A Hove car company has taken more than the covers off its first

product - it has taken the roof off too.

The Bespoke Car Group thinks its convertible version of the Mini One, launched by BMW in October, is the first of its kind.

And it is using its web site to the market the car to the legions of Mini fans around the world.

The company, founded last May, had originally planned to rework both Volkswagen Beetles and Minis into convertibles but decided to focus on the revamped Mini when Volkswagen announced its own plans for a convertible Beetle.

Although BMW plans to launch a two-seater drop-top Mini roadster in 2004, Bespoke's car is a four-seater and has been available since the beginning of this month.

Managing director Adrian Archer said the company had chosen the Mini because it was "fresh and we thought the sort of stylish people who would be interested in the hard-top might be interested in a convertible version."

The company placed an order for a Mini One last May and took delivery of one of the first cars in the country in October.

It worked closely with coachmaker Trimmania, which is based in Reading, and has experience of customising vehicles from four-wheel drives to limousines.

Mr Archer said: "We have definitely chosen the right time to develop the car.

"Now the sun is beginning to shine, people are taking their soft-tops out again. People are thinking it's a nice way to spend a sunny day and maybe they should have a convertible too.

"Obviously, we are hoping our Mini is the car they're looking for."

He said the car lent itself to the conversion because of design features such as frameless door windows.

But there was more to designing a convertible than simply lopping the roof off.

The firm had to ascertain the Mini's suitability for conversion. The results were encouraging and showed the chassis was one of the strongest in its class.

Mr Archer said this made it clear BMW had other variants in mind when it designed the car.

Despite this, additional strengthening was req-uired to maintain the desired rigidity, including adding reinforcing bars to the undersides of the car and strengthening the interior.

The fixed, rear windows were replaced by retractable, electric ones and the boot was re-engineered.

Instead of a hatchback, the convertible uses a downwards-opening system similar to the original Mini.

Mr Archer said this helped retain the smooth lines of the hard-top Mini.

He said: "When we decided to copy the system used on the old Mini, we found the original hinges were a perfect fit for the new car, so that's what we've used."

To help fund the lengthy development cycle for the vehicle, Bespoke set-up a car finance business, which has been boosted by new legislation covering company cars.

The company is using its web site, designed by Haywards Heath-based Brand Media, to promote its cars.

The site provides further information about the various options and Bespoke can either order a new car from BMW and then convert it or work on an existing car.

Mr Archer said most of the inquiries about the car had been received by email.

He said the company also planned to use the site to publicise a car-importing business and, possibly, quality used-car sales.

Convertible versions of the Mini One and the Mini Cooper are already available from Bespoke and development on the Cooper S convertible will begin later this year.

www.bespoke-car.com