This has got to be the ultimate automotive office gadget. These British built desks may involve the destruction of a perfectly good Mini, but they are so cool it doesn’t matter. Red ones, Blue ones, Stamped steel wheels or Minilites.
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It’s a busy, dreary day here in The Garage, so it’s a good time to brighten things up. What better way than to see some fun new commercials for the new Mini. Enjoy!

Via egmCarTech

Jim Kenzie has come a long way from the day he rolled an original Mini in corner 9 at Mosport during his first race. For the third year in a row, he has piloted a JCW MINI to a victory at Targa Newfoundland in the Open class. If they keep this up, Kenzie is going to get a Schumi complex!

Job well done guys!

MINI press release and pics after the break

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Remember those shots we had of Jim Kenzie’s Mini a while back? Well, Warwick Patterson has posted his first batch of pics from Targa Newfoundland and has included some spectacular shots of the car, not to mention the rest of the event.

A 21 year old and his Dad set out to conquer the Mongol Rally in a 16 year old Daihatsu Charade that they picked up on e-bay for only 150 pounds. The charity road rally covered 6,635 miles over some of the worst roads in the world. While in Kazakhstan, one pothole was so big it swallowed a Mini whole.

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I must be pretty oblivious. Somehow I’ve completely missed the release of this beautiful machine, which was really surpising given the amount of reading I do while researching for The Garage. When we were over at BMW Canada taking pics of Kenzie’s Mini, there were actually 3 of these things sitting there. Just a sweet looking piece. I’m going to have to get some seat time in one.

more pics after the break

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Modern day movie car make Fireball Tim has teamed up with South Bay Mini to release 200 Fireballed Minis. These Minis all have a Hollywood theme and are outfitted with all sorts of cool factory options. Perhaps just as cool is the fact that each of these cars will be named. How about showing up at work in ODDJOB or FURY? Be sure to check out Tim’s site, as there is all sorts of cool movie cars and mini stuff.

read press release for the launch after the break

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In commenting on the list of cars teens want, I got to thinking about the state of entry level sports cars in North America. There isn’t a single, market grabbing entry level sports car, aka pocket rocket, available in North America today. Honda enthusiasts may disagree, but the civic hasn’t been a pocket rocket since the SI circa 1989 & even then it wasn’t really all that special until it was built up.

The Garage definition of a Pocket Rocket is a small, affordable car which is fun to drive.

Arguably, the original pocket rocket was the Mini. Small, affordable and fun to drive. Built for more than forty years, with a motorsports history that has been matched by very few other cars, the Mini has developed an incredible following of enthusiasts.
In the late seventies, Volkswagen introduced the Rabbit. A cheap, affordable little car that was fun to drive. In 1982, VW upped the ante with the Rabbit GTI. A little more horsepower that a regular Rabbit, with a beefed up suspension & sportier interior made for a car that youthful enthusiasts clamoured for. The chassis responded very well to simple, common upgrades like tires and springs. There was incredible aftermarket support for the GTI that supplied real performance improvements that were often a simple bolt on. Even a hot cam was only a couple of hours work for the home tinkerer. It was always fun seeing the reaction on spectators faces at a local autocross when a GTI lifted the inside rear wheel six inches off the ground. Later in the Eighties, the GTI started to gradually move upscale, with size and price that moved upwards accordingly. The grassroots GTI was forgotten by VW.

In 1989, Suzuki introduced the Swift GTi. A 1900 pound, 2 door hatch that had just a tick over 100 horsepower. A taught suspension, coupled with fat tires & 4 wheel disc brakes made for a little car that was an absolute blast to drive. With a reworking of the stock ECM, the 1300 cc engine would spin to over 10,000 rpm. Yes, you read right, 10,000 rpm! Best of all, it was cheap. In Canada, you could pick up a loaded GTi (no a/c of course) for under $13,000. Unfortunately, the Swift’s reputation was overshadowed by it’s anemic cousins, the 3 cylinder Chevy Sprint & Pontiac Firefly. In 1990, Suzuki was sued by VW & forced to drop the i and the car became the Swift GT part way through the 1990 model year. Had the Swift been marketed by Honda or Toyota there is no question it would have sold much better. As it was, the car was produced until 1994 and was never replaced in the Suzuki model line up.

