Mini heads for birthday in style

The BMW-owned company has plumped for a sun and surf theme with its car and trailer. Photo / Supplied

Mini is gearing up for its 50th birthday bash - and part of the celebrations is a study into what it calls the "stylistic future of travel".

The carmaker got together with American travel trailer specialists Airstream and Danish furniture design brand Republic of Fritz Hansen to produce a mobile match of trailer and car, with a sun and surf theme.

The Danish firm revamped from the wheels up a 6.8m-long Airstream trailer and a Mini Cooper S Clubman. It opened up the trailer on one side to fashion a built-in sunbathing bed, lined much of the trailer and car with wetsuit material neoprene, and tossed in all sorts of fresh colours.

The design study is on show in Milan, Italy, this week and is being used to point to Mini's birthday party at the Silverstone race track in Britain on May 22-24. Silverstone is not far from the factory that built the first Mini in 1959.

The event is expected to draw more than 10,000 Mini fans for a three-day mix of clubsport action and music, featuring artists like The Jam's former singer Paul Weller and Manfred Mann's Earth Band's Chris Thompson. The car and trailer design is the result of many successful Mini collaborations over the years, says Mini brand executive Dr Wolfgang Armbrecht.

"We like to work with brands which share our passion for design," he said. "Collaborations fire our creativity.

"With the Mini and Airstream, and the Fritz Hansen concept, we are looking to show our customers new and innovative angles for the Mini Clubman and to cast a visionary eye into the mobility of the future."

The floor of the trailer has a yacht-deck wood panel look and the rear wall is decorated with floral prints and two surfboards halves, which double up as shelving.

Elsewhere, an electric motor allows one side of the trailer to be folded down to reveal the bed.

The car gets neoprene on the seats, dashboard and side panelling, while the rear seat bench has been removed and the boot stripped out for storage.

Mini doesn't say how the front-drive Clubman Cooper S can cope with towing a trailer on soft sand. But the carmaker has been testing an all-wheel-drive Clubman for some time. It is expected to go on sale in 2011.