I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure that the German engineers developing the Volkswagen Type II bus never, ever imagined that the highly functional little box that they created was going to become the darling of pot-smoking tie-died hippies and other counterculture types in America twenty years later. The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia was just a baby then – how could they know?
In the same manner, I doubt the assembly line workers carefully putting in back windows and installing seat cushions in the rear of Mini Coopers thought that some of them would have these parts ripped out and replaced with an El Camino-style pickup bed featuring a refrigerated cooler and a huge plastic facsimile of a hyper-caffeinated drink can stuck on top. Unlikely as that seems, it happened hundreds of times.
You know what would be even more strange? What if we converted this compact hatch into a far more versatile beverage promotion device by changing it into a tiny camper?
Make It Big And Add Wheels
Despite all of the different ways to advertise products today, from billboards and park benches to television and social media, for me nothing beats a well-executed promotional vehicle. These types of cars and trucks go way back, with some of the most bizarre ones being from France and used in the parade of cycles that is the Tour De France. There’s been a post written on these before, but in the pre-internet years before many even had televisions these physical spectacles were a great way for brands to connect with people.
Even today, crowds cannot resist an Oscar Meyer Weinermobile or a Planter’s Nutmobile strategically parked at an outdoor event, and seeing either of these driving down the road is a brand-enforcing spectacle to behold.
In the 2000s, energy drink Red Bull commissioned a company to take 500 new Mini Coopers and make them into rolling advertisements that also served as dispensers for cold samples of their product. A firm called Custom CRS sawed off the roof behind the B pillar and down to the beltline, installing a new rear window and covering what used to be the rear seat and cargo area with a fiberglass cap. Doors in this cap flipped open to access Red Bull product that was, in some cases, kept cool by a refrigerator in what used to be the trunk behind a now-flip-down tailgate. Like the Wienermobile, team members would drive these things around from event to event in what was likely a low-paying but immensely fun and memory-making job.
Some sources online swear there are more than 500 of these things out there; they’ve appeared all over the globe so I wouldn’t doubt it. We know from our own Thomas Hundal’s account at a recent auto show that, despite the builder of the original Red Bull Minis going out of business over a decade ago, some firm has made examples out of much newer Mini cars:
The fact that later-generation Red Bull Coopers exist indicates that the original cars are likely being replaced after twenty years of service. So, what is happening to the O.G. Red Bull cars today? Well, it’s funny you should ask…
Giant Can Not Included
Facebook Marketplace rarely disappoints in its ability to give you a generous feed of strange vehicles like ancient surveillance vans and kids go-carts with tiny Plymouth Volare bodies. For that reason, I wasn’t surprised to see a silver 2007 Mini Cooper listed for sale recently for a mere $39o0 that was missing much of its roof and greenhouse in back.
The telltale cooler doors and supports for the now-gone giant can told me right away what that this thing once was and what kind of vinyl graphics had been heat-gun peeled off of it.
If you had any doubts, what looks like the gauge for a refrigeration system in the trunk should remove any uncertainty.
This isn’t the first decommissioned Red Bull Mini I’ve seen; there are at least one or two I see running wild in the Chicagoland area, and with hundreds built, I’m sure many are still out there. The big question I have is, what do you do with it? Try a little more Sawzall work and turn it into a tiny pickup truck? That kind of lacks imagination, honestly. What do we do with almost any vehicle here at the Autopian? Turn it into a camper, of course.
Class Z Motorhome?
Don’t laugh: Mini campers have been a thing. You might have missed one that Mercedes Streeter posted a little while back from the sixties called the Wildgoose:
There are others as well, including one incorporating a boat (I kid you not) that our camper author will likely write up shortly. Seriously, they’re wearing ties to go fishing:
A more recent build has been making the rounds recently on YouTube and at various classic car shows.
However, I can think of few if any that tried to make such a camper out of the BMW-ownership Minis from this century. Admittedly, burger-and-corn-fed Americans often need more space that postwar-austerity UK residents, but these newer Minis are significantly larger than the original Austin products, so you would think we’d stand a fighting chance of making something work here. Maybe.
Meet The Sleepy Bull
If we were to rip off the cooler cover and tailgate from the currently-for-sale former Red Bull Mini, we have a clean slate to add our fiberglass panels to. I’m envisioning something similar to the Saab Toppola in layout. This unique camper fit into the space made by removing the hatchback from a 900; you had a small living space in the area that once was the “trunk”, while a sleeping area continued over the roof of the car.
For the Red Bull Mini camper, we’ll have to extend over the windshield quite a bit to accommodate people in the sleeper, which sort of mimics the way that Oscar Meyer does the “mini Weinermobile” with a similar Mini; naturally, it might limit the opening of the hood slightly.
Another trick from the Toppola we’ll use is to make the area of the camper above the roofline wider than the car itself; this not only gives us more bed space, but the overhangs will give room for a small sink and cooktop while keeping the living space as open as possible.
There are tiny seats and a “dining” table in an area that’s more cramped than my “fisheye” sketch shows but the camper extends off the back of the Mini to allow for around four feet of space from the back wall of the “driver’s cab” to the back of the camper. There’s obviously no room for a shower, though I do think a cartridge toilet could fit under one of those seats; a great use of space and allowing you not to have to leave your computer while sitting on the pot. What else could you possibly ask for?
Steps help access the sleeper area, and these could be openings through what was once the rear window of the Red Bull Mini.
In back, a central door features a “porch light” above that’s also a third brake lights. Also, in the fiberglass parts we’ll add apertures for the car’s existing taillights to fit.
Based on the animation below, you can see that if you’re used to driving a standard Mini you might want to remind yourself about the height before going into a parking garage.
Jason wanted to see the big Red Bull can somehow incorporated into the design, and I wasn’t quite sure how to do that. Maybe on the roof to hide an air conditioner, or to hold chilled drinks to dispense? I’m not quite sure. I wasn’t really envisioning this decommissioned thing being used as a working Red Bull promotional piece, but I guess it could be.
Despite my inability to utilize an oversized can into the design, the animation below shows that I was able to make it look like a misshapen, crushed oversized Red Bull can. Note the beauty of the bubble windows above the sink and rear table.
Maybe the thing would tow a trailer full of drinks, or perhaps a team could drive it so that one person could sleep while the other hammers though the night to the next location, likely amped up on the drink our Mini is promoting. Could a couple travel in this thing? You know, college sweethearts spending the summer together? I’ll tell you this much: if they can do that and not kill each other, they need to get married right away since they’ve each found The One.
But Could You Really Sleep After Drinking That Shit?
If nothing else, the people who did the Red Bull conversions accomplished some of the hard work in sawing the Mini down to prepare it for endless possibilities; the Sleepy Bull might be the ultimate possible use for this cast-off machine.
The current Mini, as I pointed out earlier, is around the same size as the Dodge Aries K-Car; if the artisans in England made campers out of an original Mini then it’s certainly time that we did the same with much larger the tribute car. There are hundreds of these Red Bull freaks out there to work with, and likely more to come.
Every car deserves a second act, and if they can get a third act, all the better, right?
This Fiberglass Bolt-On Camper Was Designed To Replace The Rear Hatch Of A Saab. Let’s Mock Up A Modern Version – The Autopian
Would You Sleep In An RV Made Out Of A Hearse? – The Autopian
How Our Daydreaming Designer Would Turn A Scion xB Into A Delightful Camper – The Autopian
Our Daydreaming Designer Imagines A Cybertruck-Shaped Camper Trailer That Almost Makes Sense – The Autopian
