Mini Outspan Orange

This is the most stubborn Mini in the history. The project was called Outspan Orange. I have two questions – how and why? It is very simple to answer the second question: it is all about Africa. More precisely, this is South Africa, fruits that grow stubbornly there, and planters who are very keen on selling these fruits to Europeans. In the middle of the second half of the twentieth century, using specially constructed vehicles of an exotic look for advertising campaigns was extremely popular – remember at least Oscar Mayer’s self-propelled sausages. So, Outspan Orange company from South Africa, which grew oranges, decided to use the same method.

But how?

Orange is a ball. The problem with the ball is that it is the same in all directions: if you build a ball on a platform two meters long, it simply will not fit into a single legitimate strip on the road in width. And the terms of reference stated that the orange had to move independently, without arranging an accident at every corner and without attracting the attention of police. They took the suspension and engine of the most popular Mini as a basis, since there were no problems with scaling the platform.

Three of the six Mini Outspan Orange built that have been distributed between South Africa, France, Germany and the UK have survived to this day. One of them still lives in South Africa, the second is in the British National Motor Museum, Beaulie, the third, they say, lives in the BMW Factory Museum. The Mini company itself does not advertise its own connection with these clockwork oranges of Afro-British origin, but you won’t erase the words: one of the strangest cars of the second half of the 20th century is built specifically on the basis of Mini.