MINI has revealed another piece going into its museum: back in the 1970s, such vehicles were built in the UK by a company named Cummins Ice Cream Vans. Many have come to associate their peculiar roof shape with the outlines of Batman movie cars, giving birth to the nickname ‘Batmobile Mini’.
The car utilizes a truck chassis manufactured in the sixties. The tuning crew essentially just got rid of the drop side and the cab roof, installing a different top in their place.
Mini points out that the car was not a rarity back in its era. Cummins Ice Cream Vans made hundreds of them and sold them in a number of countries outside of the UK – the embedded video will let you catch a glimpse of another example. Few vehicles survived past their rated service life of 15 years, and only the luckiest are still around nowadays.
Brand fans are still hunting down these cars around the globe and using them for special occasions, such as weddings. Just what background this particular example has remains a mystery.