Greetings to all the fellow Mini enthusiasts!!!

This is an amazing site to be sure! You all definitely got it going on! It's a pleasure to be a part of the big picture! And so a word from our sponser...just kidding!
My name is Ricky Terrell, I like to sing and dance, and if you don't believe me, you can kick me in the pants! Now, with that said, LET'S TALK MINI!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmm...let's see...where to start??? OK, my first Mini, (true love), was a 1962 Austin Mini Countryman Woodie Estate Wagon Deluxe. That was 19 yrs. ago, and I've owned over a dozen of dem little critters since!!! Enter the new age Mini Coopers...oh yeah... you know which ones I'm talkin about! So honestly, I wasn't all too interested in dem new fangled contraptions, that is, until I went to the opening premier of the new "Italian Job" movie when it first played in Portland, Oregon! Me and the Misses had to take us a trip down to the local Mini dealer for a test drive! We talked about it and all on our way home that day, and then ended up scheduling an "extended" test drive on dem oh so windy roads! We discussed again the idea of seriously purchasing one, but we decided not to take the plunge at the time, understand, we were trying to do the mature thing.(yeah, whatever!) PLEASE READ ON.........
A short time after that, we both entered a contest at a local tire shop to win a trip for 2 to Hawaii. Grand prize was a brand new Mini Cooper 'S'! My wife didn't even want to get out of the car to go into the store to enter. It was dark out, freezing cold, and pouring down rain. I said she had to do it, although we'd never win in a million years, it is, afterall, a brand new Mini Cooper!
Less than 10 days later, she got a call saying that she was one of the (3) finalists chosen to try a key to see if it started the winning Mini! She called me at work to tell me about it. I was furious because I knew that the call she got had to be some stupid time share seminar where we were expected to drive down to the coast and sit for 4 hrs. just to win some stupid portable barbequer or a pair of tickets for a cruise ship somewhere in Florida that you had to spend $2000 in plane fare to even get too. WRONG!!!!! It was for real! We had to drive about a hundred miles one way to where the contest was being held that coming weekend at "American Tire" in Bellevue, Wa. Long story short...my Wifey got in that beautiful 'Electric Blue' 2004 Cooper 'S' with every possible option, (including nav.control), turned the key, and VAROOOOM!!!!!!!!! It STARTED!! And we are to this day, (3 years later), still pinching ourselves! We just turned 20,000 miles on the odometer, and have been having the time of our lives! I never believed that those people that you hear of that win a car were ever for real. Now I'm a believer! The Mini came out of the Concord, California Dealership Showroom. It booked out at over $30.000 with all the dealer add on fees, destination charges, etc., etc. The Vice President of the Tire Company was present to give away the Mini. It was called, "The Getaway, Giveaway Sweepstakes". After he signed the title off and gave us an extra set of keys, he says, "When we say it's free, we mean it's free", and proceeded to write us a personal check for $2,400 to pay for the tax and license!!!! That blew me away almost as much as winning the car! WOE!!!
OK. This really was a true story. We have the whole thing on film thanks to my son Ben, and we did share it with members of the 'Oregon Mini Society'. Our friends and family to this day have a hard time comprehending that we actually won this beautiful gem. WE have a hard time comprehending it ourselves. Out of the blue one of us will say, "Can you believe that we actually won a new Mini Cooper?!" What are the chances? It ended up to be 1 in 3000 for this particular contest. I found this out later on. Amazing!!!
Didn't mean to go on and on, but I figure it was a pretty good story to tell. We're just normal folks. We don't go around rubbing it in that we won a new car and all. Life goes on. But oh my, what a fun life it is driving the car of your dreams! It's so ironic too, that I've owned all these Classic Minis over the years! Good heavens man! Who knew!
If there was a 'Post Script" to this ... well ... it would have to be that we also own (2) other Classic Minis! A 1962 Austin Seven Mini Countryman Estate Woodie Wagon, (35,000 documented actual miles!), and a 1966 Morris Mini Deluxe, (from Australia). Both of these cars are wonderful, and we enjoy them ALL so much! The only thing we enjoy even more, are all the wonderful Mini owners that we've met over the years!!! It's always been my experience, that these cheeky little cars bring out the best in everyone, and they never fail to bring a smile to the face of a complete stranger, a pedestrian, a fellow motorist, a passerby, from the very youngest, to the very eldest. I'm glad to be a part of it all my friends! And I hope you enjoyed my story! Let's Motor fer sure!

MINIS FOREVER!!!!!!! Rick T.
aka Mini Estate

 

Welcome to NAM. I really enjoyed your story.

 

:impatient

WHOA NOW! That is quite a post, my friend. Welcome to NAM and the MINI/Mini clubhouse we've all created here! Love to see you post up some pix of your MINI and Minis!

 

Great story, welcome to NAM!

 

Great story and welcome!

 

Welcome!

 

Wow, cool story! Congrats on winning the MINI!

I must say, though, that I feel like winner every time I drive my MINI (and I have about 54 more EZ payments to go!)

 

wow, what a story, I had a 64 Mini classic as a teen in Ireland, I an retired now in Florida and I want another one. Mini R56 on order for april delivery.