According to some people that live in a place called 'the internet', BMW has given Rolls-Royce orders to start offering its customers custom MINIs from next year. That would have sounded surreal just a few months ago, but now that Aston Martin plans to re-grille
Toyota iQs and
Ferrari does a Fiat 500, it actually seems quite logical.
As always, MINI will point backwards for justification for its latest marketing coup, citing the fact eccentric stars like Peter Sellers made Minis from wicker and cheese back in the day. But far from a badge-engineering exercise, Rolls-Royce MINIs - which from here on we'll call 'Rollies' - will be fully customised vehicles hand built in Goodwood, with customers expected to rip out the common-as-muck standard interior and replace it with something suitably heavy on trees and cows.
There's no word on when the Rollie programme will officially open, but we're already thinking about what we'd do with ours. It would have a 6.75-litre V8 behind the front seats, a starlit roof lining and teak decking covering the side panels. The bonnet would be aluminium, the doors rear-hinged, the centre speedometer replaced by a scale model grandfather clock, and a 24-carat gold 'Spirit of Ringo' placed at the prow - our tribute to the Thomas the Tank Engine's most eminent narrator. What price that absolute classic?
Mark Nichol - 19 Nov 2009