Background Info
Kenny Ortiz, a recent college student working on his degree in Criminal Justice at the State College of Florida in Bradenton FL. Kenny is a Florida car lover and a proud enthusiast. Being around toxic car enthusiasts, he grew to learn that negativity never helps the car scene. Kenny’s biggest goals at DrivnBye is to spread positivity around the car scene and make sure everyone feels welcomed!
Big Dreams Mini car | May-April 2023
During my high school junior year, I had nothing but an old Chevy Impala with about 130,000 miles on it, it wasn’t the best car but it gave me a good solid year so I could go to work and school. At the time I originally had a plan to create my own car brand, one that everyone could enjoy so they feel welcomed and safe. Being a high school student, I had NO idea what to start off with considering I was new to the “Business” side of the car scene. After graduating the idea ended up dying off into what I believed was my stress and life schedule. A couple months later in July I stumbled upon quite an interesting TikTok which was my first DrivnBye video I’ve ever seen. Originally the owner was looking for a marketer, I was that guy he needed along with some other marketers now working to finish the app everyone has been patiently waiting for.
The R56 Mini Show Car
It all pretty much started when I made a pretty inconsiderable choice back In April of 2023 I ended up blowing a rod in my impala it went straight down breaking all my internals and leaving me stranded on the road. (God bless my mother for helping me by taking me to work). A couple months pass by and while my budget wasn’t what I had in mind I had plans for a Mustang but due to my situation I couldn’t have that. I went to a dealer 20 minutes away from my house and what better way to go buy a car than buying a 2008 Mini Cooper at a Mopar dealer. Bought the car right off the lot for 12 grand and 23,000 miles on it I felt lucky to have that kind of deal. Since May of 2023 I’ve been working so much on this car and I decided I should build a modern looking R56 considering it was a base model and it was mainly good as a show car while I wait to get the next car to work on.
The more I drove this car the more I loved it. I used to hate minis for how they look because they just looked weird to me at the time. The journey I’ve been on with this car is beyond amazing. I turned an old car into something that looks more modern.
Parts Added
- Vors TR4 17×8’ wheels with 225 Vercelli tires
- Spec D Mini Cooper Projector Headlights
- Genuine Mini Mini Cooper S spoiler (ECS Tuning)
- Kill all chrome, chrome delete kit
Final touchups are going to happen such as a new exhaust and intake as well as coils but there’s a chance that might not happen considering it’s a BMW N12 engine so we’ll see where that goes.
My Mission?
Here at DrivnBye my main mission is to ensure that anyone in the car scene I meet feels welcomed and valued no matter their build or what they drive. To me it does not matter if they have a car or not because I was once like that, just a kid enjoying cars and not having one. Throughout the year I have met so many Mini owners and I’m deeply happy I have met them. The Mini community is purely amazing people making a small car on the road look absolutely amazing or pushing it to 300 Horsepower which is quite a lot for a small car like that. My mission at DrivnBye will always remain the same whether someone likes my car or not that’s okay because everyone has opinions. My biggest advice to you as the reader of this blog is to keep doing what you’re doing, you will get hate, you will get shade, you will get made fun of for having the build idea you have and that’s normal nowadays in the car scene. But keep pushing to finish that build because I know it’ll be worth it in the end.
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