TOOLED UP

When you meet someone like Tom Carter, you’re reminded that from the very beginning, the Mini scene has always been about innovation and creativity. And sometimes, just trying left field stuff because you can. Some of the greatest ideas and builds have come from people who have had a brainwave and thought they’d give it a go – some reasonably sensible, some right out there on the limits…

Tom’s Mini encapsulates that way of thinking, and it’s here because he just gets stuck in and makes things happen. He’s a mechanic by trade, and thanks to his equally car mad Dad, grew up around classic cars. So even before working on motors became the day job, he knew his way round a workshop and already had an impressive array of skills.

“Just lob the lot out! Once you chop, you can’t stop!”

The Mini arrived before he could legally drive. “I was 16, I’d seen it on eBay and it was a rotten Studio 2,” he says with a smile. “It had actually had twelve months MoT