Crayford Mini Mojito: a £35,000 beach car with no doors

Crayford Automobiles is now offering the Mini Mojito in the UK, a hand-built, four-seat beach car converted from a classic Mini, with prices reported from £35,000. The revived British coachbuilder removes the doors and rear glass while retaining the roof, creating a specialised seaside runabout rather than something intended to replace the family hatchback.

What Crayford changes for the £35,000 Mini Mojito

The surgery goes beyond unbolting a pair of doors. According to Yahoo Autos, sections of the lower body disappear too, while Gear Patrol describes cuts to the rear quarter panels. A standard folding Webasto-style sunroof provides another opening overhead. This is an open-sided, roofed car, not a conventional convertible that becomes enclosed when the forecast changes.

The finish choices follow the holiday brief: White Sand, Beach Yellow, Surf Blue or a custom Mojito finish. Inside, marine-grade upholstery and non-slip Flexiteek flooring take the place of more conventional cabin materials. Those are useful concessions to sandy footwear and damp swimming things, although marine upholstery does not make the rest of an elderly car waterproof.

Yahoo reports that the conversion stays close to the donor Mini’s dimensions: roughly 10ft long and 4.6ft wide. That compact footprint remains one of the project’s practical assets. Unlike plenty of modern leisure vehicles, it does not require a substantial parking space before the relaxing part of the holiday can begin.

Buyers receive a fully converted classic Mini rather than a box of parts and an optimistic instruction sheet. The advertised entry figure is not a guaranteed price for every finished car: bespoke requests can alter the bill. A useful quotation therefore needs to identify the donor, conversion specification and any separately priced work.

The classic Mini and Moke heritage behind the Mojito

The underlying packaging trick dates to 1959, when the original Mini arrived with Alec Issigonis’s space-saving combination of a transverse engine and front-wheel drive. Putting the mechanical components into a small envelope left room for four occupants. The Mojito exploits that same basic advantage, but swaps the original everyday transport brief for short journeys in agreeable weather.

Its closest historical neighbour is the Mini Moke, introduced in 1964. That vehicle combined Mini mechanical components with an open utility body and subsequently found a second calling as leisure transport. The Mojito is not a Moke recreation: its retained Mini roof and recognisable saloon-derived shape make it a different answer to a familiar seaside question.

Classic Mini production continued until 2000, leaving a long manufacturing history behind today’s donor cars. That matters when discussing a conversion without a single fixed mechanical specification. A classic Mini badge does not, by itself, identify one engine capacity or equipment level; the particular car underneath the coachwork deserves as much attention as the new paint.

The Mojito also sits within a broader market for giving established vehicles a different working life. Land Rover’s Works V8 conversions for Defender owners offer an owner-car conversion route, while the Lunaz Range Rover Classic’s US allocation sell-out illustrates demand for reworked familiar shapes. Crayford’s distinction is the body format: fewer barriers between passengers and the surroundings, rather than merely more performance beneath familiar panels.

What the Mini Mojito reports say about price and engines

Gear Patrol presents the Mojito as comparatively attainable within the restomod world, while acknowledging that £35,000 remains substantial money beside a small modern leisure vehicle. It is also a different proposition from the Citroën 2CV electric revival targeting a sub-€15,000 price: that is a revival proposal with a target figure, whereas the Mojito is described as a bespoke conversion of an existing classic.

The mechanical reporting needs careful handling. Gear Patrol describes a base specification using a 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine and four-speed manual gearbox. Yahoo cites some published specifications listing a 998cc engine, 40 horsepower and an estimated weight of about 650kg, while noting variation between donors and builds. These figures cannot sensibly be combined into one definitive specification; the agreed build sheet must settle what a buyer actually receives.

Yahoo also reports that the original Mini engine is tuned for stronger low-speed torque and that Mini Cooper-specification front disc brakes are fitted. That emphasis suits the stated short-hop role better than chasing a dramatic peak-power number. Neither report supplies independently measured acceleration or braking results, so claims about the finished car’s performance should stop there.

There is a further difference in how the options are presented. Yahoo describes upgrades agreed individually rather than a formal factory options list. Gear Patrol, however, reports an order page listing an electric drivetrain, automatic transmission and fuel injection. Treat these as reported possibilities requiring confirmation, not equipment automatically bundled into the entry price.

Ordering a Crayford Mini Mojito: the checks that come next

Orders are handled directly with Crayford, and production is described as limited, although neither supplied report gives a numerical cap or delivery timetable. That makes an agreed build slot more useful than the word limited. Buyers should establish when donor selection, specification approval, payment and completion are expected to happen before committing.

Gear Patrol lists styling packs, extended arches and Apple and Android connectivity among the choices. It also mentions two lockable gloveboxes, a rear grab rail, shoulder belts and guard ropes. Those details deserve an itemised discussion: storage security matters in an open-sided car, while the exact seating and restraint arrangements should never be left to assumptions drawn from a photograph.

The original Mini uses a monocoque structure, meaning its bodyshell performs structural work rather than simply sitting on a separate chassis. Removing substantial sections therefore raises an engineering question, not merely a styling one. The supplied accounts do not explain the reinforcement scheme. A prospective owner should ask Crayford for details of the conversion’s structural work and supporting documentation.

Yahoo says UK examples can qualify for historic treatment relating to the donor vehicle’s tax and inspection status. That conditional wording matters. Historic vehicle tax treatment and MOT exemption are separate questions, and an old donor is not a blanket guarantee for every modified car. The position should be checked for the individual conversion, including any applicable requirements concerning modifications, rather than assumed from its age alone.

For overseas customers, Gear Patrol reports both left- and right-hand-drive configurations but says US availability is not specified. Steering-wheel position is not import approval. Yahoo likewise advises that export prospects depend on the destination country’s classic-car rules, so registration and import eligibility need confirming before a buyer pays to have a finished Mojito shipped abroad.

Finally, Gear Patrol lists custom covers among the available choices. That is a particularly relevant option for a vehicle missing its doors and rear glass. Salt and moisture accelerate corrosion in steel bodywork, regardless of how nautical the upholstery looks. Storage, cleaning and protection of the donor shell should therefore be part of the ownership plan, not an afterthought once the first beach trip is over.