North American Motoring - My MINI Story

My MINI story starts in 2002 when my Dad and his Wife purchased a R50 in BGR right off the lot. It was 2006 during a visit when I got my 1st ride. Although I was in the back (they are both pretty short) I remember thinking that it was a pretty neat car. It was nine years later in 2015 when I 1st got to drive it. Dad has suggested a trip out to a local park. It was a beautiful summer day. Thoughts confirmed. It is a neat car.

It was October of last year when my Dad finally met a health problem he couldn't overcome. Their plan was to trade the MINI off on a new car for her earlier in the year but my Dad's frequent hospital stays put those plans on hold. In the end Paula (Dad's wonderful wife) decided to give me the car. She didn't think she could get much out of it (SES light issues) and the extra space in the garage would be useful. After arranging for a car transporter to haul it from the Midwest to Washington State I became Skadi's 2nd owner in January.

At 1st I felt a little uncomfortable calling myself a MINI owner since the car was just given to me. Seemed like that title needed to be earned.

Well, thanks to this forum the constant SES light is gone (vapor control solenoid was re-installed upside down) and Skadi has a new clutch (throw out bearing failure). The knowledge here and Mod MINI's YouTube channel has already saved me around $2000 in repair costs.

One last thing. The name Skadi was picked by me after making sure the car didn't already have a name. Right after the car was delivered late January we started to have a series of snowfall events in the lowlands of western Washington. It just seemed like the car brought the Midwest winter with her. Skadi is the name of a Norse goddess of winter and hunting. It just seemed to fit.