I would like to apologize to my re-vin brothers, someone out there is silently praying for me or my Mini spoke to me as I adjusted it's brakes that my shouting from the rooftops doesn't make for quick friends. I suppose if I was running around in a car that I love dearly and who can blame you for that, and somebody was threatening that livelihood I would be quick to react to. We all break the rules, I have broken my fair share in a lifetime. I have been out of the Mini loop for about 12 years and it was taboo back in the 80's to have a re-vin at a meet, I see that times have changed and like many of you said there is no turning the attitude back. I will seek new subjects to talk about. Someone recently said to me about building the community and the more cars the better. Another comment was the newer cars are going to be by far safer than the 25+ year old cars. My beef was mostly with one man and one car and it was not fair without knowing the magnatude of the "trend" to import Minis that is filling a need to just go off without knowing you all better, I am such a fanatic over my Mini I find myself going to the garage just to look at it and if there are others that love their Mini like I do I would do my best to slap down anyone who compromised that relationship so I dont blame you for challenging me . With the onset of the new MINI there is obviously going to be a demand. And with the number of MINI/Mini clubs I would think together MINI/Mini owners could effectively call on our representitives to relax some of the laws for our micro cars. With the price of gasoline and the fact that the majority of classic Minis get 35+ MPG that not only is it energy efficient but puts less strain on the fuel supply making the Mini a "green" solution and a small stopgap in our need for fuel. I have 3 children and we go everywhere in our Mini, beats the hell out of any Dodge Minivan and takes less energy. I bet we could make alot of noise in Washington, and with the amount of Minis/MINIs we could fill the city in protest and a support to a bill.

Just a thought and I hope to smooth things over with anyone I might of offended or made nervous.

I dont change my postion but I can change my focus and work together so that I dont need to have a position to stand on, I would rather see SP Minis with their original heritage running all over the place and meeting their owners at meets here in the US. Wouldnt mind one myself!

Anyone with moderator authority can delete the thread I started and I will take a different approach and do my best to be more subtle.

 

Hey, we respect your opinion on the matter, even if we don't agree. I'm glad you wish to get along. As I said before, I'm sure your a decent guy. Likely we'll have a beer or "refreshment" together someday!

 

 

Very much +1!! Welcome to "Da Best Damn Mini/MINI Community On Da Planet!" and be sure to say Hi if you see me at a meet! ALso, thanks for your help in my rear alignment issue thread - helpful people are the backbone of this, or any, community.

 

Of all the people, your words, calm demeanor and obvious love for not only the Mini but the people and calling my feet to the carpet about ultimately destroying a car rather than saving it at all costs regardless of its real or altered heritage was more important than perusing a cause that would hurt rather than help.

 

I have yet to run into a single person on this board that does not passionately love their MINI or mini. Tempers flare around here quite a bit because all of us absolutely love our cars. We're all here because we share that in common.

If you keep that in mind when you read the posts on this forum, I think you'll find yourself understanding the other people here a bit better.

 

everyone here is like family.....we are all here to help each other out with whatever is needed....personal issues or mini issues, we all try to work together as a family.....i'm constintly on here helping people out, and i get the same thing in return, without any question

 

I'm sorry but I do not trust him at all.

 

What's to "trust"???

He apologized for his postings here, and that should be that.

Did you loan him money or something?

 

i thought it, but didn't say it...lol.......he's pretty much just wanting his outburst of his opinion, not so rendure his opinions in future threads.....fair enough....

 

Thanks Jeff and Norm...I have had every nut and bolt in my hands and have a wealth of experience that needs to be passed along. It was like waking out of a long slumber a bit groggy and having a moment where nothing makes sense at all and being robbed of your birthright to boot.. I will keep my opinions to other venues concerning this issue and Manuel and anyone else that have the same feelings, I am not looking to destroy anyone's life or car. If there is a trust issue it has nothing to do with me, but in each one of us and whether we made the best choices or not in our cars. I will take my fight outside these walls so I don't make anyone uncomfortable and I am really sorry that I caused anyone grief, because it has little to do with individuals and more to do with the car and it's future. I point no finger and judge no one. How can I blame or judge someone that loves the car I am so passionate about.

Norm.. what you do with the Mini is amazing and passionate. after you are done with your own car, drive it the next 30 years you will want to be assured that when you pass it off to the following generations that the integrety of the car is passed with it.That's all the more I will say, and Norm I use you as an example but know you already understand my passion, but there are others that have had newer cars with no sweat equity in it that have no clue why I yell it from the roof tops. Thanks for your kindness.

 

No prob......i understand your point, to a point...lol.....unforchanetly, it's impossible to change what has already been done (i.e: re-vin'd vehicles) it's important for people to know what they are getting, but if they dont it's their own fault for not re-searching (done with that subject...lol).....anywyas, i plan on keeping mine for a long while...i sacrifised my last one do to financial issues, but i owe this mini to myself and my finace' for all the restoration drama we have been through the last few yrs...lol.....not an easy task I have taken on with other people's vehicles, but i'm doing my best to keep the classic alive......i restore for the love of the car, i dont make much money at all, anyone who has requested a quote from me knows, that the price I offer for a restoration is mearly a portion of what it would cost to go to a shop and hope they do it correctly......!!!! KEEP THE CLASSIC MINI ALIVE !!!!

