ZED’S NOT DEAD, BABY

he spectre of the Z Car looms tall in modified Mini folklore. These tearaways have been ripping up the Leyland rule book for years, scything holes in shells to stuff superbike engines in, chucking grunt to the rear wheels, and generally living like there’s no tomorrow. This brand has always been the punk of the Mini scene, the counter-culturalist, the outsider… and yet today, quite unexpectedly, the brand has grown up. The two cars you see before you, in a worldwide exclusive, represent Z Cars’ new dawn. A forthright step into the future, taking all that people think they know about these outlandish machines and refracting it through a premium lens. Imagine a restomod in the vein of a Singer 911 or Alfaholics GTA and you’re not far off, although the key here is to respect and cherish the legacy: Z Cars buyers aren’t the same lot who’ll want (or be able) to drop six figures on a David