This Mini Cooper is the World’s Slowest Plane

BOLD RIDE

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Posted by Zach Doell

 

 

In terms of having the coolest company car in town, this must surely rank near the top of the pile, somewhere behind the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and in front of the Red Bull can car. It’s quite obviously a Mini Cooper hardtop with wings, which makes it either the world’s slowest plane or most airworthy hatchback. 

 

Flight-readiness aside, this smile-inducing Mini Cooper could be yours. For some reason that escapes me, the owner has listed the winged Mini up for sale online. If interested, don’t spend too long at the gate, because this auction will close its doors and prepare for departure on Friday morning.

In the past, Delta Airlines has manned a small fleet of liveried and winged Mini Coopers, most opting for the standard white-and-blue design while others came dressed in the airline’s white-and-pink Breast Cancer Awareness color scheme. The listing would suggest this to be one of the latter designs, given its final image, though that isn’t confirmed.

Beyond the add-on wings, jet engines and rear section, it would appear to be an everyday 2004 Mini Cooper, which is to say a good thing. Showing 50,777 miles, the Cooper draws 115 horsepower from its 1.6-liter four-cylinder and positions those ponies at the front wheels, albeit via a CVT gearbox. Its cousin, the Cooper S, did one better with a supercharged 163hp.

In its day, the Cooper was good for zero to 60 mph in around eight and a half seconds. Not terribly fast but peppy enough. Keep your foot planted on a runway and you might even takeoff, though we don’t suggest trying.

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