Best Ride Contest

Joseph,

Thanks for the surprise phone call. I wasn't sure how Minissan would do since it's so heavily modified, some classic people don't appreciate the fact that people have been doing stuff like this to Minis for about 50 years. You have a great site, I hope the contests helped promote it.

Winning doesn't mean anything unless you have some good competition. There were some really great entries, so I'm truly honored that Minissan won. Rhonnie and I would like to thank all of our friends that had a hand in the build, along with everybody that voted for Minissan, and of course Joseph and the Classic Car Community for giving everybody the opportunity to show off their incredible rides!

Thanks Joseph!

Mike Guido

The World's Fastest Clown

www.GodSaveTheClown.com

You never forget your first Mini. I bought this, my first Mini, a 1962 in 1980 and drove it for a couple of years until the rust took over. I was young and didn’t know how to fix so much rust. So, I stored it for about 22 years while restoring/building and driving my other Mini’s. About 5 years ago I decided to use everything I’ve learned over the past 25 years and build the ultimate modified Mini. Little did I know what I was getting into, neither did my wife! My wife and I built what we call Minissan in our 2 car garage at home. It took a little over 4 years and 4,000+ hours to complete. The total build cost was only about $8,000. We started with the rusty Mini shell and handmade just about everything. We learned how to work with fiberglass and made the flares, boot/trunk lid, and air scoops. It has a nitrous injected 1980’s Nissan 300ZX 3.0 V6 (VG 30) engine, a 90’s Nissan 300ZX 5 speed, and a narrowed rear end from a Nissan 240SX. That’s why it's called Minissan. The build not only took over our lives, but it took over our house for the final 2 years. The kitchen and dining room became the storage/staging area for all of the new, chromed, or powder coated bits. We both learned a lot and had a great time doing it together. The day we drove it out of the garage we both felt that in our eye’s we have the world’s greatest ride. Driving Minissan around (the nitrous tank comes out and a passenger seat goes in) is truly indescribable; OK, I’ll try…. It throws you back into the seat in every gear while capable of cornering with Supercars; it redefines the term “pocket rocket.” (With the radiator in the boot, it’s a 50/50 weight balance.) Then we started taking Minissan to shows. Wow, it really didn’t matter if was a classic, British, street rod, or tuner show, Minissan drew the biggest constant crowd. Quite often people would come back and look again to find more of the custom bits/additions. The best part for me is watching my wife answering all of the questions about the build, and seeing how proud she is for what we accomplished, she’s a keeper! I knew someday I would bring my first Mini back to life, I just never dreamed it would be like this. To really appreciate Minissan you have to see under the bonnet. Go to www.classicminis.org/minissan.htm for a few before and after pictures.