Tail-Happy 1969 Mini Pickup Truck Is Powered by a Bed-Mounted Twin-Turbo V-8

Some engine swaps leave you scratching your head, and others make you wish you'd thought of it first. This 1969 Mini pickup with a twin-turbo Audi V-8 strapped into the bed definitely falls into the latter category, with its insane power to weight ratio and deceivingly cute looks.

Aaron Morris says his Mini was previously powered by a Vauxhall V-6 before it was hit in a rear-end accident, destroying the pickup and leaving him to walk with crutches. Morris is still recovering but the Mini has at least been rebuilt, and what a rebuild it is. Having done all of the work on the truck himself, he took the opportunity to drop in a more powerful 4.2-liter Audi V-8 engine. Additionally, he plumbed in two Garrett GT17 turbochargers, making it all the more manic. 

The whole rig looks to be built on a custom tube frame with the powertrain mounted just before the rear axle.

There’s a great chance you’ve never even heard of a Mini truck, but the little pickup was made between 1961 and 1983. The entire thing weighed just 1,500 pounds with a full tank of fuel, so the power to weight ratio with anything stronger than a lawnmower engine is going to be respectable. That brings us to the brutal German V-8 that Morris dropped in the bed of the teensy British car. 

Thanks to the newly introduced forced induction, it likely makes far more power than the stock 340-hp figure. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised if it was approaching the 450 hp mark—a big jump from the 1.0- and 1.3-liter engines that original Minis were powered by back in the day.

Delightfully, this is one of several insanely overpowered Mini pickups. British shop GTD built one on top of a Ford GT40 frame, complete with a mid-mounted, 302-cubic-inch V-8 that produces 280 hp and sends it through a five-speed gearbox. We'd love to see a drag race between the two, just for the heck of it.