Hello NAM, I purchased a 2004 R50 Cooper Hatchback in May of this year. It is a basically stock 5 speed with almost 139,000mi on it. I actually bought it from a family friend who runs a indie Mini shop in Worcester MA (Greasy's garage) and it is mechanically solid. It has a few cosmetic issues such as the hatch being wrinkly above the handle and the hood is completely shot (I think it had a bra at one point, lots of scratches across the width of the hood and a few spots where the paint has been completely worn through. It will have to be repainted at some point) but it has tons of character and I love it. It currently has a set of 16's from a Cooper S with Hancook Ventus V2 Concept 2's and I have a set of Blizzaks mounted on the factory 15's for the winter. I am slowly working on making this car mine. The factory stereo was replaced 2 weeks after I got it with a Pioneer head unit because the factory system was blown. I have the tray from a 2006 that I need to get around to installing in front of the shifter to give me some storage and I hope to add a pair of driving lights at some point in the future. Eventually I hope to set it up to run some rallycrosses but I don't have the funds for that right now so I am enjoying it as my little run about.

Here it is after its first bath a week after I got it.

 

Congrats on a nice find, and welcome to NAM! You have many years of grins ahead of you. Your color combination is the same as my '04 R53 I recently bought, but I don't have the cool Cooper side stripe.

Please stop by our site for all kinds of articles, videos and application guides for maintenance, service, accessory and performance upgrades for your R50. Don't hesitate to ask any questions, we've been doing this for over 40 years on the street and track!

Best you have some nice roads in Vermont to let her loose!

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Welcome, I think I remember seeing that down at Greasy's!

 

You probably did as it was the owner's (of the shop) daily driver and project car over the winter.

 

Welcome, and nice MINI! You're lucky to have a great MINI shop so close by, let alone being a family friend.

 

Some more pics for you. This is what I have on my phone right now, impromptu stuff.

This one shows the only real body issue other than the hood, a rather nasty crease under the tail light.






Fun shot of how you use a R50 to get to college:

 

Welcome to NAM and congrats on the purchase. Be sure to check out our tech articles on our site for any future fixes/repairs/modifications you may make. Those are some good winter tires, I've been running that brand for a decade. Even take them for some fun ice racing in the winter.