This Mini Cooper Turned Into a Rolling Winamp Skin Is the Ultimate 2004 Build

I have some very fond memories of the year 2004, as well as some not-so-fond ones; it was my freshman year in high school, after all. Being the nerd that I am, I’m especially nostalgic for early-2000s racing games and PC modding. That’s probably why this 2004 Mini Speedster concept from Alpine—the stereo equipment company, not the one that makes sporty Renaults—speaks to me. Just look at it! It’s basically a Winamp skin on wheels.

Alpine’s Speedster show car came out seven years before Mini unveiled the Roadster, its own convertible, two-seat sports car. The Speedster was based on a normal Mini Cooper S, but Alpine decided to turn it into an audio tech showcase to highlight all of the company’s then-state-of-the-art in-car entertainment equipment.

Amusingly, the Speedster has a central seating position like a McLaren F1, with a steering wheel that looks like a melted Formula 1 wheel, but that’s where its driver focus ends. The central seat is flanked by six GPS head units, and this contraption might hold the world record for the most uncomfortable manual shifter placement of all time, situated northeast of the wheel with the top of the lever facing the driver. I’m also not sure if that seat’s actually designed for the human anatomy, as it looks like it was plucked from the Cenobite world in Hellraiser.

Looking miserably uncomfortable isn’t the seat’s only party trick, though—it’s also built onto a track that slides backward, along with the entire rear end of the car, for no apparent reason other than “why not?” When it’s fully extended, two massive afterburner-looking subwoofers are exposed, at the expense of the driver now no longer being able to reach any of the vehicle’s controls. Inexplicably, there’s also a GPS head unit mounted on the rear end of the car. Why? Is it for the car behind you, so they know where you’re going, too?

To complete the Winamp skin vibe, the entire car is covered in a lightning-themed livery over a color I can only describe as “dollar store sunglasses blue.” Per an old Carsales story, it was reportedly painted by an artist who also worked on 2 Fast 2 Furious.

If someone were to bottle every theme of early 2000s design, pour it into a pan, and reduce it down like a Michelin-star chef, this Alpine Mini Speedster is what you’d get, for better or worse. It was even briefly featured in an episode of Entourage, because of course it was, and won Best in Show at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show. Look closely at the interior, and you can see Project Gotham Racing 2 running on two of the car’s LCD screens. We really didn’t know how good we had it back then, did we?

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