Pink Mini Cooper joins the garage

My older daughter loves her Mini Cooper so much, we decided another one would be the perfect car for our younger daughter now that she is driving. It is a great car…responsive, good visibility, great gas mileage, functional storage and seating, and great on safety. The only problem - in our family we tend to like unusual colors, and there wasn't a perfect one available in the new Mini Cooper line-up (my older daughter's 2009 in Oxygen Blue with white wheels is a great color combo, which they no longer make). Well, we found a company in San Carlos, CA called "Vinyl Styles", and they are really good at wrapping cars in vinyl, similar to a clear shield that protects the paint, but in various colors. So, we bought a red/white Mini Cooper and had the new car custom wrapped in 3M Hot Gloss Pink Vinyl.

 It was a masterful job, with extra care taken to wrap the doors and other details so that the car looks like it was painted pink at the factory. The even better news is that the vinyl is removable, has a multi-year warranty, and if we ever want to take it off, the paint underneath will be like new! To top it off, since you can't get a Cooper with white wheels any more, we had the factory 6-spoke wheels powder-coated white. The car was a surprise for our daughter, and when she saw it, it literally took her breath away for several minutes. She still is amazed that she gets to drive the pink car she has been dreaming about since she was a child. As for me, I'm a bit jealous that she now has what is probably the most unusual car in the garage. The before and after shots are below.

It looks good in red, but I have to say, the pink looks terrific and the white wheels are the perfect accessory to complete the toy-car look.

FOLLOW UP: 3.5 years later, we removed the vinyl. Underneath the car's original paint still looks showroom fresh.

Sold the Oxygen Blue 2009 after 8 years, and the car was still perfect!