Mines at the dealer! My MA sent me a preview, pick up tomorrow

 

The ship docks tomorrow at 1am according to the shipping information. That means the earliest the VDC gets to it is Monday. I'm hoping by next weekend I'll have it.

 

Hmm. I put my VIN in the WW site and it says Loaded on Vessel, ETA 4/3/12. I thought that when I did this back in February it told me it was on Torgutas. I'm not sure what it's telling me now.

The second status line says Received at Terminal, 2/29/12.
Status Location says SOUTHHAMPTON.

I emailed my MA but haven't heard back yet. Any thoughts?

 

It was quite a lunch hour.

I'd gone over to MINI of STL to buy just-after-break-in oil change supplies, and to check with my MA 1-1 about when my MINI might be ready. He'd had quite a morning, from finishing paperwork on two sales yesterday, and picking up a new owner from the airport this morning. So he had no schedule yet for me, and made a few phone calls to people away at lunch to see what he might learn. "More later", was all I could get for right now, other than: my MINI didn't arrive until very late yesterday, and nothing was underway...so a delivery on Saturday wasn't likely. Not a huge surprise to me, and it is what it is.

I shoved off, and headed back to the office, thinking I'd exit at Hanley Rd. off 40 to hit Lion's Choice drive thru for a couple sandwiches. As it turns out, MINI STL / Autohaus BMW (same owners) share a body shop on Hanley Rd. also, and new MINIs arrive there for 1st inspection. So it was not a total coincidence, just a lucky one, that when I was driving on Hanley I happened to see an shiny new Ice Blue / White MCS with Cooper stripes and a zillion window stickers driving in the opposite direction.

THERE IT IS!

Yes, my MINI in person...being transited from 1st inspection to their actual service center a few miles north to get his checkerboard and JCW kit installed. I managed a safe U-turn, then headed back to the service center where I'd just bought parts.

Spotted it right away...and took a couple of lousy phone photos:





Was hard to get a good front shot with all the other cars there...but it was nice to get to see my MINI "in person"! A quick inventory of what I could see showed it looked about "right": chromeline in/out, PB seats, colorline, and leather dash, all-season tires, 16" Rib Spokes, xenons. I'll be able to check out the rest soon enough

Mark the MA called me later: it's definitely next week, probably Tuesday. He said the JCW kit requires computer work (yes it does) that can sometimes take awhile, and there's quite a bit of work anyhow to just get the parts off/on. So they want to allow a good part of a full day for the JCW kit, plus the graphics guy coming to put on the checkers also. Plan for part of two days just in case.

Is ok. My MINI is here, in one piece, and in good hands. Will be *great* to finally take it home next week!

(And get some decent springs on the poor thing...it looks like a bread van with those 16's and that fender gap!)

 

THERE IT IS!

Yes, my MINI in person...being transited from 1st inspection to their actual service center a few miles north to get his checkerboard and JCW kit installed. I managed a safe U-turn, then headed back to the service center where I'd just bought parts.

Spotted it right away...and took a couple of lousy phone photos:

@ljmattox
I love it - you are a true stalker!! In the best sense of the word. Your car looks great. Can't wait to see it with the checkerboard. I love that color. Too bad they don't offer it on the Countryman, it would have been my 1st choice.

 

Looks good! I like the color.

 

That is awesome! Same colors as my car, I love the look!

 

ljmattox - I ADORE your Mini. We just purchased a silver countryman because we need the extra room, but while at my dealership I saw a mini close to yours and fell in love. Humm maybe someday I can come up with an excuse to purchase a friend for our countryman! Can't wait to see all your photos once it's in your hands.

 

This is what mine looks like for all the status updates and my car was on the Tortugas:

DELIVERED FROM PORT HUENEME, CA 23-03-2012 13:30:00 1
DISCHARGED PORT HUENEME, CA 23-03-2012 01:15:00 1
LINER RELEASE PORT HUENEME, CA 21-03-2012 10:56:34
CUSTOMS RELEASE PORT HUENEME, CA 21-03-2012 00:00:00
LOADED ON VESSEL SOUTHAMPTON 29-02-2012 09:48:00 1
RECEIVED AT TERMINAL SOUTHAMPTON 17-02-2012 17:05:00 1
BOOKED SOUTHAMPTON 17-02-2012 17:04:00 1

Not exactly sure what yours means. Maybe it isn't updated yet? When you put in you VIN, do you only get one record to choose from?

 

When I put in my VIN, the next screen shows 2 records.
The recent one, on top, says loaded on vessel, status date is 04-03-2012.
The older one says returned to shipper, status date 01-03-2012.

