Hey folks !

I'm back ! wow, two weeks is a long time away, especially when you have no email capability.

I was in Rome for just a few hours (at the airport) but did get to see my first MINI "ONE" and also a Fiat500. When I arrived in Cagliari, Sardegna I was blown away to see a MINI dealership there with a better selection than any of our dealers ! Guess the Italians aren't buying them up as quick as we are !

Sardegna is really beautiful, the roads, well, I really wish I had been able to rent a MINI while I was there, unbelievable ! just perfect for our little cars ! and SMOOTH ! potholes ? what potholes ? Unfortunately, I was unable to even have a car, relying on the other members. I did get a chance to zip around, if you call it that, in a Ford diesel, and drove an Alfa 159 around the airfield. The guy I was working with seemed impressed with my driving of the Ford, I told him he needs to ride with me in Wensleydale ! Hah ! also, I saw my first diesel MINI here too.

On to London, now if you folks are getting irritated by all the new MINIs on the road and lack of "uniqueness" due to the increased sales, you wouldn't want one in London ! They are absolutely freakin' everywhere ! I mean you see two or three or four of them at a light ! Very very very popular car over there ! Most popular colors I saw were silver, BRG, black, white, red and then the blues. I only saw one Space Blue like Wensley but I'm not even sure it was, might have been black with silver roof, it was really dirty. No real exotic MINIs though I did catch a glimpse of a GP from one of the pubs I was having lunch at. Most MINIs were Coops, strangely, many of them with 17" S-lites fooling you into thinking they were an 'S' model.

As for other exotics, Ferrari, Lotus, Astin, TVR, Lambos, AMGs, you name it, I probably saw it.

I'll have pictures up later today or tommorow, still trying to catch up and also get back on the clock.

Checked another dream off my list as well, got to fly a WWII vintage Tiger Moth for about 20 minutes over the English countryside ! Sweet !

This is the plane:



Looking forward to a run soon !

Cheers,

Mike

 

Welcome home!

 

It sounds like fun! Glad you're back home.

 

Welcome back.

Do you miss Indian food here?

 

why would one look for Indian food in Italy ?? but in UK plenty of good Indian food ..

 

COOL !!

Welcome back Mike ! I can just imagine the smile on your face in the Tiger Moth !

Derek

 

He's probably still picking bugs out of his teeth.

 

Happy to say no bugs in my teeth ! But the smile never stopped !

As for food, I loved all of the wonderful Italian dishes, simply amazing.....but after a week a Tandoori would have been nice, just for some variety ! I will say I staggered home (literally) several nights......

As for London, I had three dinners and two of them were Indian ! Once in London on Finchely Road and the other in Cambridge to celebrate my Tiggie flight.

If you ever get to Cambridge and have any interest in WWII, go to "The Eagle" Pub. In the back they have a room where airmen took candles and lighters and "wrote" messages on the ceiling, many never returned from a mission. I chose not to photograph it, just didn't seem right....

But here's a pic from the web:



BTW - The British beer was fantastic as always !

 

Some photos if you're interested.....




Roma Mini One



Down th' beach



Morning walk in Sardegna


Aaaa-ooohhh--aaa "Fix It Again Tony"



The Squadron leader makes his appearence !



Uh oh....


Aerokit MINI S


Still king of small



Mika's Mclaren that crashed at over 200


St Katherine's dock, Home of my favorite London Pizza


Tower bridge


There was an MG club showing at Duxford, this was the oldest and IMO the coolest, love the blue wheels


Trying to hide the emotion of a dream flight man I'm old and gray a bit dashing though eh ?


Thanks for viewing !

 

Mike, that's not work that's FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, you might be right......you take the good with the bad and strike a balance

The UK was total fun though there were more tourist there than I expected, tough walking and trying to get somewhere when a group of 20 stop on the sidewalk, you would think October would be quiet on the Jolly Old Isle.....

No complaints though.....I'd go back to either in a heartbeat !

 

Hey, Mike. Glad you had a great time and thanks for posting the photos.

Can I ask...just what is a MINI ONE?

Glenn

 

The "One" is the bargain basement MINI, more along the lines of what Morris/Austin had in mind for practical transportation......in other words no frills. The grill is black as is the trim above the rear plate. I'm surprised they have not tried to sell the One or the Diesel here in the states.....lobbyist ?

I also saw a "One" in "Seven" trim in London.......figure that one out

Here's a few more

Only MINI with a U-stripe I saw, there was another MINI parked just down the lane from the one here. This is right near King's College, Cambridge



Kings....




R56 wheels on a R53 ?

 

MINI ONE is perfect for the city , not a lot of power but still a MINI -

during MU 2005 I drove the ONE and the Diesel for three days (everyone else wanted a MCCS ) and and I was pleasantly surprised.. great city car on the cheap

I, too, noticed a lot of regular Coopers with s-lite wheels many of my club mates in Italy love having these wheels..go figure !! some even put Recaro seats on their ONE..
BTW is the crazy law - no drinks after 10 PM - still in effect in UK?

 

Don't know about the wheels, but that's an R50 (vice R53).

 

Lots of things are available on the Cooper that are only options on the "S" here. S-Lites are one of them! Another example is the Sidewalk edition of the convertible -- it's available in non-S form. So is Dark Silver, etc..

In the US, many consumers are driven by image -- much more so than in most parts of Europe. They are required to differentiate the "S" in the US much more than in other countries. Case in point: most cars with large displacement in Europe are debadged - it's rare to see an AMG or ///M badge there. Although its mostly for safety reasons, they aren't as worried about image...Here it's the opposite!

 

I had no problem getting a pint after 10pm, it is my understanding that they got rid of that (thought it was 11pm ?) law. I was usually too worn out from the long day of walking to be up after 11pm

JASMCS - I'll have to disagree about the AMG labels, I saw soooooo many AMG Mercs in London I figured they all must be even the station wagon ! Perhaps that applies to the mainland ?

It was MINI heaven though.....literally every corner you saw another.

 

Must be different in London -- haven't been in a few years.

The rest of W Europe, though, sees a LOT of debadging (especially in France & Germany). Jealousy is quite high, so vandalism is quite prevalent...

 

That's interesting....over here you see guys with standard Mercs adding the AMG badges to them imagine the look on a car thief's face when he finds out the AMG C240 doesn't exist.....

 

Sounds like the MINI Cooper I saw one day with an ///M logo.

 

I've seen one with the Bimmer spinning prop on it but never an "M" Pleeeeeeezzzzeee ! The British craftsmen would never allow it !

Here's some more shots:

Smarty in front of the Science Museum



Good thing there's a windscreen or I would have had bugs in my choppers !



Beep Beep - Bong Bong



Loved this, it was new (2005) since the last time I was in London (2000) I have some dramatic night shots of this

 

You should check out post #15 in this thread.....get your custom M badges.....and from Vinyl Styles, no less! At least they look like they're well made.