Mini flash drive

This Mini sure does drive...err, yeah. It's a USB flash drive built into a Hot Wheels model of a Mini Cooper. I saw some various mods using USB drives, such as a PEZ and Lego drives. I think I remember reading something about someone who made a drive fit into a Hot Wheels car, but I don't remember where. I saw this Mini sitting on my shelf, and figured, hey, I'm never gonna use it for anything anyways, so I might as well put it to use.

This was really pretty easy to make, and I didn't plan out one bit of it, so there's not really a good how-to. I will explain how I did it, though. First, I drilled out the rivets that hold the bottom of the car to the body with a drill press. Once those were out, I separated the two and cut off the front end with a Dremel and cutting wheel attachment. I then cut the bottom piece in two, in line with the first body cut. I had decided to use the cap that came with the drive in the mod somehow, because it makes a nice friction fit with the USB plug, so I could be sure the front end wouldn't fall off. I ground down the cap as small as possible without ruining it and slid it into the cut-off front end. The car needed some modding as well, because there were various structural supports that prevented the cap from fitting in. I just ground down all the extra pieces of metal sticking out so the car was completely hollow. Once the cap was glued in with hot glue, I could move on to the drive case. This part was probably the easiest, as all I had to do was glue a bit of balsa wood the correct thickness to support the USB drive. Then I glued the drive to the wood, and re-glued the body onto the bottom piece. Finally, I cut out some foam that was left over from my iPod dock to put over the opening to hide the interior workings. I also cut some plastic from a clear report or paper cover and covered the top of the circuit board with it to prevent dust from getting in.

mini cooper flash drive
mini drive front view