I've only had my R50 for 15 years, and I realized I've never uploaded a photo or even bothered with a thread for the old girl.

I think it cleans up pretty well for a car that's been a daily and lived in the city for its entire life.

 

I guess I should mention a bit about the car.

It's a late-production 2006 that I ordered that same year.

The only extra-cost option boxes I checked at the time were the sport seats (in space grey cloth), multi-function steering wheel, and BRG metallic paint. I originally ordered it with the R81 wheels in white.

Over the years I've added front and rear fogs, the euro driver's side parcel shelf, the euro armrest, and the auto-dimming rearview mirror.

It's currently on Koni yellows and Swift Spec-R springs with 5X Racing bump stops and Vorshlag camber plates. It has the smaller of the two Hotchkis rear sway bars and a bunch of poly bushings in various places. I've also added the cabrio braces and WMW x-brace.

Brakes are the stock size with EBC redstuff pads and ATE fluid, and the wheels are 15x7 Advanti Storm S2.

I'm also running DDM intake and a Milltek cat-back. The lower motor mount has Powerflex bushings, the upper mount is Vibratechnics (because I kept killing the stock mounts somehow), and the trans mount has Powerflex inserts (no one makes an uprated mount that I know of for the Getrag 5 speed). I also have a Rennline skid plate in the hopes that it'll give me a little extra protection. I was a little concerned about PS cooling, but it seems to have been fine so far.

 

Looks very nice for a 15 y/o.!
It's great to see how well it's been taken care of.
I haven't seen too many Minis with a bike rack on the back. I'll be sure to give you the customary "wave"/headlight flash should we ever cross paths while I'm here in ATL


My 18 y/o R53

You'll know its me by the mantra on my rear bumper.

 

That's a nice looking R53. I've always liked the faux-minilites, even if they are super heavy. It's also nice to see one that isn't all blacked out and emo like everyone seems to be doing these days.

I actually moved out of the ATL about six months ago, but I do make it back down from time to time. I may move back in the near future though - not sure. Either way, maybe we'll cross paths. I don't get that many waves these days, though I did pass a Mini club on my way to the trails a while back, and they all waved madly.

Yeah, most of the racks I see are roof racks, but that wasn't an option when I was living in Midtown.

 

Absolutely beautiful R50. Those wheels match perfectly. I have an '06 R50 myself and love working on it. I would love to see your various modifications in more detail. Cheers.

 

Nice setup. Agree rims match great

 

Both of you have nice rides, I hope to get mine that way one day.
God Bless you deepgrey, no way I could ever live in Atlanta. I had a hard enough time commuting when I worked in Austell.

 

I'm glad y'all like the wheels. They were a bit of an impulse buy a few years ago when they were on sale. I had been considering a set of 6ULs, but they hadn't been produced in the 15x7 size and offset that I wanted for a while. The Advantis were in the color I liked and are around 11 lbs each. I still have the R81s that I originally optioned on the car with a set of winter tires mounted currently, but I was looking for something with more width - both for more grip and to fill out the arches. I have to run a 14 mm to 12 mm lug stud conversion to make the Advantis fit though.

@RedLP5000S Anything you want to see in particular? Almost everything is hidden underneath, and my engine bay is filthy. I should probably get in there and clean it sometime.

@ChiefM With the way you've been working on your car, I suspect you'll get there sooner rather than later. I was fortunate enough to be able to walk to school/work for a long time when I lived in Midtown, which makes Atlanta semi-bearable. Even then, my car has taken a real beating from ATL interstates. I basically resigned myself to one day repainting the front of the car and replacing the windshield when I bought it. There's a veritable plethora of rock chips on my hood, and the windshield is gradually getting more and more sandblasted in addition to the huge rock strike right in the middle. My grille is starting to show its age as well. My camera work (if you can call it that - I'm not to be mistaken for a pro photographer) hides a lot of the damage.

 

Does anyone have an opinion on front mud flaps? I've had a pair of OEM ones sitting in a box that I keep waffling over installing. In the end I probably will. They require a minor amount of drilling. I haven't decided if I would like the look or not, but the front tires throw a fair amount of crud down the side of the car. These would cut down some on that issue.

I finally stuck the OEM stone guards on the car the other day when I took that first picture. We'll see how those hold up.

 

+3 On the wheels!