When I click on the older one, it shows the screen with Tortugas, but the Status Details say Returned to Shipper, date 01-03-2012.

When I click on the newer record, it says Green Bay for Vessel Name, ETA is 27-03-2012.

I take this to mean it didn't make it on Tortugas and now it's on a ship called Green Bay, so I'll get to watch another ship paddle over to Port Hueneme. Does that seem right?

 

That's lovely! I was really tempted to get Ice Blue, but I only saw one from a distance. When I placed my order they didn't have that color on the lot, so I chickened out. I would have gotten the white bonnet stripes, too.

I still really like ligtning blue. Well, and BRG. And Pepper White, and Chili Red. Picking a color was the hardest part. I'm glad I chose the white roof, that just says Mini to me.

 

That sounds similar to what took place with mine. I was originally suppose to be on the Jinsei Maru, but it said it was returned to shipper, and then it showed as being bookd for the Tortugas. The good thing is that it should have already left Southhampton and be close to the canal. You can click on the red voyage number link and it will show estimated arrivals of when it will get to a specific port.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the info. When I click on the red voyage number it says "this voyage does not exist". Maybe it can't be tracked right now?

(Patience, grasshopper!)

 

Here's the page for your ship:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shi...mmsi=367311350

Looks like it's through the Panama Canal and on to Port Hueneme.

 

Very cool! Thanks!

 

Great color, beautiful , nice choice.

 

Congratulations for those of you on the TALISMAN! Could you please post when you pick up your cars - and what extra modifications as well as your general location you are. I'm just trying to gage how long it will take me to get mine once my boat reaches port hopefully next week.

Thank you!!!!

 

At 7am tomorrow my husband and I will start our long trek up to Portland to bring Mini Z home. I'm nervous...like, first date nervous. What if she/he (have a name but no gender yet) doesn't like me? LoL

I'm just so stupidly excited!

 

LOL, well that spotting was *mostly* an accident...I was in true stalker mode Thursday after work, slowly patrolling the BMW bodyshop lot (with no joy). At least I knew where it was heading, that meant I didn't need to pull off a smoking-tire handbrake J-turn in my Mazda5

 

Thanks, yours will be in your hands soon...very soon!

 

Thanks so much! I'd built any number of MINIs on the configurator, disappointed that they didn't have yellow any longer. I never picked Ice Blue, and had tried black, grey, BRG, silver, Pepper White with checkerboard. That off-white with checks was my oldest "Mini" memory (from my autocrossing days in KC, where a nice one in that combination was very competitive).

We'd started Miata-replacement shopping last October, and narrowed quickly to iconic fwd cars with "verve": Turbo Beetle, Fiat Abarth 500, and MINI Cooper S. The VW store had a Beetle in this color, Denim Blue:



that stopped me in my tracks...just struck me as perfect, and channeled thoughts of *another* long-remembered autocross car, a VW, in what they called Zenith Blue:



We drove a Highclass Grey MCS on our first MINI trip, and got hooked on the handling, performance...well, you know. So then we went to cruise the lot looking at color combinations, turned the corner, and: dang, there's that blue again! They had a MCSa in Ice Blue/White (but black interior) and after I saw it, my MINI had to be Ice Blue. Very calming color...tranquil. Mine will never be a Menacing Mini, sporting Plastidip'd black trim, crouching on 18's ready to kill CRX's and so on.

And I like that it channels all those old memories for me. They had a color close to Ice Blue on the classic Minis, Iris Blue (from what I've read), like this:



Anyhow...Ice Blue? Yes, if it's your color, it's very gripping!

 

Ok, it's Saturday afternoon, 1:50 pm I have decided Its official. I am sick
of waiting... Ok I Know its only been 12 days since I ordered.

 

How'd the pickup go? Any new pictures of Mini Z? Mine should hopefully be to Mini of Portland next weekend.

 

OL says the 28 my car should be at my dealer!! hopefully its there a little earlier because im getting tint, and wednesday happens to be my only day off next week/weekend! has this date been accurate for others?

 

Well shucks, all the mystery is gone... my MA called and said Bob will be ready to pick up on Friday. Gee, no more wondering!

Interesting tidbit: He said that Mini is highly motivated to complete sales by the end of the month. So any cars that will reach the port 4 days before the end of the month, Mini will try really hard to get them to their owners. If your car is scheduled to be at the port on or before 3/27, they'll work extra hard to get it to the dealer. At least, this what he told me.