Hello NAM,

This has been a long time coming but I am extremely excited that it is finally here! I have been a MINI lover and periodic owner (through ALTA Performance) but have yet to own my OWN MINI in several years. Meaning that other than the classic Mini’s I have owned in recent years (Mike at Seven Enterprises recently talked me out of my 65 MKI Fiesta Yellow over Blue Powder Interior after many years of wanting it. I still think he came out on the better end of that deal. I still look at the spot in the garage where it belongs frequently, missing it far more than I like the money being back in the car fund!) and getting to do the break in mileage on our companies MINI’s I haven’t owned my own. Now keep in mind my wife recently owned an 06 MCSC and I did get to drive it frequently; I never got to build it the way I wanted. At the shop I get creative input obviously on everything from products to show vehicles and the like. But at the end of the day it is far more important to have the mules and show MINI’s look their respective parts. Large graphics, and huge audio systems are great for marketing and such, but they aren’t ME! So several months ago (after taking delivery of our Mellow Yellow R56) I decided I was going to order my OWN R56.

First step was phoning up our faithful MA Jarid Perry at Rasmussen MINI to discuss options, delivery time etc. Jarid has helped us with the last three MINI’s and is always a breeze to deal with. If you are looking for a reputable, honest, helpful and low pressure sales person he is an excellent choice! (You can contact him directly at jaridp@rasmussenmini.com) The decisions were made and the wait began again! (I had ordered our Mellow Yellow in April of 2006 so I am familiar with the wait. Thankfully this one was more like 10 weeks instead of 10 MONTHS!)

Last Thursday I got an exuberant phone call from Jarid that the wait was over. Only minor issue was the factory goofed on the taillamps (more on that later) but everything else was a-ok. “Howard” was finally here! Yee ha. The anticipation from noon till 4pm was awful and I swear I got nothing done other than yelling at production and R&D about “When is ‘x’ coming back from powdercoat?”, “Where are the cat-backs for the R56? Do I need to drive to the polisher to get them myself or what!?” I kooled my jets and waited patiently for my wife to pick me up and take me the 15 agonizing minutes to Rasmussen MINI to pick it up!

Once there I was first able to lay eyes on Howard! (Jarid had snapped a few pics from his cell and sent them over but in person was FAR better!) I immediately ran my hands over the body, carefully eyeing each side for shipment damage, etc. Everything was PERFECT! Nothing to complain about here! My son was already yelling “I get to ride home with Daddy!” He is only five and has the car sickness far worse than I at his age. My wife and I are in trouble!

A few short minutes later after signing my life away on the infamous dotted line, a brief commentary from Jarid about some crap regarding break-in mileage ;-), Howard, my son and I were on our way on our first Motoring adventure! Needless to say the drive home was far less than direct and a 10 mile drive was quickly turned into more than 40! Yee ha! This car is simply addictive to drive.

Well a quick week later the miles are racking up as is my continued admiration for this car. The handling, performance, fuel economy, and cache’ is truly addictive. Having owned a WIDE variety of cars in my brief existence on this rock, I can truthfully say this is an excellent car in nearly every way. I am simply happy to be back in one again. But, the need/itch to start modding is coming on strong. Even though the car is great in its stock form, there is ALWAYS room for improvement. And that is the purpose of this thread.

I am not trying to hide in any way shape or form that ALTA is in my blood and my affinity begins there. But, I can appreciate and respect products that we don’t make or that can be used to complement products we make. I am going to show (as often as I can) things that I am doing to my car to make it the way I envision the perfect MINI. Combined with those updates, I intend to write and illustrate straightforward, honest how-to’s on each product or mod that I make, along with my impressions of how I feel each one helped, hurt, etc. This is NOT for benefit of ALTA Performance but for ME and this community. As much of the labor and installations will be done in or around my personal home garage not in our R&D area or local shop. Again, this is MY car, I like turning wrenches and did so for many years in ALTA’s infancy, but rarely get the opportunity to do so. This is my opportunity. My goals are simply to help inform this owners group and only hope that others in the ever growing R56 community will appreciate the information and photos.

I can’t begin to express how excited I am to be doing this after so many years of wanting to! The specs on my 07 are below, so you know where Howard and I started. I will take some photos of Howard this weekend (rained today, typical Oregon, so lets give him a proper bath before I expose him to the world.) Plus I have a pile of parts I have been scavenging from work, our supporting companies, and others in the garage. You simply can’t put clean parts on a dirty car! Once he is clean I will get going on the projects in earnest!