+1 = I agree. I am a bit envious of how much work Chief has put forth rescuing and breathing new life into his Mini. I really miss having the space (house w/garage) and time to build the things I use to. Continue to enchants with your progress, sir!

<Caution - rant ahead> I hear you - My Mini was near perfect before I left Florida and moved to Austin (contract work) for a short time. I really liked Austin. Gas was cheap. However, I really got of tired of washing the sand off my car everyday. Only to discover; not only rock chips in the paint and windshield but how pitted the clear coat was getting.
I have to admit I've become less enamoured than I was initially, with the (ATL), area....Although I cannot deny being impressed by the progress being made here. Not only infrastructure but by the businesses being enticed to come here. Sitting in traffic is brutal. It's actually for this very same reason I left L.A back in 1992. Despite the beautiful weather.
ATL & L.A share similar parallels (i.e. traffic + crime + crowded).
Orlando lacked infrastructure improvements, small, overcrowded and angry/aggressive drivers driving pieces of crap. I do miss the flat roads of Florida; but a gut feelingmmade me think there was a better chance that my Mini would have been totaled by an aggressive, careless driver. The risk remains the same here in ATL ....'though it can be said for just about anywhere... I suppose.</End of rant>

 

Thanks for all the compliments but I am just a car guy and I enjoy fixing them up. I don’t have a garage so I am at the mercy of other nature. I hate the cold so repairs over the winter will slow down. I have been thinking of buying and trying the paintless dent repair. Also maybe going to a pick and pull to see what I can get and get some non dented panels I could score for cheap. In black would be a bonus. I think the drivers door and fender are the only things without a dent.

I love the warm weather winter of Florida. I like it here in North GA too and doubt I would ever move back to central Florida. In this phase of my life I am happy at being a tourist. The traffic on I-4 drives me nuts but I do love Disney Springs and City Walk.

deepgray I would love to see a pic of the euro parcel shelf.

 

Great looking car. BRG with white is THE classic combination. I'm envious of members who have owned their R50s/R53s since new. I wish I'd bought one back then but I had two little kids at the time. A Mini wouldn't have worked.

 

@Here2Go Yeah, the traffic and drivers in Atlanta are atrocious. I got rear-ended up on the divided highway section of 400 by a woman in a Montero. I saw her coming, but the R50 doesn't have a ton of pull in second at like 10 mph. She punted me into the median hard enough that I think all four tires came off the ground. I also had some old a**hat in a rental ram my right rear at speed there on 85 north under the 400 NB ramp. That one fortunately didn't do too much damage. He just kept on driving...

@ChiefM I'm not super fond of working in the cold either. I got my fill of that while lying on a cold concrete floor in freezing temps ripping the lower control arms out of my ex-wife's Acura. That car turned me off of Hondas a bit. Those stupid compliance bushings. The slushbox in that car was a piece of junk, too. On a lighter note, I've got an old photo of the parcel shelf installed. I took it out of the car while I was working on some wiring for my P3 gauge, and I haven't reinstalled it yet. It's sort of a pain to install, so it'll probably stay out until I install an oil pressure sender and torture myself with the installation of the OEM harness for the driving lights. I don't know how many hours I've spent contorted under dashes, but I think it's too many at this point.

I also intend to at some point build a little amp to connect the BMW condenser mic to my aftermarket head unit, but it could be quite a while before I get around to that project. I'm juggling my two other project vehicles as well. I did at least air up the left front tire and pull the Audi out of the garage so that I could put my shop press back together tonight. It needs an oil change, valve cover and oil pan gaskets, a whole bunch of vacuum lines, and basically all the suspension bushings changed. And probably shocks. And I need to drop the gas tank on my van to clean out the ethanol sludge and to fix an inop fuel sender. Now I'm rambling. Anyway, the pic of the parcel shelf in my car is below. It's a bit dark, but I think it's still visible enough.



@dmath It's kind of funny. I don't think I even considered another color combo when I ordered it. It was a Mini, so in my head it had to be BRG with the white roof and mirrors. I couldn't choose anything else.

The parcel shelf picture reminds me. I also retrofitted the factory alarm system a few years back, so my indicator stalk now has the red flashing light on the end instead of the solid silver one in the photo.

 

The interior is sweet! I really like the shelf, That is going on the future things to do list. That lower panel is really scuffed up on mine and I was trying to think of a way to make it look better.

