 Due to the fact the original Cooper was a high performance package, at a very reasonable price, it became a natural donor vehicle for any number of wild and exotic modification projects. Indeed, there have been over 120 Mini based kit car designs on sale over the years. But the real extreme Coopers were private modification projects. Possibly the highest profile of these were the three Mini Coopers that were converted into oranges by the Outspan company. Featuring a completely spherical body, completely containing the original car, they were used at promotional events around the world.
Other extreme modifications projects included a full stretched limousine, a double decker bus, and even the odd monster truck conversion.
A further flip side of the extreme Cooper phenomenon are the vehicles that take the original body and running gear, which to this day still exhibits superior handling, and replacing the standard power unit with a modern counterpart. Many people have used the immensely popular Honda VTEX engine as a replacement, although many lightweight engines, including such units as the Yamaha R1 motorcycle engine, have been successfully implanted into an original Mini Cooper chassis and body shell.
The third party performance part industry for the Mini Cooper line, is still going strong after 60 years, and is a good indication of how effective the original design was. To this day, it is still renowned as a vehicle that performs far beyond its low price tag.
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