This Premier Padmini has been modified to look like the original Mini Cooper and we have to admit that it looks like Mr. Bean’s car, only in a shade of red. Simply stunning!
The Premier Padmini is another icon in the Indian automotive scene that was right up there with the Hindustan Ambassador. First, a little bit of history lesson about the Padmini. The Premier Padmini was produced in India bewteen 1964 and 2000. It was initially sold in India as the Fiat 1100 Delight but after a decade, its name was changed to Premier Padmini after a certain Rajput Princess from India.
This classic four-door sedan was originally based on the Fiat 1200 GranLuce Berlina and it rivaled the Hindustan Ambassador and the Standard Herald (google this car if you do not remember). The Padmini rose to great popularity in the 1970s and 1980s and was owned by a lot of celebrities of the time as well. However, the Premier brand soon ran out of its fortunes and the Padmini had to see its inevitable demise. Premier even tried to revive the brand by a sub-compact SUV called the Rio in 2009 but that failed too. The Rio was in fact India’s first sub-compact SUV.
The Padmini still lives on, on the streets of Mumbai and is fondly referred to as the ‘kali-pili’. The car is still hugely adored by enthusiasts, particularly for its design. A classic car does not get more Italian than this. We have brought you some modified Premier Padminis before but the one we have here completely blew away our minds. Already a classic, this Padmini has been modified to look like a British icon, the Mini Cooper. Except for its shade of red, doesn’t this Padmini already remind you of Mr. Bean’s Mini Cooper?
Also Read : This Modified Premier Padmini is Exactly How You Should Restore Classic Icons!
This Premier Padmini has been modified by Sun Enterprises and they have done such a stunning job on the car, its impossible to believe that this car started life as a Padmini. The entire rear section of the car had to be chopped off and even the rear doors had to be sacrificed. Of course, the rest of the body too received a major overhaul to replicate the iconic shape of the mini cooper. You can see the bulge at the rear of the car, suggesting where the boot might have been. The face of this Padmini however did not require a massive overhaul as it already resembles the face of the Mini Cooper from this era.
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The modifiers have then painted the car in a hot shade of red and added some stripes on the bonnet as well. The roof gets a matte-black finish and the dual-tone alloy wheels look super cool as well. The face also gets an all-black grille and new LED headlamps, giving it a resto-modded look. The exterior theme has also been replicated on the inside with a combination of black and red leather upholstery and the dashboard also gets classic dials along with a custom steering wheel. We are not sure if there has been any mechanical modifications under the hood but this entire modification job has costed the owner about Rs 8 lakh.
