Wow, where does the time go? While removing quite a few pipes, covers, plugs and bolts to change over my spark plugs in the Stagea over the weekend (an occasion that made me miss my 1JZ for the simple 10 minute job that it was) I realised I hadn’t posted here for a while. And what better way to get back into this page than by falling in love with a completely mental 1980 Mini who goes by the name of….Binky.
Yep, Binky.
Why you need to watch Project Binky on Youtube
For starters – the brainchilds behind Bad Obsession Motorsport take the engine and bits of drivetrain out of one of these:
And put it into one of these. Well actually this very one.
Obviously that is not a common swap at all in either Mini or Toyota Celeica GT4 world (and nowhere as easy as putting a rotary engine into an earlier rotary). And when I say take from one and put in the other, I actually mean ‘completely rebuild the 1980 Mini from the ground up in a feat of fabrication the builders of the Eiffell tower would be proud of along the way.’
Because the builders (well builder, the other does more commentating than building) of this innovative series crosses every single ‘t’, dots every single ‘i’ and does it in a way that is enthralling to watch. I have never sat through so much welding, grinding, measuring, cutting, hammering, drilling, primer application and fabrication and still be champing at the bit for the next episode ever in my life.
There’s plenty of laughs and mishaps along the way – also Monty Python references, complex mathematics, tea breaks, British humour and stacks of stuff to learn (especially for someone like me who has zero idea what each bit of body work and panels are actually called.)
You’ll be highly impressed at their incredible ability to modify things at will, design with bits of cardboard, make things look brand new and the stuff they cram into one door? Incredible. Especially with how much rust came in with the car when it drove into the workshop originally..
Did I mention there’s a massive lack of manuafctured drama in this series? It’s refreshing. No meltdowns, no walk outs, no projects shot with gattling guns. Just a couple of red hot car builders doing what they do best and having a joke and a smile (along with plenty of tea and biscuits along the way).
I’m not going to ruin things any further for you but I highly reccomend you check Project Binky out when you get a spare sec. If you’re a fan of builds then this one will not dissapoint!
Here, I’ve even embedded the first episode for you – aren’t I nice!