I feel your pain... just a little while longer!

 

My MINI is onboard the 'Toreador' they have left the Spanish coast and are now heading out into the open waters of the Atlantic... at 17.3 knots... they need to go faster!

 

Yay! I paid the $15.44 for satellite tracking so I could see the boat all the way.


I heard from the dealer a couple hours ago that my MINI should be ready for me to pick up FRIDAY OR SATURDAY! OMG!

 

YAY for you!

I'm too much of a cheapskate to pay the $15.00 fee after spending $30,000 for the MINI, LOL but I'm really trying not to drive myself bonkers on this wait... I just keep thinking to myself "soon... soon." Working 7 days a week (not counting this 2 days off for the holiday helps give me something else to focus on for 8 hours a day then its back to thinking "MINI MINI MINI MINI..." I have run out of youtube videos to watch, I think I will have to put a few together on my own to show off the MINI awesomeness...

 

How are you tracking the Toreadors speed and actual position in The Atlantic?

 

My F55, "Maximo II", was born today in Oxford England. Happy birthday Maximo II!

Now the only question is how long until he sets sail.

I looked at some older "similar VINs" to mine - other F55 Cooper S manual cars destined for the USA, and a few cars that were built on 5/20 were already loaded. One car built on 5/25 was loaded actually. But then there were some that were built on 5/13 and not loaded yet. So I could be lucky and be on the high seas in 5 days but it likely wouldn't be the case.

There's a ship bound for Galveston leaving on June 6 (via NYC, Baltimore, Charleston, and Brunswick). If I miss that ship the next one is June 16. What are the odds I make the June 6 ship? Since not many cars are bound for Galveston, do you think they'll make the extra effort to get me out, or probably just make me wait?

 

I am tracking it from marine traffic.com, but it has been out of tracking range for over a day and I'm not willing to pay the $15.00 fee to track it by satellite. It is still expected in Baltimore in 4 days so I'm happy with that.

 

Heard from the MA today that my MINI arrived at the dealership today (they said it would be in tomorrow, but I'd be surprised if they didn't pad their times a little). I'm picking up my MINI from the dealer Friday at Noon!

 

Woohoo! So it was 7 days from delivery at the VDC to dealership?

 

Awesome! You'll have to share all the details on your MINI delivery experience with those of us still waiting :-)

 

Congrats Scubagal! How far was your VDC from your delivery point? My car should arrive and be unloaded from a ship about 40 miles from me, so VDC to dealer is super close. I hope it isn't more than a week wait from the VDC to the dealer!

Mini just told me today that my car is on the carrier on route to Southampton, and I am guessing it will go out on the Resolve on 6/6. Anybody else think their car might be on the same boat as mine?

 

Will do!

 

My MINI arrived at the VDC in So. California on Friday. It arrived at the dealer near Seattle, WA yesterday, so only five days, and Memorial Day was in there to boot! It's about a two day drive from that area to Seattle. Oh, and the OL still has my car status as "at VDC"...

I hope your car doesn't end up sitting in Southampton for two weeks like mine did. I've spent the last five-six weeks reading over posts from others who finally got their MINIs, feeling like it was NEVER GOING TO GET TO ME. Can't believe I'm less than 24 hrs from finally getting her!!

 

Actually only 5 days from VDC to the dealer. I'm really surprised at how fast it got through that process.

 

Nice! Should have mine within the week, as its only a 3 hr drive from Baltimore to Richmond, assuming it still arrives in Baltimore on this Sunday. Guess I better start reading the owners manual...

 

So I have decided that once Nigel arrives I am going to put him to good use in filming some good MINI videos to excite people on the MINI experience.... The last 2 months of waiting have taught me that there is a very limited supply of good MINI videos online to keep myself excited during the long delivery waiting period. Ive gotten pretty good with being an amateur filmmaker with the wonders of iMovie and FinalCut so I think I can come up with some good stuff... I'm already beginning to piece together titles and music from the opening title to 2001: A Space Odyssey (Otherwise known as "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Strauss) I'm thinking "Cooper: A MINI Odyssey" and big, epic, cinematic, but perhaps a bit fewer lens flares that JJ Abrams might prefer...

Really basic stuff without any car pictures, b-roll footage, and other content to fill in all the blanks. Im thinking of using this theme for opening the door, seeing the MINI's 'heartbeat' pulsing, the ignition glowing, putting my foot on the brake, the ignition lighting up brighter, pressing start and seeing the car come to life, nav screen, speedometer, heads-up display rising,headlights on, brake lights glowing, and the car is ready to motor! All in about 90 seconds...

All feedback and suggestions are much appreciated.... I have probably another 7-10 days until I get to take delivery, so I have time to work out camera angles, photo shots, etc in my head between now and then, and please check out the other videos on my youtube channel too :-)

 

Please do! The wait is killing me and I need more videos!

 

The Toreador has updated it arrival status in Baltimore back to Monday, 6/6. Oh well, not like much would have happened on Sunday anyway.

 

Picked up "Lady Vivienne" yesterday afternoon (she is beautiful and I will post pics in 1st gear soon). It took a couple hours for the MA to go through all the "stuff" with me before I finally got to drive away. Its about a 60 mi drive from my house to the dealer so I got to experience the feature where it feels like the engine shuts off when you're at a light A LOT (I-5 between Seattle/JBLM is BRUTAL, especially on Friday afternoons). I think I like that feature even though there's negative stuff written about it.


Anyway, after finally getting home and regrouping a bit, picked up the Best Friend to go for a little drive on a windy road and check out "sport mode". We were thinking of going to "That Dairy Queen in Raymond" for a celebratory peanut buster parfait and had left the 25 mph zone in Pe El (yes, that's a real place) when I notice flashing lights a ways behind me. I stopped in the first wide spot I saw and, sure enough, the Marshall stopped too. Apparently I thought the city limits ended before they did. I had really pegged Vivienne at 45 mph in the 25...


SO, I got my first MINI and my first speeding ticket in my MINI within the first six hours of ownership. Yesterday was one of the best days of my life!

 

Scubagal, my F56 BRG/W S is in the birth canal in Oxford. I ordered her from Northwest MINI and am so excited to start tracking her.

Congratulations on your new baby and I hope you post some pictures soon. It's fun to see another PNW member on here. I can't wait to take her out on all the wonderful twisty backroads we have around here. And, I feel your pain on the JBLM I-5 traffic. What better way to endure that than in the MINI, though:-)

 

Yay! Another "local"! Just do NOT speed through Pe El... I didn't realize Pe El has a reputation as a speed trap (BTW, the city limits extend to beyond the bridge if you're traveling towards Raymond...)!

 

Thanks for that heads up. The Olympia to 12 to 101 Raymond to 6 (Pe Ell) loop is so fun. I would never have known Pe Ell was a speed trap

 

I didn't either until yesterday!

 

I guess a 'congratulations' are in order for your speeding ticket scubagal? :-P Can't wait to see some great pics!

 

Also, I did some rough-storyboarding on my first mini video, all the pictures and photos are just stuff grabbed off of youtube until i get my own MINI and can do a lot of shots and filming on my own in HD, but i think this gives an idea of what I am aiming for... still a few seconds of blank video with music towards the end but I really like the closing tagline... inspired by the end of Star Trek: The Motion Picture...