While waiting impatiently for my Mini to be "born" (currently in production), I had a thought.

In the owners lounge seems like there's a lot of talk about our Mini's being in the birth
canal... waiting to be born... having a birthday etc; . So my idea is this:

The Oxford plant manager should have someone (or an automatic camera) take a picture
of each Mini as it rolls off of the assembly line. Match the Vin with the photo, and then post
it on the Owners lounge for all to see.

Who wouldn't want a baby picture of there Mini ?

In the greater scheme of things , wouldn't be that expensive to do... and think of
the goodwill and excitement it would cause.

I know I'd show it off to my coworkers and friends ...
I mentioned the idea to the fellow I spoke to at Ask Mini this morning.
He said he liked the idea and would pass it up the chain of command...

 

GREAT IDEA!! I'd even pay for the pic!!! I think this needs to be stickied and a Vote should be taken, then they will surely have to do something like this for the publicity if nothing else.

 

Inspired by the little manufacturing documentary on the MINI website, I thought maybe putting a time-lapse camera on the line aimed at your car and providing a dvd of your car's construction for a nominal charge would be easy to manage.

 

I thought it would be cool to even just have an online webcam at the different "stages" in the plant. I know how everyone is always watching the dock webcams and speculating if their ship is on the horizon ... imagine how much more fun it would be to speculate if that's your Mini going through the line at that moment!

 

When the 1st Gen cars came out, some owners were able to download a video of their car being built. It was a limited number if I recall correctly; 200 seems to stick in my mind. But you got to see the whole thing, start to finish of your very own car. Part of their promotions introducing the Mini here in the States.

 

With a simple RFID you could track your car all the way through the plant.

I guess the auto workers union might complain having web cams all over the place. Big brother watching Mini assembly!

 

I agree, while this is a cool idea and has been done for a one-time promo, who wouldn't want the MINI employees who build our babies to be as happy as possible? I know I would much rather not be on camera all day at work.

They could still do the original idea though, and take just one pic of each car.

 

seriously if there was a camera here i'd obviously be fired for the amount of work i'm not doing right now. but i just want to see the car roll through. i like the baby picture. it is simple and inexpensive. they wouldn't even need to print it they could just make it available on line.

 

can you image how great it would be until they screwed something up!!! I can see me screaming at my computer screen "wait what are you doing!!!"

Then we have mini owners calling the assembly plant asking to speak to the workers becasue they saw the workers ID badge on the picture!! "Can I talk to Dave in upholstery, I not liking the stiching on that back seat...."

 

They could so does this easily and they should have a way to view the pics and when take delivery you could pick up your pictures from the dealer

I would so pay for "baby" pictures of Wednesday...and Im sure there are many more of us that would.

 

Or when YOUR car is pulled from the assembly track because it's failed one of the stage quality checks and needs a belt with a hammer (joke!) before it can move on?

I can't see any manufacturer wanting the world to watch that - far less the actual customer for the actual car. (Nice idea though!)

 

Just like in a normal delivery, I'd have no interest in video of all the
drama that goes on during the birthing process.

What I want or think is a good idea is something more like this:

Picture the end of the build line. Organized, neat, all the drama has
occurred somewhere further back in the building. ("where's the big
hammer... this darned anthracite SHOULD fit!!!")

Instead, we have a nice , shiny (and happy... see , it's smiling) new
Mini being introduced to the world by a hopefully photogenic British
factory worker.

The camera can be such that the background is a bit of a blur. No
other workers need have there feelings hurt or paranoia that big brother
is watching kicking in. Just a shiny new Mini, and maybe a nice buxom
British lass giving it a final quick polish <g>. (Nurses uniform optional...)

Ok... maybe we could do without the British Lass. Substitute the proud
factory worker sending another Mini out into the world.

Good idea for an ad campaign... or just to make us owners feel "special".

Would be relatively inexpensive to do... and think of the publicity...

 

Cool idea. Reminds me of the way Cabbage Patch Kids were made.