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\\ Mini Beachcomber concept<br />
Mokin’ Gun<br />
Beachcomber reprises the Mini Moke,<br />
an Australian icon of the 1960s<br />
By RON HAMMERTON<br />
and DAVID HASSALL<br />
MINI has curiously chosen the frozen<br />
climes of wintry Detroit to reveal<br />
the sunniest of concept cars – a<br />
born-again Mini Moke called the Beachcomber<br />
– at the North American International Auto<br />
Show in January.<br />
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The open-top doorless all-wheel-drive fourseater<br />
is unlikely to see the production line in this<br />
exact form any time soon, due to its lack of sideimpact<br />
crash protection, but speculation from<br />
Europe suggests the car has strong engineering<br />
ties to Mini’s forthcoming fourth model line, a<br />
small SUV to be called the Countryman.<br />
Due in September 2010, the Countryman is<br />
likely to share the Beachcomber’s all-wheeldrive<br />
system, larger wheels and taller ride<br />
height when it joins the Hatch, Cabrio and<br />
Clubman body styles in the Mini line-up.<br />
<strong>And</strong>, while the Beachcomber has pillarless<br />
open-air sides like the utilitarian Mini Moke of<br />
the 1960s, it clearly has side openings capable<br />
of taking four doors in SUV form.<br />
The original Moke was penned by Alex<br />
Issigonis, designer of the first-generation Mini<br />
and the man credited with putting the world<br />
into front-wheel drive cars.<br />
Production started in the UK in 1964 – five<br />
years after the original Mini donor car – but was<br />
discontinued in 1968, when production was<br />
shifted to Portugal. Remarkably, it remained<br />
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