So, I finally tracked down the perfect Mini for me. A 2003 R53 with some performance mods and low mileage. The only down side was that it was over 400 miles away from my home base here in STL in Dayton. But that's what jets are for and who doesn't like adventure!

So having exchanged e-mails for about a month I finally made it up to meet the seller and take delivery. I should have known things were going to go sideways when my first flight got canceled due to weather. But I proceeded on!



I met with the owners at the airport, we had lunch, traded stories of adventures past and signed the papers. I was proud and excited to own my very own Mini! I checked into my hotel intended to spend the better part of the next day at the Dayton Airforce Museum. That's when the TPMS light came on.

Pulling over at a local autoparts store I purchased a tire gauge and checked each one. Turns out it just needed to be reset. So I reset the TPMS sensor, bought some rope to tie the 4 extra wheels and tires together that I was carrying in the boot and headed back to STL.

About 50 miles outside STL in a town called Edwardsville, IL disaster struck in the form of a retread at 10:30 at night. It ripped the lower air dam off and basically induced brown trousers time!

Now my Mini looks like this.



I dropped it off at the body stop (World Wide Auto Center) here in Ballwin, MO this morning to have it looked at. $2700 in damages. A new bumper, new lower air dam, new drivers side front fender, new driving light, new radiator and retention bracket, new radiator fan, new AC condenser. Turns out the radiator pushed into the shroud fan and basically destroyed it. It's a miracle the engine didn't melt down on the way home. I had no idea.

Guess I'm glad I had insurance.

 

Cool Mini. Did the tread come off a truck before your eyes or was it just hanging in the middle of the lane?

 

I hate alligators.....

 

Oh, that hurts. On the plus side you should be safe from car tragedy for awhile.

don;t know if this will help but it's not as bad as the woman who picked up her mini then drove it home, over a mattress in the road. The car burst into flame and melted down to slag http://www.motoringfile.com/2009/01/12/burning-mini/

 

It flew off the truck. It was so dark I couldn't see what happened and though we'd both driven over the same thing but because how low the mini is... Well, I wanted to get off the road as quick as possible. So I have no idea what his plate was or what carrier he was with.

At least I was fairly close to home.

 

Aw man. That is totally rank.

May all your future motoring be less eventful.

(and yeah, at least your car didn't catch on fire like the mattress person.)

 

I know this is going to sound stupid...but, why would the car be so disabled or erupt in flames just because you drove over something? (See...I told you it was going to sound stupid...stop laughing)
I am waiting for my first MINI...a Countryman...for the last 17 years I have been driving an Explorer (which is still great--keeping it too)...which is relatively high off the ground. I never had to worry about driving over anything that might be in the road. I would expect the car to get stuck if it ran over a mattress...but not burst into flames! Why would this happen?
I know I'm too stupid to own a MINI, but, really...I'm seriously wondering why that would cause such total destruction.

 

It's a valid question. I was wondering the same thing.

A couple guesses:

1. Driving over the mattress caused something to rupture and leak which then caught fire.
2. A significant portion of the mattress got stuck under the car and the heat from the exhaust ignited it.

 

My suspicion was the friction caused the mattress (I actually suspect it might have been a box spring) being dragged caused it to smolder and ignite. The exhaust might have helped. But Tarmac and concrete make excellent friction points. That's why cars handle so well on them.

I'm looking at it this way. I'm getting a new radiator, radiator flush, new AC compressor, AC system flush, new bumper, and a new driving light for $500. Not exactly poor value for the money but it still sucks.

 

in my mini i have to be careful on some driveways because the angle is too steep and the front end will scrape. my question is how did she even get it over a mattress? maybe it was a futon matress?

so skipman, do you at least have either good insurance or a low deductible?

 

I suppose I have both. I'm out of pocket $500 on the deductable.

State Farm is covering the repairs and it's already in the shop. Depending on parts availability I'm looking at probably 2 weeks before I'm back to motoring. They're also going to do the vehicle safety inspection and emission testing so I can apply for plates as soon as the Mini's ready for the road again.

 

Excellent point.

High school physics would be been so much more interesting had the problems be worded along the lines of "Assuming a vehicle traveling at 100 kph is dragging a mattress weighing 25 kg over a surface with .7 coefficient of friction and that the ignition temperature of the mattress is 400 degrees Celsius, how far does the car have to travel before the mattress bursts into flame?".

Would the students still think "oh come on, when would I ever need to know that?"

 

Very nice car. Gotta hate those treads. Baffles me how they will blow one, pull over and never (even when possible) go pick up the pieces from the middle of the highway. I'm terrified this will be me soon enough considering the number of trucks on the interstate going to and from the port in Charleston.

On a slightly unrelated note, about a year ago I hit a deer carcass at 5:30 am in my Mazda 6 on a 200 mile commute. It was still dark so by the time I saw it, it would have been worse to try and maneuver around it. I pulled off for gas as the next exit and heard a hissing sound. My rear driver's side tire had been punctured in the sidewall (presumably by bone). I pushed on it and the hissing stopped. I had some Fuzion ZRi's XL rated tires and was able to drive 60 miles to the closest tire store which was open and purchase a new tire.

 

My dad is an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He commented when it happened that had he been on his bike he would be dead. I never considered that. They're a menace.

 

We had a similar oops. On our way to Helenblitz we hit an opossum. He scored a direct hit on the drivers side fog light, which also got the windshield washer reservoir, radiator core support, left xenon headlight, and the bumper cover. The damage total was......get this.......$2700 ! Must be the going price for encounters with road debris.
So I guess you won't be driving the new car to social hour this month huh ?

 

I don't think so. Depends on the body shop really. I plan on attending either way even if I have to drive Jeepasarus.

 

Speaking of mattresses, this story and pics went around a while back:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...418/shimmy.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...18/shimmy2.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...18/shimmy3.jpg

The story:

Spridget

 

Holy hell! How do you...why would you......suddenly I feel the need for a stiff drink

 

I just poured mine.

 

Lol yeah the Glenfiddich is definitely gettign opened when I get home tonight