{"id":29893,"date":"2018-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/25-years-of-mini-convertible\/"},"modified":"2020-10-02T14:40:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T14:40:13","slug":"25-years-of-mini-convertible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/25-years-of-mini-convertible\/","title":{"rendered":"25 Years of Mini Convertible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First Minis have been converted to Convertibles already in the 1960s, but those are rare cars. Best known are the few cars from Crayford Engineering. In 1991 Rover showed the first Mini Cabriolet as a teaser for following things. The first 75 copies have been produced in a strange way: Mini sent already produced cars to German car dealer Lamm in Achern, where the team cut the roof of, fitted a new folding roof and additional bars under the car to stiffen it up. It also got new upholstery for the seats.

Lamm converted first Minis already within the 1980s but now received the official order from Rover. Those 75 official cars all got a paintwork in ‘Cherry Red’, were right hand drive and only available at 12 selected Rover dealers in Great Britain to analyse customer interest in this version. It was big enough, all cars have been sold within a month. So RSP (Rover Special Products) decided to build a Mini Convertible themselves in low-volume. Design was taken from the Lamm car, but the lost stiffness from removing the metal roof was fought by adding additional sills. Those reduced the footwell inside the car. Also RSP closed a gap under the rear seats and searched for other points to fix the seatbelts. The newly developed Mini version debuted at NEC Motor Show 1992 and arrived at dealers worldwide in 1993. Now it was available either in ‘Nightfire Red’ or ‘Carribean Blue’, from 1994 on also in ‘British Racing Green’. While all red Convertibles \u2013 Lamm and Rover cars \u2013 received a red softtop, the other two colors have been fitted with a grey roof and persenning. Lamm developed a matching hardtop for the cars to better their usability in winter time.<\/p>\n\n\n

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