From Automotive Manufacturing & Production, March 2001

Malt, Barley, Hops...Clay?

Despite all of the accolades new Mini designer Frank
Stephenson has received for his work reinterpreting
the venerable British classic into a modern form, his
taste in adult beverages remains prosaic. No expensive
champagne for this well-traveled American. His preferred
beverage comes in an aluminum can. And it's a good thing
it does.

'We worked a number of 24-hour days trying to get the
full-sized clay model completed for presentation to the
board of directors,' says Stephenson. 'So when we finished
the job with just hours to spare, I thought it appropriate
that the team have a beer or two to celebrate. That's when
I spotted the problem.'

That problem was the complete absence of an exhaust tip on
the otherwise complete clay. Thinking quickly, Stephenson
stripped the paint from his beer can, punched a hole in the
bottom, and fixed it in place on the model.

'The review went off without a hitch,' he says, 'and the
board told me not to change a thing. Imagine the difficulty
I had communicating the specifications of the exhaust to
the [unnamed] supplier, without telling him to go copy the
sides and bottom of a beer can. I didn't tell them until
much, much later.'

However, this wasn't Stephenson's only problem with this
design. It wasn't long before he was called on the carpet
by his boss at BMW. 'It wasn't the shape,' he says,
'everybody liked it because it was unique yet oddly familiar.
He was concerned that I had wasted a modeler's time milling
the piece when his time could be better spent elsewhere. That
was when I felt the need to confess.'

That confession got him stunned silence followed by nearly
uncontrollable laughter. It also gave the new Mini a place
in automotive design history.-CAS