Nice job on the pictures Mike. Thanks for sharing.

 

Hey muidaq, I saw you the other morning when I was leaving for work. I waved but you probably couldn't see me through the salt and slop that was all over my windows I can't wait to wash my car this week since the temps are suppose to get above freezing.

 

First off, I never expected that the Dayton area MINI owners would be so entertaining and crazy...Pete Stroble is one funny guy. Thanks for the good time Paul.

The charter bus ride to Detroit consisted of a lot of classic Mini talk, then a Top Gear/Jeremy Clarkson movie, topped off by the new Mr. Bean's Holiday movie.

Saturday was the first day that the show was open to the general public, so it was very crowded as expected. We spent a few hours at the show; some of the British car people went to a nearby casino, but I was still busy checking out and sitting in the all cars.

I was impressed with the MINI exhibit. The Clubman S looks a lot better & proportioned in person than in pictures. I got a chance to squeeze through the tiny 3rd door and get into the backseat; it was still a bit tight for me, but at least it had a few inches of legroom compared to my Cooper S. I believe they extended Clubman wheelbase by 8 inches total (rear leg room 4 inches, rear cargo hold 9 inches). I'm not in the market for this type of vehicle, but I think it would get a lot more attention if they offered an AWD version. There was also a really good looking Chili Red R56 JCW decked out with all the carbon fiber accents, 18" JCW wheels, JCW BBK, JCW suspension, etc. The MINI rep told me that it had about a $42k MSRP.

I had relatively long conversation with a MINI USA rep and I caught him in a few lies. He said he was from Texas and owned a 2003 MCS that was twin-charged with a Mini Madness kit??? and had about 350 hp, he had the M7 carbon big brake kit ???, Tein coilovers with automatic adjustable ride height ???, and a few more odd factually incorrect part descriptions. I didn't feel like calling him out on the lies and politely smiled and acted interested in the rest of his fascinating made up story. After his long spill, he asked me if I had done any "aftermarket" upgrades to my Mini; I grinned and told him I have done a few small things, but didn't say anything else.

I would say my favorite production cars at the show were the 620+ hp Corvette ZR1, Nissan GT-R, and Rolls-Royce Phantom. However, on a slightly more practical and realistic side, I really liked the Lexus IS-F, Mitsubishi Eclipse concept, Clubman S, BMW 135i, Dodge Ram 1500, Chevrolet Camaro, and the Jaguar XJ-R.

Here are a few pictures...and a note for some of you picky photo critiques: I don't have a digital SLR and the various forms of lighting at the show really confused my Canon Powershot SD1000. I was pretty disappointed with a few of the pictures; the red colors appeared watered down, the bright whites appeared creamy, and the overall brightness/contrast is slightly off. However, they are still nice to look at.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8530703...7603757491937/

 

Cooper,

I hope you did not listen to the chick on the GT-R stand she was screwing things up left and right. She actually said the shift times are .2 seconds, try .02 seconds and she put the bigger brakes in the back I think everybody standing there laughed at that one.

I was massivly disapointed in the Vette, but for only one reason the hood window is crap pure and simple why add weight only to show us a peice of plastic? In the future Italians with engines behind the driver should just make the whole rear end clear plastic as the engines are currently the best looking part of their cars and nobody really drives them anyway. The Vette should hide the engine from anyone who is not actually working on it.

Now the new Jag was near perfect in my mind, just enough Austin Martin in the design.

What did everybody think of the Smart? I sat in the convertable and thought it was a really nice car, but should drop in price by about 3-4 grand.

Now Cooper how did Mini get 13 more inches out of lengthening the car only 8 inches?

 

Nice pics Cooper! I love the Mazda Furai.

 

I should have clarified that better. MINI lengthened the wheelbase by only 8 inches but added 13 inches to the overall car/body, hence yielding 9 and 4.

And I agree that I was somewhat frustrated with all the females spitting out technical specs on the cars like they actually knew what the hell they were talking about. If only all girls could be like Dana Kirkpatrick...wouldn't the world be great. I was talking to these two girls that appeared to be almost my age at the Rolls-Royce exhibit and they said that they actually got to ride around in the cars for a half day and had to train for 3 days before the show.

 

Thanks guys. I missed the NAIAS this year (drat). Will attend the Cleveland show, however, which more like just visiting showrooms as there is very little concepts and exotics.

 

The pictures of the Mazdas do not do them a bit of justice. The surfacing on those cars was incredible.

Thanks for the clarification Cooper

The flip side of the whole girls not knowing anything was I was dissapointed in Caddy having a silverback talking about the CTS Coupe, which by the way is going to be a great car!

 

Dude, I could barely see the road through all of my slop on my car until I sprayed it off yesterday. Sorry I missed you. Where did you see me and MACHBOX?

 

You were heading north on Waggoner and passed me as I was sitting at the enterance of my development. I then followed you on Waggoner to Clark State. I'm thinking I might get to wash mine off tonight after I get home.

Part of me thinks I should go rob a bank, then drive through a car wash...there's no way someone would be able to tell the difference between my pre-wash RSG (Road Salt Grey) MINI and post-wash PH MINI

 

Ya, I thought PS would be a close RSG match, but alas, no.

I live just behind Target...didn't know you were right around the corner.

 

Yep, I think I've seen you a couple of times on Broad as well.

 

Nice pictures Cooper. You did very well with your little spy cam.

 

Cooper, nice pics! It was nice to be able to run the slideshow while traveling