Hi all,
I have been a member since 2004 but because of other preoccupations in life I have not post for 10 years. I tried to revise my original credential to no avail so this in my new incarnation.

I ordered my 05 R53S new from Classic Mini in Ohio in 2004 and had it shipped to the Pacific Northwest in the summer of 2005. It has been well cared for and has very low mileage. It is pepper white and bone stock except the SSR wheels. I recently just decided to make it more fun and plan to implement a number of performance upgrades. Of all the cars that I've ever own, the Mini has to be the one that gives me the most smiles. There are many other cars that are faster in the price range, but I am hard pressed to own anything else than this car with the drive wheels on the wrong end. Owning the Mini 12 years it is as handsome as the day that I configured it on the Mini online configurator. I chose not to have the sunroof as I wanted the low center of gravity.

Here is my pepper white R53S.


A short list of performance upgrades to follow soon:
Swift springs
Koni yellows
IE fix camber plates
rear sway bar
adjustable rear lower control arms
15% pulley and belt
colder plugs
Quaife LSD
clutch with single mass flywheel (blame it on the LSD)
Cold air intake (likely homebrewed)
boost and oil pressure gauges
factory alarm (installed but need to be blessed by a Mini dealer)
factory fog lights

I want to keep the excellent streetability traits of the Mini and I hope my choice of the upgrade will deliver. I plan to do all the work myself.

 

Welcome back, that's one nice looking, MINI!

 

Sweet...I've got two salt and pepper's myself...is that a Koi nobori I spy in the background?

 

Welcome back. Looks very clean. I got my R52 in December of 2004. Still have it.

 

Thanks all. It is like returning to the playground a decade later and find few of your friends, but many have left.

Thanks. Like in Lake Wobegon, all the Mini's are good looking...

Yes, indeed. Some of these days I would get a few more and hang them properly. To me Mini's has the childlike attributes and fitting to celebrate on the children's day.

I am glad you mention yours. We were the first few bunches 2005 model year Mini's. I went and dug up some old photos. I botched on my delivery date. It was in Aug 2004, after a agonizing wait, out of the factory, tracking the ship going crossing the Atlantic, and being shipped across the country in an enclosed carrier.

unloading from the enclosed carrier in August 2004


the carrier is full of Mini's as they were the hottest commodity in the West Coast


off the car transporter, the back of the Mini is full of loot like an episode in the Intalian Job


one fine day in March 2005


an interior shot now

 

Yep,

Got my back in the day. I glad to see you have the rare clear euro taillights. There used to be a huge wait list back in 2004-2005, I was supposed to get mine in 2005, but I locked down and took someone else's spot. Most dealerships at the time were charging over MSRP. Some new car places bought MINIs from the MINI dealership and sold them at markups like places that had no dealers, West Virgina, out west, and rural areas.

 

Nice cabriolet with chrome mirror covers. It took me forever then to choose the mirror covers with so many permutations that Mini offered. Considering back then most professional laptops had 1024x768 screens. Mini was the first to offer online configurator. It had some cheeky intros too. Being able to see immediately what your choice of body options looked like was so important. I could see that the chrome mirror covers and the gas caps go well with pepper white. With the car I also ordered the black aero style grill kit. Ultimately I did not install them because to me the all black grill does not work well with the all white and chrome theme.

In 2004 in Oregon Mini just built a brand new dealership in Portland. The wait for 05 Mini was 12 months and on first come first serve basis, most likely only after the dealer grabbed most of the allocations for its own floor inventory. Anything off the floor had as much as $10k markup, not to mention they were loaded with options. I then found NAM and joint the early waves of the 05 orders with Classicmini in Ohio. That was my first car purchase via the internet. sight unseen. Classicmini was a breath of fresh air and I ordered a lot of parts from them.

 

Thanks,

yes those were the days... waiting lines.... lucky to find MSRP.... no dealership stock.... very rare to see another MINI...