I’ll Never Not Be Fascinated By Add-On Car Trunks Like This One For An Old Mini

This is one of those things always catches my attention whenever I encounter it: the phenomenon of aftermarket add-on trunk extenders to cars with trunks, but not big enough trunks. I’ve written about these before, specifically ones for the Citroën 2CV and the Willys Jeep, where they’re referred to as “boot extenders” or, in the case of the Willys, “extension bodies.” All of these are basically some manner of bolt-on boxes or larger trunk lids that allow more stuff to be carried in a car’s trunk.

I think I like them because they’re precisely the sort of thing that your mind will conjure up as you’re trying to cram in something just a bit too large for the trunk and you’re desperately trying to close the lid. As you struggle, trying to squeeze something unsqueezable into too small a volume of space, I suspect your brain will bubble and percolate and come up with a vision.

A vision that may look something like this, if you’re trying to cram stuff into a Mini. Thanks to Lord Haydock for posting this gem:

Your friends will never notice ???? pic.twitter.com/E82Bau5GIi

— Lord Haydock (@MarkHaydock5) January 26, 2025

Now the interesting thing about Mini trunk extenders is that the Mini sort of had more trunk-related options than most cars in this very specific group. For example, here’s a 2CV boot extender:

You can see how the original trunk lid is incorporated into the design. The 2CV didn’t have an “official” way to cram more in the trunk by leaving the trunk lid open, but the Mini did:

If you look carefully there, you can see that the license plate is hinged so you can see it even when the lid is open, which is a nice touch. Of course, if you wanted your stuff protected from the weather, this won’t work. Hence the add-on trunk lids!

Now, this one advertised here, which seems to be known simply as The Boot, is interesting because it looks so much like at least two Mini variants one could have just bought new, the Reily Elf or the Wolseley Hornet.

Here’s the Hornet:

…and here’s the Elf:

If you compare these to The Boot add-on there, the look is pretty close:

That tacked-on boot looks a little bigger, even! I’ve hardly ever seen a picture of a Mini wearing one of these butt-extenders, which leads me to believe they weren’t terribly popular, but I’m just not sure. Cameras certainly weren’t as ubiquitous back in the day.

I think these are pretty fascinating, and there still seems to be some demand for this kind of thing among classic Mini owners to this day, or at least for one, since this classic Mini owner made their own boot-extender out of fiberglass:

Sure, it’s a bit less integrated and elegant than the vintage one there, but it’s not bad! The re-use of the existing bootlid is especially nice I think, as are the taillight repeaters in that little spoiler. The guy did a good job! And can now fully shove that rucksack in there!