The Official CLASSIC Mini Thread

What's the verdict?

Mini Remastered revealed by David Brown Automotive

Features a bespoke interior and paintwork, a tweaked 1275cc engine and Apple CarPlay functionality; previous models from DBA include the Speedback GT

The Mini Remastered is a luxury original Mini with a tweaked 1275cc engine, Apple CarPlay functionality, and a bespoke interior and paint is being launched by David Brown Automotive (DBA), the company behind the DB5-lookalike Speedback GT.

Invoking the spirit of ‘customised’ 1960s Minis, the Mini Remastered is handbuilt using new body panels, which are fettled by DBA to improve the fit and finish and ‘de-seamed’ to give the smooth body look that was highly-valued in the 1960s. Each car has 1400 man hours of labour behind it, 400 of which are spent on the paint.

"This is the ultimate in modern and classic town and city driving," says the company, "built by hand with unique coachbuilding construction and incorporating modern technology."

The engine is a reconditioned 1275cc unit — the capacity that powered later Cooper S models and the 1970s 1275 GT — mated to an original four-speed manual gearbox, which has also been re-conditioned.

"The car will have all the style and feel of a classic with modern dynamics," claims DBA.

The 1275cc is tuned to produce ‘up to 50% more power’, which depending on tune suggests about 90 – 100 bhp. With a typical kerb weight of 700kg, that’s power enough to get a Mini scuttling around city streets.

DBA is also promising upgraded suspension and brakes.

The big step forward, however, is in the interior, centred on a new dashboard with a modern touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, plus hand-trimmed, sumptuous soft leather seats and luxury carpets.

The door trims are unique, too, lending the interior a unique appeal.

DBA claims the new seats will ‘enhance’ the driving position, which may go some way to address the original Mini’s cramped driving position.

Two special editions, ‘Inspired by Café Racers’ and ‘Inspired by Monte Carlo’ will launch the Mini Remastered at the Top Marques Monaco show in late April.

Production will be limited in ‘strictly limited numbers’, matched to a hefty price tag, which DBA isn’t yet revealing.

But if the £600,000 Speedback GT based on a £60,000 Jaguar XK is anything to go by – 10x the price of a donor car to reflect the cost of hand-building — the Mini Remastered tips the scales at £70-£75,000, which will clearly limit its appeal to the super-rich.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/mini-remastered-revealed-david-brown-automotive

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Is this new-old Mini the best Mini ever?

Mini Remastered by David Brown Automotive could be the answer to our mini-mini dreams

Remember the 2011 Mini Rocketman concept? It was BMW flirting with the idea of building a Mini-branded city car, comparable in size to the Issigonis-designed original. But whether it was the financial case or crash-regulations that killed it, it’s gone awfully quiet since then.

Not to worry, because for all those that think a true Mini should actually be mini, a small British coach building firm - David Brown Automotive (he of the £600k, Jag XK-based Speedback GT, of which they’ve sold 12 to date) - has engineered a solution.

It’s called the Mini Remastered and is, in essence, an original Mini retro-fitted with refurbished and improved mechanicals, a subtly modified exterior and an interior upgraded to cope with the demands of the wealthy modern city type.

Built, or should that be re-built, by hand in DB’s (as he shall henceforth be known) brand new, 18,000 sq ft Silverstone factory (the Speedbacks were built in Coventry until now), it features all new de-seamed panels for a smoother look, addition structural beams to improve stiffness and extra sound proofing, so you might actually have a chance of hearing calls over the hands-free. The grille is aluminium, the rear lights LED and there are even Mustang-style puddle lights on the underside of the wing mirrors. Snazzy. All in, the whole thing weighs around 30kg heavier than the donor car.

Ah, did I say hands-free, in a Mini? Oh yes. DB has thoroughly pimped the interior with a built-in infotainment screen, a push button start, a four-speaker stereo system, USB sockets and remote central locking. Sculpted seats are leather-wrapped, natch, and a cup-holder has been added to the centre console. Whether any of this is actually a good thing we’ll leave you to decide.

There’s no arguing that 50 per cent more power (for around 75bhp) from the fully-rebuilt 1.3-litre engine is excellent news, as is the reconditioned four-speed gearbox, plus upgraded suspension and brakes.

Each customer is invited to choose the colour of their contrasting roof, their interior hue and wheel design. Though, if you can’t be bothered, two launch editions - ‘Inspired by Cafe Racers’ and ‘Inspired by Monte Carlo’, this latter option featuring a 92bhp engine - will be offered. Each of these special editions will get a run of just 25 units a piece, but DB is hoping on selling between 50 to 100 of the Minis overall each year.

The price? Around £75k for the ‘standard’ Mini, upwards of course, from there. Yeah, it’s quite a bit for a new-old Mini, but then it’s a rather cool new-old Mini.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/classic/new-old-mini-best-mini-ever
 
David Brown Automotive reveals ‘remastered’ Mini

There’s no denying that the original Mini is one of the most iconic cars ever built. And now David Brown Automotive, the English coach-building firm that brought us the Speedback GT (based on the Jaguar XKR chassis), has decided to put together a remastered rendition for anyone who wants to experience the good old days, but with a modern twist.

The remastered Mini is built by hand “from the ground up”, using brand new body panels, which David Brown Automotive says it refines in-house to create “smooth and accurate surfaces with perfect shut lines”.

The coachbuilder has furthermore “deseamed” the silhouette and welded in bespoke structural beams, with additional support struts added for rigidity. Each car has also undergone a “laborious” sound-proofing process.

Despite being fashioned from new, high-quality parts, the company insists that the Mini Remastered stays true to the original’s “spirit and personality”. Interestingly, though, a closer look will reveal that the indicators/park lights and taillamps have been replaced with LEDs.

Extended wheel arches, a centre-mounted exhaust, custom aluminium front grille and Minilite wheels add to the new model’s custom image, while the classic bullet-style wing mirrors even feature puddle lights.

The interior, meanwhile, gains a heavily revised design, including the addition of a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system (complete with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), upmarket leather upholstery, aluminium trim for many of the controls and a Mota-Lita wood steering wheel. Most foreign of all, however, is the smart key that controls the central locking and stop/start ignition.

Powering the Mini Remastered is a reconditioned version of the original 1 275 cc four-cylinder petrol mill, which has been refined to deliver 58 kW and 123 N.m of torque, giving it a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 11,7 seconds and a top speed of 145 km/h. Crucially, the gearbox has also apparently been swapped out for a new five-speed manual (as opposed to the original four-speed).

The Mini Remastered – complete with upgraded suspension and brakes – takes 1 000 man hours to assemble and costs £50 000 (about R855 600), before options. Two special editions, the Cafe Racer and Monte Carlo, will also be produced, each limited to 25 units. And the standard model? David Brown Automotive will only say that it will be “highly exclusive and built in strictly limited numbers”.

http://www.carmag.co.za/news_post/david-brown-automotive-builds-remastered-mini/

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Mini started again last might ... carburator needs to be re-tuned, sounds funny now that the manifold is not leaking anymore...
 
surely that's a joke, right?
Nope. I called thinking somebody was having me on. That's their selling price. They wouldn't say if it was on consignment or if they had bought it. But As they say... There's one born every minute. I guess they hoping one of them stumbles into the store.
 
Nope. I called thinking somebody was having me on. That's their selling price. They wouldn't say if it was on consignment or if they had bought it. But As they say... There's one born every minute. I guess they hoping one of them stumbles into the store.

Lol, the engine stabilizer on the driver side is loose! :p
Car is actually very nicely done. mark 1?
 
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