How-to: Burning a MINI to the Ground
A sad ending to a great car. Here’s what happened courtesy of AUSmotive.com:
>Ever wondered what happens if you drive your car over a mattress and just keep on driving? Well, wonder no more, as a thoughtful MINI Cooper S Cabrio owner has done the experiment for you.
>As you can see from the pictures the result is not pretty (there’s two more pics after the jump). The owner had not long collected the car from a western Sydney dealer when she reportedly drove over a mattress of some description. Not realising something was wrong she kept on motoring. Soon enough, though, there was a distinct smell of smoke. The driver pulled to the side of the road and within minutes her new car was in flames and just as quickly it was a smouldering wreck.
+ Beds are burning / AUSmotive.com
Coincidently, there is an Australian Rock band by the name of Midnight Oil that had a 1987 hit single titled “Beds are Burning” – I wonder if she was playing that song at the time…?
I could really use that fender.
@Demon Take a gander a the link title. 🙂 I made the same connection my self.
Now, my question is, how do you “not realize” something is wrong after you’ve driven over a mattress?!
The new ‘paint job’ actually looks somewhat cool.
@Rocketboy
I agree, but I think it’d get old after awhile. 😉
Fine, I’ll say it. Mini owner be damned, the universe just stepped in and saved us from another moron. How do you not know you drove over a mattress? Really!!?
Exactly, what’s worse is how could you NOT know there’s something stuck under your car that’s frictioning against the road!!
Damn! Was it a waterbed matress or a Sealy Postopidic?
Gap insurance? :o(
Was it a matress or a land mine?
Look closely, you can see the hood scoop melting!
I’m reasonably certain that my Mini Cooper S could not drive OVER a mattress. Push it along the road, maybe. And I’m sure I’d notice. Obviously the dealer’s fault (don’t they screen would-be Mini owners?).
Haha, nice to see the North American crowd picking up on the Midnight Oil reference. The lead singer, Peter Garrett, retired from the band, is now our Environment Minister.
Dealer’s should screen potential owners.
This makes the exhaust tip victims look pretty lucky. Do I hear another recall in the wings? ‘Clearance insufficient to drive over standard mattress without igniting car.’ Bet you could’ve gotten away with this in the R60.
Glad she wasn’t hurt.
It will be on ebay in a week. Anyone want to rebuild?
Buy the girl a beer & ask how it felt. She tied a cheating lover to that mattress.
Rocketboy:
A new optional paint scheme for Mini marketing to consider: Mini el carbon.
This obviously was caused by hot tailpipes.
Wow! I didn’t realize that Australia had such an over population of wild mattresses. I guess the urban expansion is encroaching upon their natural habitat. HOW DO YOU NOT NOTICE YOU DROVE OVER A MATTRESS?! Only reason I’m excepting, is that it was a very small mattress, like out of a crib or something.
This disaster could have been a lot worse. If it wasnt a convertible she might not have made it out of the Sunroof in time. Cuz, you know, if she was daft enough to continue to drive with a matress under her car she would have been daft enough to try to scramble out the sunroof 😛
Daft = Dumb, stupid.
She should be a smart beautiful girl and definitely most lucky girl of the world. When something going wrong in your life, you loose your concentration and such a thing could be happened. She should leave behind all the negatives of her life with the burned mattress and celebrate her new life.
Congradulations,
You are such a lucky girl, who survive this horrible incident.You should really appreciate your luck and live for a beautiful life.
There are many good things ahead including getting a new car and whatever that makes you happy.
What is WRONG with you people..always the first with the acid tongue – how about thinking how awful it must b for this to happen to someone…maybe Mini should screen their potential owners so nasty lame people like Shamus and Scott can’t drive around in such a gorgeous car …one would think a car could clear a mattress, and shouldn’t we be asking – what IDIOT leaves a mattress on a one lane highway exit?
Sh17 happens.
Driving on the freeways in California, I am sure I could easily find a mattress in the middle of the 101 on any given day. Coming from the east coast, I am still dumbfounded at how dangerous it is driving in CA just from the road debris alone! I’ve seen chairs, monkey wrenches, grass trimmers, ladders, ceramic toilets, pipes, a wheel barrow, and various pieces of lumber strewn across the lanes. I’ve been forced to dodge all of these (thanks to the MINI’s nimble handling) and drive over a number of sheets of plywood that appear in your lane when you’re motoring at 70 MPH flanked by pace-setting traffic. In most cases, I’d have no choice but to drive over a mattress were it in my lane. This is an everyday occurrence that I’d never have come across in all my years in Boston.
This driver is lucky she got out in time!
As the owner of the above burnt out mini, in my defense there was no way of avoiding the mattress, as it was in the middle of a single lane on-ramp to a freeway. I simply turned right onto the ramp and there it was. I have been in love with this car for such a long time and I have saved and worked extra hard to pay for it. It was very hard to watch it go up in flames….however it is a rather unusual story and certainly generates a few laughs when i recount it to my friends..
This article serves as an important reminder for MINI drivers to invest in a vehicle fire extinguisher and have it ready on hand just in case! PS: Remember to not lift the bonnet / hood if the engine bay is ablaze – slightly release the hood and spray through the front bonnet gap!
Woman drivers!