David Brown Mini Marshall Edition

It’s quite hard to find subjects to write about during the April Fools’ Day period; suffice to say that when news of a David Brown Automotive collaboration with Marshall Amplification began to appear with what looked like an integrated Marshall amp, I was less than convinced. Though the images did look to be portraying a very nice car, and with the promise of an announcement of further news within the next couple of days, I kept an eye on things. That announcement came and it appears that the David Brown Mini Remastered Marshall Edition is indeed fact…

You don’t have to be musician to know that Marshall has made high quality amplifiers with a unique sound for a long time. From Jimi Hendrix through Angus Young to Noel Gallagher, Marshall’s reputation for quality remains as strong now as it ever was. A collaboration with David Brown was probably a pleasurable, self-guiding thing to embark on; after all, Marshall’s unique colourways would provide a lovely colour palette for DB to work from – and both products have grilles and plenty of buttons.

The highly respected automotive retro-design company has come up with something that looks classy and pure luxury to celebrate Marshall’s 60th anniversary. David Brown Automotive describe this as the most iconic Mini Remastered model that they have ever produced, and naturally enough, there will only be 60 units produced.

Mini has enjoyed a long history with the music industry; a brief dig into the archives and you will find a rich legacy. The Beatles had their own flower power Minis custom designed by Harold Radford Coachbuilders, and individual members drove more standard day-to-day Mini models, as did Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull and various other musical luminaries of the swinging sixties.

Two things were going to be pretty obvious with this collaboration – the dashboard knobs would look similar on both the Mini and the Marshall amp, and so what we have ended up with is a dashboard that sits resplendent in old-gold, knurled knobs and satisfying old-school toggle switches. In fact, it’s safe to say that David Brown hasn’t been shy of adding satin gold touches wherever they feel they can – even the foot pedals are in the same rich aged shade of gold. Inside, door handles are gold and there is a gold surround to the door panels. Gold Marshall logos are beautifully stitched into the seating as well. On paper it sounds almost Louis 14th style opulence for a car, and yet it really does work well.

The Marshall Mini has a gold grille rather than the expected grey or usual black of the amplifiers, and the Marshall logo sits low on the Mini doors with a gold go-faster stripe underlining the text. The heavily retro-styled 12-inch alloy wheels are painted in a shiny Marshall Black and Marshall Gold while gold brake callipers peek out from behind.

Being a Marshall Mini, it would be expected that the two companies would consider the latest in entertainment tech carefully. Along with keyless start/stop, the Mini gets an infotainment integrated touchscreen and an 8-speaker system – courtesy of Marshall engineers of course. The rear boot is lined with leather and designed to snugly house a Marshall DSL1 combo practice/studio amp as well (the images of which previously looked like the aforementioned integrated amp!).

LED lights keep the view ahead clear and electric windows are further modern touches on this retro classic Mini for the modern music lover. Engine wise, we have a 1,330cc A-Series colour coded engine and a 5-speed manual gearbox. Top speed is around 90mph and 0-62mph is within 8.9 seconds. It’s a fine-looking car and if you need any extra temptation to splurge what is at present an unknown amount to secure one, the fact that each vehicle sold will mean that Marshall and DBA give a donation to the Music Trust Venue, who are working to keep the British independent scene alive following the pandemic, might be an incentive.

Images: davidbrownautomotive.com