313 replies to this topic

[mini mayhem]

Changing anything that was not on the car when it left the factory. With the expection of factory optional extras.

Anything else added to car would cause insurance to skyrocket - not only higher risk of theft but also for altering the design of the car could easily compromise safety.

I also agree with the other post reagarding the right to do what you like with your own property - heck when I own my own home I have big plans. BUT they cannot impact on others and their safety. The cruicial difference is that it is a public shared road.

Dont get me wrong - i'm not saying I want to see only standard cars on the road, and make all these massive changes - as I said in my original post... I want to know WHY and UNDERSTAND WHY young people do it. Impress your friends??? That is my question!
[/quote]
um alot of the time aftermarket modifacations can make your car safer, brakes for example

[mini mayhem]

I just cannot understand why the 'young' generation is so intent on making everything go faster, louder and with bigger speakers than a concert!

This country is currently having big problems with what police have dubbed "boy racers" - packs of youths driving around with dustbin exhausts and neon lights causing chaos on the streets. Everyone is trying to be 'better' than their peer.

I know the mini genre is different, but there is still those that think putting a honda engine in a mini and driving it around makes them a classic car enthusiast.

Masive bainwash by the 'bling' industry via the medias!

I think 'The fast and the furious' and 'Pimp my ride' were the most succesfull attempts in mass-brainwash ever!

yea and it worked im hooked but also becuase of dispossable income

[mini mayhem]

I've skiped a few pages as Im using my phone on the train and people keep quoting huge chunks of text.
But anyway,people modify their minis as it is relatively easy,any 12 year old with a few spanners and an interest in cars can start feteling with a mini without too much risk of breaking it beyond repair. As for body kits and all that,its a matter of taste and even if most wont admit it its down to their mates influence aswell.
Excuse spelling,grammer etc I am using a phone

i started when i was 12 im now 16 have 3 minis and 1 of them will be finished soon..i modify to enjoy

[daemonchild]

I think that car modding first happened when a Model-T got painted 'not black'!

So, we're all agreed then.
We can mod our cars.
Or we can choose not to mod our cars.
We can improve our cars.
And, in some cases, we can really, really ruin them.

But. They're minis.
That's what we love about them: they're all different, they have personality.
Some even have names.

And, above all they're ours.

[The_Mistro]

Ian - im sure this topic wont end here! i for one still have a fair few points i would like to raise!

daemonchild - that is one hell of a quote and good point! i would like to see a picture or spec list of disco dans mini, as i bet you there is something non standard on it, either a oil filter, air filter, spark plug, mat, window sticker, oil, bearing of somesort, which he has modified!

[mighty mini jack]

People seem to be repeating their selfs from page 1

Making a good point though!

[The_Mistro]

Disco Dan - would you call your car standard?

a link disco dan previously posted

[floydrob]

u really have no place to categorise people like that...i'm 16 and am fully restoring a LE sturdio 2 i found in a scrappy, so 1 less on the road if its wasnt for another 'young one' and it was sum1 older that put it ther, so dont start! haf the people i no that mod cars are in their 30's and everyone i know my age who is restoring a mini is taking back to factory condition. that is pure sectarianism. u dont c us 'young ones' comin on complaining that u old farts dont put massive exhausta s and a load of ice in ur mini!

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Disco Dan - would you call your car standard?

a link disco dan previously posted

That cars Farrrr From standard. I could pick holes in that for hours, but i wont.

All i will say though, is nice Lourel, that was a good touch, finishes it off well nice and original

[nurseholliday]

Nothing wrong with cut springs.....

I bought aftermarket speakers because I wanted to listen to music. Loudly. With clarity. I also wanted people 3 cars away to be able to listen as well if I so wished.

Power modifying/engine conversions is all about going faster, if you have to ask why, then you'll never understand.

Edited by nurseholliday, 22 February 2009 - 10:34 AM.

[91neon]

just a point but i for one dont think ive seen two identical minis ever!! besides surely even a different lubricant or fuel would be a mod!!!

[maph2]

any chance that a hall monitor can close this thread. its obvious the OP is talking out of his poop-chute.

[Hayley]

Wow! Alot said but i don't think there is really an answer because in england we still have plenty of minis, (there is 7 down my road!) and that means that as long as they are cheap and plentiful boy racers are going to buy them as they are easy to modify, we can't help that!

Not that I agree with their taste, I believe that there is a reason why people are payed a huge amount of money to design these cars and years perfecting them, i find it hard to believe any 17 year old would know better but each to there own.

I am 24 and own a 1976 which was a scrapper, the problem being when mini's have to be rebuilt you are sometimes forced to buy aftermarket parts as they are either not made anymore or over priced, my car is by no means original in the sense that it has original floors and subframes and the only parts that were useable on the car were the clocks, swith panels, stalks and sealed beams. Its been upgraded to disc brakes the suspension is non standard, so is the interior, all the chrome work and has a tuned metro engine but The car hasn't in my opinion been butchered ! It may not quite drive like it should, but it still drives well and is fun, which is what the mini is mean't to be. And the point remains that it is on the road and not in a scrap yard.

I am also well up for tuning the A series as lets face it, its the genius behind the car and you can get plenty of power out of it, its an appreciation of its mechanics and purer than sticking something else in it, but hey wheres the harm in having some fun as long as the car is appreciated for what it is!

[The_Mistro]

I believe that there is a reason why people are payed a huge amount of money to design these cars and years perfecting them, i find it hard to believe any 17 year old would know better but each to there own.

it is a good design, by no means perfected, or minis wouldnt break down! im sure the designers of the car could of made extreme minis, with 1380cc engines and stiff suspension, with coilovers, wide wheels, drop gears, uprated drive shafts, etc etc, but they were making cars for the mass market, even coopers were aimed at mass markets! so they couldnt do that! so if a 17 yr old thinks he can, and he can make it go faster, handle even better, then fair game to them! its not knowing better, its using advances in technology to improve the old technology!

[Joshmini]

It's the same with any car and there will be nothing you can do to stop simply most models of cars have been modded and its not just young people there is a majority of the bike engined mini owners on here where i can say are not in there teens/early 20s as you would call young