March 27, 2014

Dateline Cape May, NJ  March 28, 2014

There must be something significant about this date, otherwise I would not be writing a page in my blog about it.  March 27, 2014 was the date that MINI USA opened registration for MINI Takes The States 2014.  The opening of the registration site was delayed and there was a lot of chatter on Facebook about the late opening.  Finally, the site opened and Rich got himself, Carol and me registered, we are ready to go.  The red line on the map below is my planned route to San Francisco, while the blue line is the MINI Takes The States route I will be following from San Francisco to Boston.  Rich took the picture, so don’t blame me if it is hard to read.

Carol was also busy; she told me that all the reservations for the hotels are now completed, except for two nights in Wisconsin.  What difference does it make to me?  They will be in a nice bed and I will have to give up my comfortable garage in Cape May to sleep in a parking lot under the stars.  I am getting psyched to get going on the adventure and stop planning. 

A Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dateline: Cape May, NJ   February 13, 2014

In my last posting I said that I would post pictures of me and my sister Salt ‘n Sand decorated for Christmas time.  Rich got sick and I tried to post the blog, however when I tried to type all my fat tires got was “werty or ghjkl” so I had to wait for him to get better to do this.  Salt ‘n Sand with her “thin” propellers could type her own blog, but I can’t, so I need him.  Don’t worry he only types what I tell him.

Well here we go.  Here is a picture of Mr. & Mrs. Claus taking me out for a ride at Christmas.  I did not get to deliver all of the toys that I wanted as Rich and Carol could not make the PhillyMini Deck the MINIs Rally, so I could not help the Clauses.   It was nice that they could stop by Cape May for a photo.

Salt ‘n Sand, my sister, was decorated for the holiday.  Here is a picture of her, she is pretty----but I am HANDSOME.

While Rich kept me in a garage since before Christmas I was able to see a really pretty sunset and Carol captured it with a camera.  I think it is pretty cool.

The Delaware Bay was full of icebergs a few days this winter.  Rich was able to capture this picture of the small icebergs at the sunken ship where the Delaware flows into the Atlantic Ocean.  In the distance you can see anchored freighters that are waiting to be lightened or their turn to go up the river.  The ice was not solid enough to prevent the navigation of steel hulled ships.  As a side note the Delaware River is tidal, so it was neat to see the icebergs flowing upstream when the tide was coming in. 

Rich and Carol are getting closer to their trip across the US to meet up with “MINI takes the States” in San Francisco and then drive to Boston.  They have gotten there route planned for the trip out west and have made most hotel reservations.  My view is that some sections of the route will be boring, but I told them to get their act together and find some alternate routes so that I can flex my suspension.  They went back to work and are almost getting there.  I will keep beating up on them so we can have a great ride.  REMEMBER “IF THE MINI IS HAPPY, THEY WILL BE HAPPY!”  They tell me that we will be stopping at some really cool places, Including Mt. Rushmore, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Sequoia National Park.  I will be traveling through 25 different States and two countries.  Rich bought a GoPro camera that he will mount on my front bumper so I can capture some video footage of the twisting roads that I will be traveling on. We will also be stopping in Milwaukee to go to the “MINI Meets West” Rally.

I Am Not Embarrassed

November 21, 2013

In my last posting I said that I would be embarrassed if the other male MINIs found out that I was going to have a bra installed.  Boys don’t wear bras.  The other morning Rich got me up early and said we were going to the Port of Baltimore to have me fitted for a bra.  I wasn’t happy but there was little I could do about it.  We got to the Port of Baltimore and Rich got me lost, all of a sudden there was an 18 wheeler in front of me and one behind me.  I am little and they are BIG, oh dear.  I said to Rich “Get me out of here, now.”

