Mk1 Mini shells in high demand

| 22 May 2018
Mk1 Mini shells in high demand – Classic & Sports Car

"Look, no rust!" It's what every classic car owner wants to hear and since 2016, British Motor Heritage (BMH) has been helping custodians of Mk1 Minis achieve this.

In fact, it's been bowled over by the response to its replacement Mk1 Mini shells since the prototype was revealed at the 2016 NEC Classic Motor Show.

These all-new bodyshells, created using original British Leyland tooling, cost £9950 (including VAT), and production is being increased to satisfy customers' demands.

And there might be a bespoke racing shell on the cards, too.

Mk1 Mini shells in high demand – Classic & Sports Car

Here, you can see British Motor Heritage's Mini Cooper S racer coming together

“A few years back, though values of good Mini Coopers were climbing steadily, the limited worth of their 850 cousins made comprehensive restorations hard to justify," said BMH’s Managing Director John Yea.

"The picture is now very different, and enthusiasts are busy rejuvenating all versions of Issisgonis’ immortal baby at an ever-increasing rate. As a result we are constantly having to raise our production targets, and that’s without taking into account the shells we are creating for David Brown Automotive’s impressive Mini Remastered programme."

And could a ready-to-race shell be in the pipeline? After all, there's a healthy classic Mini racing scene, and BMH has been campaigning an MGB for over a decade, as well as Farina A40, and for 2018 a Mk1 Mini Cooper S is joining its motorsport fleet.

“We are very much looking forward to running the Mini in the heat of competition and, depending on the success of the venture, may build a limited number of equivalent competition specification shells for general sale sometime in the future,” Yea added.


Fancy a Mini adventure of your own? Check out the examples on our classic car for sale pages!