 

It's good to see us all getting along again.

I love my classic and fully intend to keep it till the day I die, then pass it along to my son, and or grandchildren.

 

Norm really is a wizard... One day perhaps I'll be able to afford his work. There literally isn't a week that goes by that I don't think "I wonder if Norm could do (whatever's in my mind that moment)?"

As for my "bastardized" Mini, I know that one day I'll be able to afford a "true" Mk1. Mini - I'm holding out for a proper Cooper S, crazy I know.

On that day, the day my destined Mk. 1 rolls into my garage, I look forward to selling Fiona to a new owner, one that, like me, loves the car but who can't afford a "true classic" Mini. I see this as honoring the spirit of Mini just as much as you, Mercy. All I really care about is keeping as many Minis on the road as humanly possible, and getting to know the always-quirky, sometimes downright insane people that love them.

 

I never really had an opinion on re-vin's until a recent car show I was at. My Mini is too, a re-vin, a 89 Mini 30 registered as an 82. When I take it out, I tell people it is just that, an 89 Mini 30. I'm proud to the fact that its a fairly rare model and its in great shape because its not even 20 years old yet. Whats irritating are people that have a Mini like mine, or a late 90s MPI Mini or something and its registered as a 60s or 70s and they tell people, judges, etc thats what it is, as most cant tell the simple differences. If its a re-vin, how about telling everyone what it really is (with the exception of the DMV or a highway patrolmen )

 

I tell Mini people that Fiona's a '92, but I tell random passers-by that she's a '76.

 

thanks for the complements .....re-vin or not, it's just the fact that their is such a love for them that people keep them alive by resotoring them and taking good care of them......hopefully they will be around for a long time to come...... ImagoX, you make it sound like you have to refinace a house to have me restore a mini....lol.....i'm very resonable priced

 

Oh you are reasonable, Norm, NO DOUBT... But I'm always on a shoe-string. That's why it took me forever to find a classic in my (very tight) budget and it's why I do so much of my work myself. But, it will hopefully be soon that I'll sell my house and get some bills paid off (or at least down), and when that happens I'll be calling you, fo'shizzle. At this point I'm seriously considering a full body strip-down, rust repair and repaint (assuming you can do metallic). My new Mad-Scientist idea is to do Fiona in Hot Orange inside and out (the same color as my dearly departed Nano) with black roof and all-black interior. ((drool)).

 

Thats what she said (sorry couldn't help it)

i love the burnt orange color with balck roof and interior

 

and yes i can do metallic's.....seattle mini was

 

PM me some pics of that, will you? And yes, it was the burnt orange metallic that broke the last of my crumbling will and goaded me to purchase my first MINI. I still love that color best of all (don't tell Dawn).

 

I have no desire to snitch people out for their Re-VINs, unless of course you are ignorant enough to try to sell it to me as something it is not. That is what set me off, someone on eBay (someone well known to others in the Mini community) posted a 90 something Mini on eBay and when I asked what part of the car was a 1960 they were very ignorant with me and treated me like I was stupid or something. I really had no idea of the illegal trend that has permeated the Mini community in the last 10 years. I know with my stand on the issue that people will be very nervous around me and especially if I am carrying the camera I own. I respect someone who is honest about what they have like ImagoX and yourself. I too hope I can pass on my Mk1 Mini to one of my sons.

I also agree that if you are in a show, passing your new car off as an old one is a huge slap and thumbing their noses at those who restore the old classics.

I just dont get it and no one has helped me see the light of risking it all for a car. There are a ton of 1959-1983 cars for sale here and in the UK that are more than legal.

The reVin owners that I have come in contact with for the most part are law abiding, tax paying citizens that just do it because it is acceptable and everyone is doing it. I want the experience of driving my Mini one that I dont have to worry about going to jail every time I get into it.

Did you know that DMV investigators carry guns? They have just as much authority to arrest you and haul you off to jail as any other law official?

Someone said that if the ReVIN police were going to attend meets ( I guess they were talking about me) that they wouldnt come. If I were a meet coordinator I would ask that they dont regardless, if I were a parts house I would not sell parts in the US to cars that arent suppose to be here, or at least not without some type of special title allowing them here legally.

It is amazing to me that no matter what I do or say about it I am told to just shut up, the folks that are like minded secretly email me browbeaten and their lives and family lives threatened and submissive to the pressure the "Mini Community" has put on them to be quite about it.

Bottom line is it is about money and playing to the pleasures of people willing to take risks. It is risky enough getting in and driving a legal Mini, you take your life in your hands every time you do, you shouldn't have to worry about your freedom or the chance of the car being found out and crushed.

Please note, I am not condemning anyone, pointing fingers, saying anything about anyone's character, if you respond to me there is no need to get personal.

 

He might be easy on the wallet.. but reasonable?.. Just Kidding Norm..