches and it is not as if the date is even visible on most components in situ....but each to their own !

 

On a multi-million pound car like a Ferrari 250 GTO I could understand this, but on a Mini!? Even the rarest of Mini's?? ... As you say, each to their own! I'm not one to judge! 

[TheFabMini]

Even things like the Marcus seem to have dissapeared from shows. I saw one at L2B

Maybe it's time to bring back the mad mods and custom builds to spice up shows a bit more.. I don't have the space or skill but would love to see more variety

[Woolfie 640]

Personally I don't think the majority of the younger generation have the skills and patience to create the type of custom car that we knew in the past. The attitude of its broken let's just dump it is to well established in there mindset . All credit to the young team who still can make some great cars .

[Lowestoftmodder]

At l2b a few years back I spotted an open top BMW mini roadster with a green Pearl finish. It was well executed and had a built in cage and cut down screen to replicate a wind deflector..
I prefer the classic mini but really respected the effort that had gone into it and to be honest I’d have driven it happily! I bet it’s a hoot.
Anyway I was getting my own car ready for the Run in the SNS sector at the front and was a few cars down the line.. the bile and hate that this car was getting was unreal! Mostly because it was a bmw but others were trying to pull it to bits purely to heal their own ego as their car didn’t stand out like this one did!
The poor guy stood back and just took it all in, I really felt bad for him.
When he left for his Run pack someone flicked a cig end onto his passenger seat and burn it, I still have the pics of this. Someone else scratched over his rear deck. Again I have the pics.
Us modders couldn’t leave our cars unattended at a mini “enthusiast” show?
These were other mini owners and not general public.

Do people understand why we don’t bring these cars to your shows now?

Love or hate them they still made the show exciting and different from the boring rivet counter affairs. You don’t have to like something to respect it.
I don’t like seeing big standard trailer queen mk1 minis but I respect the hell out of the person who can make one better that factory!! I even watch my belt buckle and coat zips when I walk around them enjoying the quality.
Not my cup of tea at all but it all makes the show! Would I key one? NO! Would I mock one online? NO! Would I go out of my way to goad the owner/builder? NO.
But this is what modders have to put up with in the mini scene.. so why bother with it?

Minis were made famous by being modified and personalised! Not by being factory fresh.
It’s good to see all types but remember the minis roots

My builds have been reported to the DVLA and at shows and I’ve even had people call the police so I get pulled over as I leave saying I’ve been taking drugs or I’m pissed (t total and no drugs).

I’ve witnessed first hand the crap Chris has had with his “purist” build. Just add a roof chop and you’ll soon get people cutting your fuel lines or messing with your carb so you lose it all in a fire on the way home.. yes I have proof of this happening too.

Times change, tastes change but common decency should remain. A club scene for all Should mean for ALL but in the mini scene some are more equal than others.

I’m glad it’s nearly over

Edited by Lowestoftmodder, 22 May 2022 - 10:23 AM.

[Shooter63]

I think that it's just a case of tastes have changed, people prefer less body mods than years ago,but saying that certain body mods are still very much in ie converting to minisprint for example, the only difference is that the guy who does most of them now is a superb metal Smith. The old original ones were full of filler as the workmanship was to put it mildly p#iss poor. People have come to recognise that the basic shape of the body is just about spot on, if you chop the roof without sectioning the body the proportions become miss matched. Paint is another example, People seem the prefer a perfect finish of either a solid colour or the old different colour roof, the old saying of 'less is more' is very much in at the moment and I can't see it changing due to important fact re-sale value, a highly modified car (body wise, except a minisprint) will be hard to move on, while a bodily standard car but with uprated engine/box, suspension and brakes will be easy. This is just my view but I am a proportions freak to the extent that I think even the original factory arches spoil the car and a ferrari 250GTO is wrong because of the rear lights.

Shooter

[panky]

I wonder if Binki gets this kind of abuse

[TheFabMini]

I didn't realise the car/classic community could be so spiteful.

Well I would love to see more random builds, as to be honest, after L2B I was pretty bored/uninspired. So will probably stick with mixed classic shows in future and not mini specific ones

Edited by TheFabMini, 22 May 2022 - 11:57 AM.