We finally found the right spot and Rich turned me over to a gentlemen named Whit.  Whit and I would become good friends for the 6 hours.  He told me not to worry, he would be gentle that he has fitted bras on Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and Lotus, and I should not be embarrassed by wearing one.  Whit told me that if Rich didn’t care for me and my paint he would not have spent the money to have it done, I am still not happy--- but. He took me to the place where Lotus’ are fitted.  He had gotten a custom fit clear bra from 3M.  He covered about half of my bonnet (hood to you Americans), my front bumper and outside mirrors; he did a really nice job.  He also told me that he is one of a few certified 3M installers in the area and that 3M will only sell the kit to certified installers. You can’t tell that I have one on.

To express my displeasure with the bra, the day after I got home I put an engine malfunction warning on my instrument panel.  I had to be towed to Mini of Mt. Laurel where a technician, named Mr. Williams, gave me an examination.  He decided that the issue was a computer glitch, there seems to be a fair amount of computer glitches going around these days.  He reprogrammed my computer, one, two, three, and all is good.

The PhillyMini group is going to have an event called Deck the Minis.  All of a sudden Rich and Carol are buying all sorts of things to deck me out.  They are very happy doing this.  My sister, Salt ‘n Sand (boats are always girls) is almost fully decked out and Rich told me her lights will be turned on this weekend.  She told me that for the past several years when she was decked out that she won the award for the best decked out boat in the marina.  In my next posting I will put a picture of me and Salt ‘n Sand.

More about me

November 12, 2013 or 11/12/13 

I have received a number of requests for some more detail pictures of what makes me, an Inspired by Goodwood MINI, unique from other MINIS.  Ok so here I go with those things that make me special. I would like to point out that these pictures are ones that Rich captured from MINIUSA’s internet site.

Here is a plate that is in my cockpit that says I am 1 of 1,000.

My scuttles, small name plates on the side of the car, state who I am.  With my doors open the word GOODWOOD is clearly visible on my door sills

The dashboard in me is covered in Rolls Royce leather, some of it is black so it does not reflect the sun, but the rest of it is Cowsilk beige.  My instruments have special lettering on them so they are different from other MINIs.  In this picture you can also see the cashmere headliner as well as the lamb’s wool floor mats.

No other MINI has wheels like mine.  They are like the sun with rays of light streaming out from center.

Here is a picture of the walnut veneer that is on my dashboard and door pulls, followed by my Cowsilk seats

Prologue

Hi! My name is Mr. Salt.  Let me take a few minutes and tell you about myself.  I was born in Oxford, England in April of 2012 at BMW’s Mini factory located there.  I was conceived in 1959 by a gentleman named Alex Issigonis, who later  became Sir Alex Issigonis, after Queen Elizabeth knighted him. He was knighted because of the little car he created the Mini.  Sir Alex’s Mini was the first modern car with a transverse engine, was the first three door car, not the first with front wheel drive but it made front wheel drive practical, and it introduced a whole new kind of suspension.  In 1959 the car was known as an Austin Seven or a Morris Mini Minor.  In 1999, the Mini was voted the second most influential car built second only to the Model T Ford.  There were nearly 5.4 million of these Classic Minis sold around the world that is until BMW ceased production of the car.  BMW redesigned the car and introduced it back into the world in 2001.  BMW made sure that the new design remained the tough little car that the Classic was and that the redesign still kept the same look.  The Mini was reintroduced to the US shores in 2002.

