Interior/Exterior Interior and exterior modifications for Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs.

Interior/Exterior Clean rear Hatch

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  #1  
Old 05-06-2003, 02:30 PM
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what do you think about this raer hatch mods?



Ralph
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Old 05-06-2003, 02:40 PM
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Don't like it. First thing I thought was that MINI looks like a PT cruiser.

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Old 05-06-2003, 02:43 PM
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Whoa...that would take some getting used to...its almost too monolithic. Its hard to judge from pics, though. Gracious, I wonder what they did to the front!!!!
 
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Old 05-06-2003, 02:52 PM
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Why would a FWD economy car with a tiny 1.6L engine need such a large muffler? That just doesn't make any sense at all.
 
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Old 05-06-2003, 04:24 PM
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Photochopped huh? Hatch is clean. It looks like they took off the wheel arches it's all smooth. but yeah the longer i look at it it does look like a mini pt cruiser. oh mini should never ever be in the same sentence as pt cruiser.
 
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Old 05-06-2003, 04:36 PM
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They had to remove the wheel arches to fit those 20 inch wheels.
How do you open the hatch? No handle, and the ripcord inside is only in the manual.
 
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Old 05-06-2003, 04:50 PM
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No wheel arches...it is wierd...I am not sure if I like it or not...too wierd...
 
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Old 05-06-2003, 05:04 PM
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Weird, I don't like the lack of teh fender flares either. I personally don't think the MINI's body needs any modification. I'm just painting mine, no major alterations... why would you want to get rid of the MINI logo?
 
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Old 05-07-2003, 12:57 AM
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The rear hatch is cleaner- no wiper or handle (so how do you open the door?) no license plate. The bumper is modified to accept the european plate but what about the US plate- you loose the clean lines when you add the plate. The bumper looks like it has the cooper's accent bumps (non chromed) but lacks the opening on the bottom right for the exhaust which is oversized here and likely to scrap against the ground or anything you back into when parking.
Overall the look would be very good accented by a racing stripe or pattern to dress up the stark and bland single color. Another option to dress up the color is either to make the tail lights tinted dark or white- either would work to contrast with the chili red. another idea is to add a racing number meatball decal to the rear- even over some racing stripes. For an aggressive look you could add deeper side flairs. For the US you would need the wheel arch side lights which are missing here. Could be good.
 
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Old 05-07-2003, 02:33 AM
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Hatch = eh....

But no matter what, gotta lose that muffler/exhaust tip.
 
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Old 05-07-2003, 03:00 PM
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@ll,

thanks for yours answers.
But it´s a photoshop work. We plan to offer a similar kit in the future. Before we produce these kit, we wanted to know whether it´s a good idea.

Ralph Marzahn
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  #12  
Old 05-07-2003, 03:11 PM
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I think what everyone really wants is a NICE body kit. Something with a more aggressive look. Wider more aggressive fenders and flont and rear bumpers...Do some Photoshop work with a bosy kit and see what people think.
 
  #13  
Old 05-07-2003, 06:10 PM
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CTD-
Some ideas.
You posted the picture of the rear hatch so I will start there first.
A clean design is good. But where to put the things that are displaced is a problem. In the Cooper - that would be the rear wiper, the license plate, the pull and release button for the rear hatch, the cooper name plate. You can omit or displace these. Wiper and words can be omitted. The door needs a release button from the outside somewhere. Usually an easy to reach area but not limited to the hatch itself. Neat woud be a sliding or tilting cooper emblem or wings logo with the button hidden under it- very cool and still clean. But without a pull on the hatch you would need to be able to push the hatch out a bit once the release was hit. A small soft sponge pad in the door jam might offer enough of a push to make the hatch ajar so you can open it. The remote switch for the doors and hatch would still work so if you left out the door button that would be OK.

Don't add a spoiler to the rear hatch at all. it doesn't really look clean enough and doesn't add to aerodynamics. The roof rear spoiler is OK.

As for the license plate, there are two forms, the european and the US types. Having a recessed opening in the bumper is OK but not so easy with the US type plate. Most times in the US the auto maker will attach a retangular raised holder for the plate on top of the bumper surface. It isn't clean. It wold be better to have in the bumper design an opening that would accept either a euro type opening or a US plate opening. i.e. build an opening into the center of the bumper with a blank that can accept either of two designs for a recessed sort of opening for the various plates that go in. An alternative is to have another piece that would fit that gives no plate opening- just flat and flush with the bumper and maybe an aero plate holder for the top surface of the bumper.

For the bumper itself- Having some sort of design for custom exhaust systems or a blank that can be easily cut out using indent guides from behind (not the surface facing out) would be good so that you can use the bumper with any exhaust arrangement .Of if the bumper bottom valence came in multiple designs precut for the cooper s vs the base cooper then that would be good. Having scoupes or extra light holes or places for rear reflectors (when using white tail lights in the US) would be nice.

Keep in mind the balance of the rear hatch to the width of the car the size of the wheel arches and the size of the bumper itself front and rear. Too many times I see one element is too exagerated. Study the lines of ferrari or other sports cars for how they design things. Audi is good in their small coupes.

The cooper is beautifully rounded in design not boxy and square at all. Good luck with your work on this.
 
  #14  
Old 05-08-2003, 02:30 PM
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Just a mention here...no one pointed out that there are no door handles, either. I gather what ever solution that would be used on these would work for the rear hatch, too.

That exhaust has definitely got to go! As well as the stock radio antennae.

The car needs the flares. Without them, you're either stuck running skinny tires or slinging crap from here to eternity by the outside edges of the tires.

IMO....not that great looking. The resemblence to the shrunken PT is too much (as mentioned a few times already). It's hard to see in the pic, but is that a Cooper emblem on the right side of the hatch? If nothing else, I would say this is a great example of what "too clean" means.


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03 B/W S model; Madness intake; Cibie 45 lamps; Magnaflow exhaust
 
  #15  
Old 05-08-2003, 02:48 PM
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>>what do you think about this raer hatch mods?
>>
>>
 
  #16  
Old 05-08-2003, 03:03 PM
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How do you open the doors? no handles.
 
  #17  
Old 05-08-2003, 04:19 PM
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I am telling you, make a mean body kit...
 
  #18  
Old 05-08-2003, 04:33 PM
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Sorta reminds me to Neo with his mouth gone...kinda weird, don't think I like it too much...
>>>>what do you think about this raer hatch mods?
>>>>
>>>>

 
  #19  
Old 05-10-2003, 12:26 PM
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Might look good as a remote control car. Otherwise, it looks gross.
 
  #20  
Old 05-10-2003, 07:48 PM
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There is a guy in Miami with a DS/DS "S" that did this and it looks odd. He did a nice job but ....It looks like a Butt as some of the people said....He liked it though.
 
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