Soooo...I LOVE mucking with and customizing everything I own...from motorcycles to cars/trucks.

My 2008 Cooper S is fairly heavily modified. I love BRG and all...but I really love the color scheme of the GP cars. I've tried to make my R56 handle and drive with the same essence of a GP mini i once drove that made me initially fall in love with the cars in the first place.

A used GP is out of my budget, and I have WAY too much time and money into my car to ever sell it. Plus the modifications limit the audience to sell it to.

To make a long story longer, I am considering doing an overall paint job on my car to mimic the GP R53 mini's. Or my other thought is to make it an "Alpina" type car...don't confuse what i'm saying here, it's more about the colors, i'm not going to do the GP decals or any of that stuff, or fake Alpina badges. I just want to do something kinda different that makes people do a double take.

The two tone paint job on my car now accomplishes that, but the more I see the GP mini's...I freaken love that color scheme...and an uncle of mine used to have an Alpina BMW that I also loved the color of, I think it would look good on a Mini.


Thoughts, input...rants?

*flame suit on.


EDIT: This is NOT a thread about painting "how to", my job is in the body shop field and i've done plenty of overall paint jobs, custom paint...you name it. My car right now i've painted completely over at this point between the charcoal two-tone and the stripes being painted on as well as all the chrome being painted. This will be perfect when it's done. This isn't asking for people to convince me NOT to paint it, it's asking for genuine input on what would look fitting on a heavily modified Mini.

 

Meh do what ever makes you happy. Just make sure the execution is good and not half assed and it should turn out great.

 

Haha thanks Porthos, yeah it'll be a complete job, removing all the trim/molding, door stickers/labels...etc etc. High end basecoat and clearcoat...No crazy chameleon paint or bass boat flake lol.

...Although I really miss the suicide doors on my S10...would be pretty sweet on a Mini, NO! BAD COLIN!

 

Sounds like it would look awesome. The GP looks great so I don't see why it wouldn't translate to your R56.

 

That's what I was thinking...it'd be more of a homage to it instead of a clone type deal. Since it clearly isn't a GP.

 

I think you should do it and post pics when you are done!

 

Maybe you should wait till the rumored new GP is out and take cues from that because it will be easier to copy

 

No matter what color you go with, the scheme I like is to body color match the wheel arches and mirrors. I think it makes the car look smoother and lower.
I do like the body and roof colors on the GP. I am not a big fan of the red mirrors but they are different and kind of fun.
My favorite Mini color is the old Indi Blue. I like everything painted one color, body, roof, mirrors, and wheel arches. White stripes look good with the dark blue.

 

To me, imitation is a form of flattery, but I usually think you should make it your OWN just the same. Especially since this isn't a GP. I appreciate that you won't badge it like a GP or Alpina, but if it looks like a duck...

I love the color of the body on the GP. Perhaps you could take that color scheme and maybe add a different hue of red on the mirror caps or even a different color all together?

My two cents.

 

Or I could go old fashioned and make it the original British Racing Green lol...I think there was a special John Cooper edition of the R56 like that even?

 

I need to make some sketches. I think I may do a custom mix color similar to the GP color, and play around with that, and solid old fashioned british racing green...not together of course.

But I need to get a couple sketches done to see what would look better. There are two trains of thought in my head, one says if i'm going to repaint the whole thing why not do a different color...the other says it was originally green so why not at least stay in the same spectrum.

What about an original Monte Carlo winning Mini type rally paint scheme? Is there any specific well known Mini? I tried a google search but there are a bunch of different ones...

 

Well i've decided, going with non-metallic british racing green. Have to do some spray outs to pick a version of British Racing Green I like since there are so freaken many of them.

Thanks for all the input everyone! It'll be a while before I fully tackle this, have to finish painting my 99 Dakota secondary vehicle before I do the Mini.