Build-it-yourself: Lego launches Mini Cooper set

Danish toy manufacturer adds the Mini Cooper to its Lego Creator Expert series – accurate replica with body in British Racing Green, white roof and engine bonnet stripes, transversely mounted 4-cylinder engine and picnic basket in the luggage compartment – exclusive online sales at shop.lego.com started in August 2014. US Price is just a penny shy of $100.

The creative use of space has always been its strength. Now the classic Mini is presented in an entirely new format. The Lego Group is expanding the fleet of its product series Creator Expert to include the original from Great Britain. As of August 2014, a classic Mini will be available as a 1,077-part Lego set, providing authentic building and driving fun for all fans of the popular Lego bricks and the legendary small car.

The Lego designers based their model on the last generation of the classic Mini Cooper built up to the year 2000, recreating its inimitable charisma in the colorful world of their model kits with painstaking attention to detail. When fully assembled, the car is 25 centimeters long, 14 centimeters wide and 11 centimeters high – thereby preserving the brand’s characteristic proportions. An unmistakable appearance is likewise ensured by the body in British Racing Green, the roof, exterior mirror caps and bonnet stripes in white, the checked pattern on the beige seats and the additional headlamps on the hexagonal radiator grille. The model’s wheels, bumpers, door hinges, headlamps and rear lights fully reflect the design of the original, too. There are also emblems on the rear side body sections to indicate that the Lego replica is based on the Mini Cooper produced from August 1997 to July 1998 to mark the 40th anniversary of the classic Mini.

The doors, bonnet and tailgate of the Mini Cooper can be opened, providing a view of other precisely replicated details. The 4-cylinder engine is of course transversely mounted, the steering wheel, gear lever, handbrake handle, backrests and headrests are all movable and in the luggage compartment there is a fully packed picnic basket complete with a checked blanket.

Important points for authentic assembly: even in the form of a Lego set, the small car classic is a genuine British specimen and has its steering wheel on the right-hand side and a yellow number plate at the rear. The kit also includes a spare wheel: this is kept in the bottom compartment of the boot to save space. As with most products of the Creator Expert series, the recommended age for the classic Mini Lego set is “16+”: regardless of this, young and old alike can fulfill the dream of reconstructing their own original without tools or a driving license.