I need to get the body work done on the Caddy from the mom in-laws accident. It's also going to need the right rear passenger door and a running board. I bought a cheap rear axle to replace the the original axle that was bent in the accident. The ring and pinion is making noises now so I either need to rebuild the axle or buy a better one. It also needs new front shocks and replace the carpet. There are a few other small things but overall it's now a very nice SUV with all the work I put into it. The 07-14 ESV in pearl white and the light beige interior has always been my favorite color combo. All the money I was going to use to fix the Caddy went into buying and fixing the Mini. I'll get to it started back on it in the spring.

 

Actually the Spot Lamps/Rally Lights are not heavy at all. I think they weigh no more than a pound each at most. It took me a few searches to find the 5" = Ebay shipped from England ($80 including shipping).
The mounts I bought from Out Motoring. Larger than 5", (I feel) look grossly disproportionate with respect to the "sleeker" profile / sportier lines of the R50/R53. My only dislike - are the halogens. Too yellow.

Although Black is my favorite color. I just don't like the blacked out look. It's just not for me. I am a "new traditionalist" who still prefers chrome.

 

I got inspired today and finally installed my Hella Sharptones. If anyone has wondered, they do fit without having to cut anything, unlike the Supertones. If I had been smart, I would have ordered a new driver's side fog light to replace my broken one at the same time.

 

I think he was referring to the weight of your factory S-lite wheels which are inspired by the aftermarket Minilite wheels popular on original Mini’s and other sports cars around the 60’s - 80’s. Although one of the best looking wheels on a first gen in my opinion, the S-lites are one of the heaviest factory wheels at over 25lbs.

On the weight of the rally lights, MINI did actually spec heavier duty hood struts for cars with them, part #51237064485, but as long as the hood isn’t falling down you should be good with the struts you have.

 

I was actually talking about your wheels. I've always assumed the S-lites are a re-imagining of the classic Minilites. Hmm, should I mention the pair of Hella 500FFs I have sitting about ten feet from me?

I know some people aren't about the chrome, but sometimes I see a light-colored mini with blacked out headlight surrounds, and it just screams Shirley Manson to me, which I suppose isn't a bad thing. I've actually added the partial chrome line interior to mine. Just the speedometer ring and the two vents though. I do have the ring for the tach, but I haven't bothered to change it yet.

 

Ah - Thanks for the clarifying!.
I ordered/bought the car new and intentionally insisted on this particular style wheel. I had no idea what they were called/referred to.
I just liked them because they reminded me of the wheels I had on my old '67 Carrera , '73 914 and an old VW beetle junker I bought back in the '80s.
I always referred to this style wheel/rims as *EMPI* = a company that produced these aftermarket rims popular with modded Beetle enthusiasts back then.

Thanks for the edification

BTW: On a separate note; I loved Garbage.

 

Here2Go: +1 on chrome vs blackout. I don't need `59 Caddy levels of chrome but love it as an accent.

 

Great looking R50. And that angle catches the down slope of the bonnet between the front lights, which always makes the R50 stand out as a classic design.

 

I was sitting here thinking about Atlanta traffic and remembered a couple of other small changes I made specifically because of it. I added the rear fog a long time ago to increase visibility at night in the rain, and not too long ago I changed the side markers to LEDs for the same reason. They're much brighter than the dinky stock bulbs, and in the tradition of guys trying to make their cars look more "euro," I went for the smoked ones. I actually quite like them. I also swapped the mirrors to convex on both sides with blind spot sections. Having a bigger field of view on the driver's side is a godsend on wide interstates with people slaloming their way through at 90 mph.

 

Do you mean the center bit at the bottom of the bumper? My R50 just has the black trim piece I believe. Is there wiring already down there from the factory for this mod, or is it something you personally added?

 

Yes. The reverse light was there on the older cars, but it was moved to the taillights for the facelift cars, IIRC. My car was already pre-wired for it, but I don’t remember if they all were. I just had to add the light and swap the toggle switch panel for one with switches for the fogs. Oh, and you’ll have to code the BCM so it knows the car has a rear fog.

 

I made big changes trying to avoid Atlanta traffic, I got a job a lot closer to the house. Going thru Hiram to Austell was the worst part. I don't miss that commute at all.