Hiya! Here I am in Olathe Kansas, my third day (second full day) of ownership, with 900 miles showing on the odometer. Julie at Classic was a pleasure to work with, and the car has performed flawlessly so far. Here's a couple pictures.
I stopped not too far from Mentor to see if anything was falling off or burning up or stuff. You know, the usual stuff; after all, I had hundreds of miles to go and no particular reason to stop.
The engine sounds real nice as you blip the throttle to ease the load on the clutch as you downshift through the gears. Good job, MINI.
Nothing was falling off. The smell of paint etc. baking on a new car - ought to bottle that and sell it!


Here, the thermometer was telling me it was warm outside! I'm loving every minute of it, because when I get home it's going to be cool and rainy. I expect. You notice the autopilot is engaged, saving wear and tear on my right foot.


At the motel the first night, south of Indianapolis, so I had to take a picture. Given the right lighting, the Jet Black MINI looks brown. I kind of like the color, too.


So there you go. There's hope for the folks who haven't yet received their cars. And of course, other folks, pictures are nice.

Motor on!

 

Congrats JohnDough! Nice car! I agree, Julie is a great MA to deal with!

 

I am meeting the legend myself Friday AM. I just can't convince her to pick us up when our flight arrives at 5am

Our return route is across the midwest and heading North through Yellowstone and Montana. 26-2700mi shooting for 30-35 hours return.

Rockstar and coffee here I come

Counting the hours to pickup.....

 

My dealer (Long Beach, CA) stated that my Cooper was also scheduled for arrival at Port Hueneme on the 17th. How were you able to verify your MINI was on the Capricornus Leader? I really want/need verification that my Cooper was on this ship (for my archives!). Thanks.

Steve

 

The best way to confirm is to call your MA.

For me, I can't say for 100% certain, but I'm 99% sure that my car was on the CL because Amoeba's (Dave) was also, and he knew for sure about his car, having phoned the shipping line. My MA told me that my car arrived on the 17th. That's when the CL ported. So, basically, I'm going on circumstantial evidence, which is good enough for me !

 

Yo Johnny!

Since I wasn't able to track my car once it got on a boat, I stopped calling ASK-MINI and stopped visiting the forums. A lot less stress!

I'm renting a car in Seattle, picking up my buddy down in Corvallis, OR, then heading across to Idaho and down to SLC. Get the car and drop off the rental at the airport. Then for the return trip we're heading down to Death Valley to check out the bloom, then back up to Reno to see the National Automobile Museum. From Reno it's up to Ashland for some yummy steaks at Omar's, then back to Corvallis and eventually home. It'll be about a week total.

Yeah too bad we couldn't make it a caravan. That would've been fun!

Good luck with your car. I'll make sure there's no dents or seagull crap when I get there on Tuesday.

 

What day are you gonig to be in Reno? I'll be passing through on Saturday, April 30th.

 

I'm arriving there Wednesday night and leaving Thursday. Looks like we'll miss each other again!

 

It's down to just hours now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About 51 . . . . . .

 

Well, for those who haven't seen it on MINI2 or Roadfly, here is a pic of my MCS, complete with JCW Suspension . . .

 

whats the ride height drop on it

 

The official spec is 10mm, but it seems more than that to me.

 

JohnnyL, Black Jack looks better in every pic! That is a sweeeet ride!

Judy and I spent the afternoon motoring around the greater LA area in Murray. Among other things, we ate at Tail O' The Pup:



We also drove up Hwy 2 into the mountains. Check out the awesome sign:


We ended up at the Mt WIlson Observatory. Very Impresssive. Here's a couple of shots of Murray on the way back down:

 

Those are wonderful shots, Dave! I especially like the twisty road sign .

Actually, you live in the the land of funky landmarks. I think that you could produce a great coffee table book of your MINI in front of places like the Hollywood sign, the Brown Derby place, Disney Land, etc.

Anyhoo, here's a rather intimate pic of Black Jack. Please note that mileage for the break-in period (I'm at 800 now).

 

You're definitely farther into break-in than I am... Murray's got 576 miles right now... However, I was unable to accrue any miles while on work travel, and Judy and I are going on a mini-vacation to celebrate Cinco De Mayo later this week. (We're driving up to Santa Barbara area, including Buellton and Solvang, yeah! Split Pea Soup, and smorgasbord, here I come!)
Anyway, I figure we'll get some good miles on Murray by then. (And how lucky am I that my wife is so cool with the new car stuff!)

We actually have the Auto Club map of Iconic pop-culture landmarks in the area, such as the Giant donuts (MMMMMMMMMMmmmmm D O N UT S!!!!), etc. We''l see how the photo ops go. Interesting idea!

Keep us posted on your progress with Black Jack!

_Dave_

 

Here's 'Less, a 2005 MC picked up 4/18, at 2,005 miles

and a couple hours later with the Crazy Mountains in the background

Now at over 2,400 miles, the bugs mostly gone from the front end, the sun's shining; I think we'll go for a little ride

 

I just broke her in, and hit 1600 miles last night. And I found a new wall ornament for my cubicle...

 

That's what I'm talkin' about!


Good stuff, guys!


_Dave_

 

I might be the last to get their March build Mini. I picked her up on Friday 4/29. All I can say is I haven't enjoyed curves this much since I was teenager on my first date.