Hi All..

So I have been pondering the exterior modifications of my car for a while now. I have always felt the coopS was a little disjointed and wanted to bring it together a bit.

Through my work at Oakley I met Joe Iacono (www.joeiacono.com) a hugely talented car designer with a bunch of Unique performance, speed channel and completely custom work under his belt. He informed me about a new project of his called "Airborne Mini" www.airbornemini.com

I'm not going to explain it all, you can take a good look at it on the website. Long story short I have decided to take the plunge and I'm car number 2!

I plan on keeping this post updated with pictures for your interest and hope you like it. I have spent a long time with Joe and his parter Rick from Autocraft of Torrance http://www.ci.torrance.ca.us/business/BUS-0053210.htm planning the car out and CAN NOT WAIT for it to be done.

 

I'm going to be honest - I was Bloody terrified when I went to autocraft to drop the car off. It's my baby and my first "real" car!

However, Ricks place totally blew my mind. First off it is MASSIVE. I think there are over 300 cars in his two buildings. It is primarily a AAA red carpet collision center but Rick keeps himself focused on his "special projects!"

There was everything from 911 GT3's to numbers matching Shelby GT350's to Saleens getting worked on. It was nuts - a car guys dream toy shop.

Anyway, your bored of me typing by now so here is the first round of pictures! This is the painfull stuff...the stripping. Interior exterior, the whole shebang is being done!

 

more pics...

 

woahhh..im lost and awed...hahaha
show us the finished product!! we love pictures of unique mini's!!

 

yeah sorry, maybe a little confusing, but basically I wanted to start a post for me to be able to keep a running update of the car - as I get new pics, I'll post them!


They are re-doing the exterior - color coding the whole thing. Its having a new custom stripe that we have designed and has never been done before. The interior is being gutted and re-done in a perforated leather. and its getting wheels with custom TIRES. hehe. Im excited!

 

lol custom tires that is crazy, cant wait to see the result

 

haha yep custom tires threw me a bit! Apparently all the wording etc. is shaved off and the colored line put on...should be fun!

 

Looks like it will end up very cool. Are they going to paint it all black save the wiper area and "front of door panel" like the website pictures? But then its like you were in a crash and could only get "junk" panels of another color. Maybe just paint those panels black, an opposite of the website car.

 

Hah! I see your point, I didn't explain that!

The car is staying red - just all being color coded and the stripe is white to tie in and match the roof. The stripe will be part along the window wipers, part on the hood. The stripe in the tires will be white too. They have done the black one, this is the red one.

 

ah that make a bit more sense i was imagining a custom cut tread or tire size and the cost was

 

I am looking forward to seeing pics of the Airborne Widebody Carbon Kit installed when it becomes available. Are you considering this too?

 

You bet man. The clay is in the studio just now on a different mini. The Carbon fiber guy is awesome - he does a massive amount of work for aerospace and race teams.

The car is almost done, I'm waiting on the wheels and tires then I'll post up some pics!


Good amount of info...
http://www.motoringfun.com/2007/05/0...nets/#more-311

 

Ok a couple of pics....

 

Almost done!!!

Car is back with the new paint job (awaiting some pinstripes..) and completely re-skinned interior. I LOVE it, I hope you guys do too. I was so scared I might hate it! It's had a lot of love put in it!

We're waiting on the wheels and tires to be made and the custom AIRBORNE badges that will replace the mini ones. HRE are going to be making wheels for each of the Airborne Mini's that are done...should be very cool. A split 5 spoke 17inch that Joe the designer did.

The bodykit should be available late summer. A LOT of time is going into it to make sure it is just dead on. The guys working on it are perfectionists so will take as long as it takes to get it dialled in - making for an awesome end product.

Comments much appreciated, bad or good.

 

Lets see the taillights that you repainted too. Car looks really good too , by the way.

 

yeah sorry, I'm working on getting the pics of them, get it up soon!

 

Looks good!

Reminds me of Salormoon.

 

ok maybe it's becasue I'm scottish but is salormoon a person, or a show or...

 

Person and show I think.

 

Very nice!

 

Thanks man, this pic pretty much summs up me seeing for the first time. My buddy said I apparently didnt go within 10 feet of it to begin with...like it had a bubble around it!

 

two questions.

1. How much?

2. When can i drop mine off?

the car looks great. for uniqueness

 

I hadnt posted any prices becasue it's pretty pointless. I'd compare it in a way to taking your Mustang to Saleen. There is an entire kit being put together with power, suspension, brakes, wheels, tires, exterior and interior with the addition of the bodykit late summer. I.e. you can put a lot of money in the car if you want to and the prices can vary all over the place.

I'm guessing the Bodykit and paint would be the most popular and it, even though it will be the Highest end Carbon fiber (I did my thesis on Carbon Fiber so I am not kidding..we're talking like aerospace quality), will be around the $3500 mark. Go compare that to the others that are imported..

This really tells you a lot:

http://www.motoringfun.com/2007/05/0...nets/#more-311

Keep firing questions and I'll keep trying to answer - I know this is all a bit "out there"

 

n1flyneil,

Your MINI looks sweet! Can't wait to see the finished product. Joe really does know what he is doing. He has designed my garage cabinets and they are being built now. I just posted a photo on my gallery, more to come.

I'll be looking close at the carbon fibre body kit.

 

Easily one of my favorite MINIs ever!!! Good job.