MARSHSEIS "Classic Mini Challenge" Creating a Time Machine.

Objective-14 "The Centre Console" Everything was hinging on this!

As the title suggests the centre console (for a complete and seemless interior transplant) was hinging on our ability to engineer a solution that would allow us to install the modern mini console into the classic mini shell.

A process that did require an inordinate amount of offering up, measuring, trimming, design and redesign, fettling and general head scratching and all of this knowing if we at any point cut away too much of the modern mini fabric then all that had gone before might be lost. So in essence it was a one shot objective that we simply had to get right.

Pictured above is the stripped out interior of the modern MINI Cooper and most notably a view of the exhaust tunnel complete with the centre console foundation complexity we needed to recreate inside the classic Mini shell.

A point to note, that is very evident in this picture... we had removed the original seat foundation points by cutting them out with a hole saw, and this provided us with the absolute best option available to recreate the front seat foundations in the classic car and get their geometry absolutely spot on relative to the centre console foundations.

The final solution pictured above installed and ready to receive not only the tunnel components including gear shift and hand brake assembly but also the myriad of complex electronic control components that need to be mounted in the mid/centre point of the car. All in all we were again very pleased with this result.

Pictured above... The hand brake assembly fitted in place and just look at how the BMW engineers have taken advantage of every tiny bit of available space by utilising the space beneath the handbrake handle to install the in-car centre computer module which again we have had to replicate in the classic car.

And here we are with the complete centre assembly in place for the first time where we were able to establish exactly where and how we could modify the floor cross brace box section to accept and accommodate the modern MINI seats. Starting to look PDG! to me.

A pic from the rear seat giving a good impression of just how the whole interior is gelling together inside the classic shell. A bit of a eureka moment to be more precise as from this point on and with the application of a little more Marshseis magic we were pretty sure we would be able to get everything contained inside the classic shell and maintain from an outside perspective the original and classic lines of the car.

Another sneak peek at just how the interior will look when complete. This picture in my opinion epitomises the symbiotic transformation that is taking place between the new and the old. Certainly exciting stuff for us as more and more of our objectives come to fruition and the whole concept of creating a Time Machine moves well and truly from the realms of fancy to the dominium of reality :-)

That's about all for this blog....All the best and take care and be sure to keep an eye out for our next blogs where you'll find out exactly how we got on with "Creating a Time Machine".