As far as I can see, the Swift Gt was the last true pocket rocket sold in North America. The GTI is still available, but at a starting point of almost $30,000 it is hardly affordable. Toyota had the right idea with the echo/Yaris, but the car was downright slow. You could hop it up with the available TRD bits, but to do the full job would almost double the price of the car. The Dodge SRT-4 comes close, but it’s not very friendly to the backyard mechanic. The current Mini, while very cool is hardly inexpensive or easy to work on. In Europe, all sorts of small, sporty and affordable beasties are available & the aftermarket is there to support all of them.
It’s time for some car manufacturer to build a real Pocket Rocket that we can buy here.

Ok, so this isn’t an all out road test as such, more like a joy ride. One of the guys in the shop brought his ‘79 Mini in for some final prep before it goes up for sale. He’s a young lad & was dying to have my opinion on the car. God only knows why, what the hell do I know about Minis other than the cool factor being very high.

Over the years I’ve read far too many car books and articles. A good number of them have been about restoration & modification of old English cars. That, coupled with industry experience gave me some idea what to look for. A quick road test was in order.

Like many later Mini’s, this one has undergone some cosmetic surgery in an attempt to look like a Cooper. This Mini has received a few coats of white, along with the prerequisite black roof. It’s also had some more “modern” mods, as the hood & wings (English for fenders) have been bolted together to create a forward tilting hood. This mod involves a somewhat dodgy front engine mount, which becomes very evident the first time one releases the clutch. Crouching down to slide in behind the wheel is easier than expected for a fat guy like me. The last time I drove a Mini was about 20 years and 80 pounds ago, so the seating position creates a slightly different impression!

The interior is typically Mini and also typical of an old car owned by a young guy. There is no shift knob and the turn signal switch is dangling at a precarious angle. In fact, attempting to activate the signals causes the entire switch assembly to spin out of the way on the exposed steering column. Great, it’s been a long time since I signalled by hand while driving anything other than my bicycle. The engine fires up on a single, quick turn of the key. The idle is a bit high, as the carbs have proven to be a bit of a challenge for a tech who was born after this Mini was built. If I can find the SU’s that are lurking somewhere in my garage, perhaps I can help him out. Depress the clutch, select first gear, blip the throttle and slowly release the clutch. A sharp snapping noise from the makeshift engine mount causes me to feather the clutch to soften the grip. Apparently the racing clutch in the car is a little harsh for the rest of the drivetrain. Once things get rolling, all the old Mini feelings come back to life. The steering is crisp and lightning quick. The antique suspension has a bit of bounce over the harsh downtown streets, but the short suspension travel helps diminish that bounce. As the car isn’t fully sorted (not to mention the engine mount issue) it developed a bit of a misfire on hard acceleration, so I wasn’t able to really let it run. Despite a loose shifter, the gearbox is tight and reasonably crisp and the clutch feels great as long as one is careful not to leave the line too hard, causing that big bang. The other limitation at this point is a serious lack of brakes. The pedal goes right to the firewall at this point. This will be fixed before anyone else drives the car, as an old car with dodgy brakes is no place for the average, unsuspecting driver. For a crusty old guy who’s used to old cars, it wasn’t much of a deal.

Obviously this wee car has it’s share of issues, but at it’s core the car is solid. A few hours of sorting and this will be a killer toy. Even with it’s problems, 20 minutes in it left a smile on my face for the rest of the day. There is a reason that the Mini has been so popular for the last 50 years. That reason is that the car is fun to drive and fun to look at. I’ve driven many cars over the years, but few if any have generated as many smiles from pedestrians as this little white bomb did today. As the week goes on, I’ll have more to report and I’ll hopefully post more pics. This time I’ll stay out of the shot, so you don’t have to see my ugly mug.