Mini Bowie 070
Written by
Luke Dorny
on
and then rested.
Reflections of Time and Place
The chrome Mini as conceived by David Bowie that reflects yourself into its image
By: mini.com
Unbelievable.
This is the David Bowie Mini.
I have a knack for stumbling upon admirable things that David Bowie has said or wrote and usually end up playing an interview video of Mr. Bowie sharing his thoughts on the power of art, creativity, and more, and then feel inspired to create even more.
Here is a very truncated clip from one of his famously charming interviews:
Reflections
My son and I recently restored the dual carburators on the family bus Sandy and discovered the joy that is polishing raw aluminum. Now the carbs are a shiny symbol of Aidan and I working to improve and restore something we enjoy.
The Mini is a car design that I’ve always admired from an efficiency and size point of view. That it won so many rally races only helped its case. They keep creeping into my life, too, as recently we almost picked up an imported classic model from Japan via an importer here in Seattle across the Sound.
Marlo, my wife, has also wanted one instead of the bulky things people drive these last few decades, and so we almost made it happen. Then someday converting it to electric would’ve been just ideal.
Years ago on a trip with my brother to travel across southern Europe in the late ‘90s, as we wandered the streets of several towns in France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria via Euro rail passes, staying in hostels, it was such a powerful adventure.
At one point, we walked past a small showroom in downtown Vienna that had a classic Mini in the window, almost pressed up against the glass wanting to escape. Squished against the glass barrier it sat, in Monte Carlo racing red with decals and with the requisite amount if rally lights. Then we noticed that it was selling for less than $9k USD. We instantly started planning how we could make it happen. It didn’t happen, sadly.
Automotive design is one of my favorite types of design as it is a large mixture of materials, surface textures, geometry, style, science, electrics and electronics, etc., and I’d wanted to get into the Auto design world as a kid.
This Mini
This chromed up version of the Mini checks a lot of boxes for me designwise, and yet clearly as a daily driver, this mirror finish car should be the last thing on the road for safety reasons, and so this should stay in a museum, but I’ve been drawn to this car design all my life.
Inspired
I’ve had this post in draft for a long time and figured it needed to be finished up and shared to inspire somebody else along their own art/design/polished-metal journey, so here it is.
Like it? You can ☕️ Buy Me Cocoa.
