Jonathan's acquisition of his new MCS got me thinking, for you drummers out there, have you tried to fit your kit inside a MINI with the back seats down, etc? Maybe with the back seats removed? lol...

I was able to fit a 10 piece double bass kit of mine in my old '79 VW Rabbit so I have to think the MINI could hand some amount of drums...

I don't do the band thing any more but it's fun to think about. Now I just play at home and think of driving the MINI.

 

Double Bass?

Whenever I think or see a double bass drum kit... I think 80's hair band hard rock "Europe" style band.

("It's the final countdooowwwnn")

 

Europe! gag... vomit. I did play in a hard rock band w/ my brother in the late 80's but not that god awful stuff.
KING'S X, ALICE IN CHAINS, SOUNGARDEN, yes, but not Europe or Poison, lol.

 

I can offer a very qualified "yes." I have been able to fit two sorts of drum kits into my MINI:

One, a set of Roland V-Drums, though they still filled the boot/back seat area from floor to cieling. In addition, one of the two amps and the throne had to ride up in the front seat, and the carpet (even V-drums will "walk" on you) stuck from the back area up between the seats, and down into the front passenger's footwell.

Second, and a good bit easier in fact, was an acoustic Pearl Rhythm Traveller set. These beauties have the advantage of toms that nest one inside each other, and go into one soft case, along with the snare - assuming you don't supplant the snare with something more robust than the stock one (and guess what I did?). The bass goes in its own case, while you're left on you own as to what to do about the hardware. For that, I had a 3rd case. The throne was able to ride in the back again, while the carpet reprised its previous through-and-through trick. The cymbals went into a regular clamshell case.

Attached is a photo of the acoustic kit loaded into the MINI. I thought I had pics of the V-drums loaded somewhere (just because it was so ludicrous to see), but it seems I deleted them.

All in all, while it's quite a novelty to watch the faces of people who see you pull a drum set out of a MINI circus-clown-car-style, I have to say my long-departed '79 T-bird land yacht made for better hauling.

 

I have been able to fit my 5 piece Mapex kit with throne, hardware, 2 cymbals, 1 high hat and stucks (of course), but no when else could ride in the car with me.

 

I haven't even begun to think about fitting my kit into the MINI, but what is a lot of fun is:

The "unoffical" Motoring Guide in the MINI USA Owner's Lounge has a drumming section. It explains how to drum effectively in your MINI. A couple things I remember are:

-Bang against the drivers door for a nice base drum sound.

-Tap against the steering wheel for a snare or something.

-Also the dashboard makes another interesting sound, so use that...

etc etc etc The chapter of drumming in that MINI book has much more than I posted here.

Obviously you don't want to hit your car too hard, but lightly tapping is fun.

 

not quite on-topic but related...

the last hurdle to my MINI purchase fell 2 weeks ago when i carted my upright BASS off to the dealership. To the dealer's even greater surprise than mine, the bass slide right into a CLOSED-TOP cabrio, easy-peasy.

pepper white cabrio, here i come. it'll look like a clown car when i'm unloading...