I hope you all enjoy what is to come! Feel free to call, PM or e-mail me with any questions or concerns. No matter what even if you feel the question might be silly, I want to help, I am an enthusiast first and a manufacturer second. There is no way ALTA would exist without our collective passion for cars! Lets all enjoy the car hobby together! Happy Motoring!

Exterior Mods:
Antenna
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=103833

Front Mud Flaps:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...69#post1567369

Rear Mud Flaps:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=103860

Rear clear taillamps and fog lamps:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=103906

PERFORMANCE MODS:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=104014

Excellent!

Congrats...let's start seeing those mods!!!

And despite all this Adam still was out back hunting down parts for me and others, returning phone calls, and making sure things got done right.
Congrats on the new MINI (We secretly envy your access to parts and goodies.)

Congratulations! Howard sounds like a cool Mini. Of course,..WHERE ARE THE PICS!?!?!

Looking forward to hearing how Howard evolves.

Adam,

I look forward to reading about your adventures. It should provide some inspiration for those of us without mod experience.

Welcome to the Oregonaians at NAM club.

Congrats!!! Looking forward to seeing more...

+1

Congrats Adam! Now, where are the pictures! AAAAHH!

Very nice specs on the MINI, always good to watch a thread in which a major supplier mods his own. Looking forward to the pictures this weekend and the many postings and tutorials. I think all of us can thank you in advance for sharing your expertise and experience.

Can you share where your MINI's name origin? My MINI is waiting until I get him/her home and I see what personality develops, but I have a name or two in the back of my head.

Don S. (old81)
Ordered: April 8, 2007
Dark Silver Metallic MCSa, white roof/mirrors, Chrome Line Interior, English Oak, Conv. Pkg, Sport Pkg, Cold Weather Pkg, 17" Alloy Web Spoke, Steptronic Auto with Paddles (for us older guys).

Congrats Adam!! I think you were more excited about this MINI arriving than all the others combined! Im glad I could help you with this addition to your family and cant wait to see what you have in store!! Enjoy!!!!!

HA! Vaporware! Show us da car!

congrats! looking forward to following your progress.

Jarid was my MA on my loooong awaited '06 JCW last year- I agree on all counts.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand who are you?

Congratulations Adam! Welcome to NAM. We all share your enthusiasm but we need pictures of Howard.

celljay

Congratulations Adam. Looks like the "real fun" is about to begin.

Hey guys and gals!

Thank you for the support. Glad to see others share my enthusiasm. Glad JaridP stopped to by to vouch that I have the car. I PROMISE rain or shine I will have photos posted this weekend. I plan on washing it tomorrow night and then snapping a few photos.

I have a handful of mods in the garage (mild stuff for now), a blend of exterior and performance. Can't wait to see what all I can get done on Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks again! Chat with you all ASAP!

PICTURES I promise!

See ya!

Photos added! Yee ha!

I also took another 100 photos for some mods today. I will be posting these soon! Thank you guys!

Very nice! Romi approves as well.

Adam,

Great pictures in your gallery, you prefer the 'wet look' I see. Great color combo, I really like the interior, nice contrast to the exterior PS.

Don S.

Thanks guys! More photos to come! Check out the first albeit odd mod links above!

Just got done putting the cat-back on! What a huge difference!

See ya! Enjoy those roads, you pay for em!

Adam,

Any chance of a soundbite with a small sony digital or a movie cam, so we can hear that new Alta cat-back. Any chance the cat-back could have the twin pipes changed to a single Pypes type oval output, for those of us who desire to be difficult and different?

Nice mods, flaps from Alta or dealer?

Don S.

Ahhh - you delivered the goods! It looks great Adam - can't wait to see your mods.

old81: I will do that for sure in the next day or three for the movie and sound clip. The muffler takes a hundred or so miles to "break-in" and if I did the clip now it wouldn't be accurate. So thank you for your patience.

On the single tip, as I was out playing b-ball with my kiddos in the cul-d-sac I was periodically gazing up at the backside of Howard in the garage. While I love the dual tips to stay true to the OEM form, I was thinking an oval single might look kool too. I will talk to the powers that be at work to find out what options we could offer for a single tip. I will keep everyone posted.

Flaps are from the dealer. Nice pieces! I will post the other mods I made yesterday here in a few minutes. It will be illuminating!

Thanks again! Love this CAR!