Well I guess that is enough history, now let’s talk about me. I like to do that.  I told you when I was born above, but I was born unlike the other Minis at Oxford.  Although I have to admit that almost all of the 2 million Minis produced at Oxford are unique, I am really unique.  What is different about me is that there are only 999 others like me in the whole world.  Oh, did I mention that BMW owns Rolls Royce and began their production of Rolls Royce models in 2003.  The Rolls Royce production facilities are located in Goodwood, West Sussex, England.  But, I’m digressing!  The reason for this background is that I am a Mini Goodwood.  Only 140 of the 1,000 Mini Goodwoods produced were shipped to the US, the rest went to the Middle East or China; I am also the most expensive model Mini ever produced.  But why was I expensive and why did I talk about Rolls Royce, after all I am a Mini.  BMW wanted to build a special model of the Mini.  They spoke with Alan Shepard of Rolls Royce and created a Rolls Royce Mini.  I have Rolls Royce paint on my exterior, which sparkles red blue and green in the sun.  I have Rolls Royce Cowsilk matched grain leather interior, no vinyl for me.  I do not have a sun roof because the heat from the sun would destroy my leather.  The dashboard and door pull wood grain panels are real walnut veneer, no printed plastic for me!  My floor mats are two inch thick real lamb’s wool.  The mat in my boot, “trunk” to you Americans, is real leather, no embossed vinyl for me.  My headliner is cashmere.  My wheels were only available on the Goodwood model.  My 4 cylinder engine is 1.6 liters, turbocharged and produces 186 hp.  The engine was manufactured by Peugeot in France.  You can see from below that I know my name because Rich put it on my license plate.

Ok so why I am writing all of this?  In January 2013 after sitting months on the showroom floor of Mini of Morristown this nice couple named Rich and Carol bought me.  I overheard the sales lady tell Rich that I was special and that I should become a “garage queen”.  Rich told her I would not be a garage queen but I would enjoy my life and be well taken care of.  I was not sure what that meant, but I had little choice in the matter so I went away with them.  So far it has been fun.  In May, 2013 Rich and Carol took me to a three day ride called “Minis on the Dragon” on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.  The road is 11.8 miles long and consists of 318 turns. Wow!, what fun I had going around all of the mountain roads there.  I said to myself; “This is what I was born for.”  Here is a picture of me on the Dragon, notice the motorcycle right behind me,

Rich and Carol joined a club called PhillyMini.  I get to see all kinds of my sisters at their meetings and rallies.  It’s always fun to see them again. 

Most recently they took me to Canada and left me in a parking lot for 5 days while they went on a boat cruise.  I was scared, because where I was left seemed to be the place where all of the local drunks went to hang out, fortunately no one bothered with me.  After I left Canada I went to Vermont for a rally sponsored by Minis of Boston.  There, I got to drive through more than 10 covered bridges.  Some were really old and a few were new.  I asked about the new ones and Carol told me that the bridges were replacements. The old bridges had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, as the water in the streams below them rose and finally washed them away.  It is really nice that the old bridges were restored as authentically as possible. I also got to drive on some mountain roads and saw pretty colored trees----since I was locked in the dealer’s showroom last fall; I had not seen them before. Here it is a picture of me emerging from one of the older bridges.

Rich has told me that I am going on a great adventure starting in June of next year.  I will be going across the northern part of the United States to San Francisco, CA.  Once I get there, I will be joining up with a Mini sponsored event called “Mini Takes the States”.  During the succeeding 15 days I will drive from San Francisco to Boston, with likely a few hundred other Minis.  Rich told me that during the 2012 event 300 Minis clogged the streets of Chicago, this sounds so cool.  Below is a map of the route that will be followed. 

Carol told me that the total trip will be some 10,000 miles long—I will need a rest after that, I spoke with my sister Salt ‘n Sand, whose picture is above, and she told me that Rich and Carol took her on a great adventure and it was an incredible voyage.  She was kind of angry with me because she said that since they will be taking me and be gone over the summer all she will be able to do is to sit in boat slip and wait for their return.

The other day I overheard Rich taking to someone about buying me a bra.  What a minute, doesn’t he realize that I am a male and I don’t where a bra.  Rich was nice to me, he took a few minutes to explained to me that since I am taking a long trip and it is likely that I would get stone chips on my bonnet, “hood” for you Americans, that the bra a clear plastic film would protect my paint from those chips.  Oh well I guess he knows what he is doing, but I hope that I will not be embarrassed in front of all the other Minis I will see on my trip.