I've got a 100 on it!

Ok Ray, it's time to get serious now! Remember your breathing exercises? It's time to picture your "happy place" and take long deep breaths whenever you feel the pain. Remember, if you don't relax, the delivery is going to take a lot longer.....

breeeeeeaaaathhhh....wait...I better start doing that too! It's been a while since we've got the play by play back on a delivery!

700 bucks for a gas cap? I think your dealership smokes homegrown cigarettes!

 

Wow! If the bets keep increasing, I may have to turn around and go back to Washington - the money would help pay for my $699 retro gas cap! So far, I have only made it across the Columbia River into Oregon. Besides, turning back now would save a lot of gas!

 

Well now, things are looking better all the time! The MINI Owners Lounge "Review Order Detail" tab shows Twiggy has an "estimated delivery date" of 9/23/2009 - that is in just two days!!!!

This car-birth has been relatively painless so far, but I suspect things will pick up between now and when I hold the key in my hand! For example, I suspect that 9/23 date is when the dealer receives Twiggy - I will probably have to wait a day or two longer for them to do their thing.

I am SO excited!

 

Keep pushing Ray.....I think I can see the headlights!

 

Oh-oh.

Complications are rearing their ugly head. Another member of the Week 34 Support Group (who is also getting her car from the same dealer I am) talked to her MA today. He told her the 9/23 "delivery date" is when the VDC will load the car onto the transport truck - and that it will not arrive at the dealer until Friday 9/26.

And, since the dealer's service department does not work weekends , and since it takes 2-3 days to do the final inspections , our cars will not be ready until Wednesday or Thursday of NEXT week. I can't stand it!

Tomorrow I am going to call Dr. Duck (head of the maternity ward) and see what he can do to induce labor. I want Twiggy ready by this coming Saturday.

I know, you all said the pain was going to get worse. I am beginning to understand.

 

Only 1 thing to say......

 

Whoopie - my MA said Twiggy is scheduled to arrive at the dealership tomorrow.

These last few days have been a roller coaster ride - not being able to get a definitive answer to the delivery date has been frustrating. But, assuming the transport truck arrives tomorrow, the dealer will have Twiggy ready for me on Saturday. I will take the train up to Tacoma and walk the two miles to the dealership - I'm sure I'll be walking on air!

 

Now even I'm starting to breath hard over this one..... I'm biting my nails in anticipation!

 

Here is something anyone with a Nightfire Clubman should have - a brand new 1:18 scale model Mini Cooper Clubman R55 Body Style in Nightfire Red with a white roof. This precision scale model was designed with actual vehicle CAD data, with just-like-the-real-thing details. Assembled primarily by hand (imported). All doors and hatches open, steering wheel turns front wheels, even shows an accesorised interior. The cost is $84.15 postpaid.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mini-...ht_1389wt_1080

 

I wonder what the on-board computer on the model says the gas mileage is?

After all the NFR's we've delivered, it's starting to get to be like old hat....but why am I still just as excited as when Bubbles came out of the chute? Maybe Ray's on the train now? It must be like Harry Potter...gotta go to station 6 3/4? (or whatever it is?)

 

Twiggy has arrived.

I received two messages from the dealer this morning (I guess they knew I would be bugging them all day if they didn't call me as soon as the transport truck arrived). So, very soon, I will have Twiggy in my driveway and it will be party time!


I have to wait 'til Saturday morning to pick her up - they need to do the final inspections and prep work - and give her a bath and put a ribbon in her hair. The next 48 hours are going to seem like a week, but the end is so close I think I can make it. The drive home is going to be one to remember - I have lots of winding back roads lined up.

 

Woo Hoo!!!!! Finally the day has arrived. Will you be camping overnight at the dealer's doors Friday night???

 

It is tempting. But, my wife and I will take Amtrak to Tacoma on Saturday morning.

I am almost ashamed to say I am feeling like a kid the day before Christmas. How can a car do this to us?

But, I love it!

 

We're not quite out of the woods yet people. Ray's really got to bare down and push now. Once the head clears, then we can all take a deep breath.

Ray: Remember - it's the paper signing that is the worst! Those last few seconds of excrutiating pain - but it will all be worth it in the end! Don't stop pushing now!

 

Everything is set for me to pick Twiggy up Saturday morning.

So, after thinking for weeks about what song would be the first one I wanted to listen to in my new MINI, it only seems natural that it will be "Come Saturday Morning" by The Sandpipers. My previous choice, "Feelin' Groovy" by Harpers Bizzare, will be the second song. My iPod is all set up with a playlist of nothing but the best songs to hear on the first drive in Twiggy. That trip home, on all the backroads, is going to be one to remember!

http://www.imeem.com/people/xg5GCY/m...urday-morning/

The lyrics are perfect!! Just substitute "Twiggy" for "friend".

Come Saturday morning
I'm goin' away with my friend
We'll Saturday-spend till the end of the day-ay
Just I and my friend
We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles
And then we'll move on
But we will remember long after Saturday's gone
(Come Saturday morning, come Saturday mo-o-rning)

Come Saturday morning
I'm goin' away with my friend
We'll Saturday-laugh more than half of the day (ay-ay-ay)
Just I and my friend (my friend)
Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things
And then we'll move on
But we will remember long after Saturday's gone
(Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning)

 

That IS a great song choice for you!!! We expect pictures of the entire delivery. We'll be waiting with baited breathe!

 

I just discovered that Nightfire Red is NOT available on the hardtop MINI in 2010 - just the convertible and the Clubman (and only on the base models - not on the S or John Works versions).

Maybe that is only true for U.S. MINIs since I found out about it on the 2010 configurator at MINIUSA.com. Looks like they replaced our favorite color with one called Hot Chocolate (dark brown - a metallic paint that adds the usual $500 - plus it requires you order their new Mayfair package). The Mayfair package is a $4,500 special 50th anniversary package - it includes the new 50th anniversary grill badge.



I think they should have put one of those grill badges on Twiggy - she was completed the first day after the 50th anniversary of the first Mini sold (August 26, 1959).

Anyway, I think Twiggy may very well be the LAST Nightfire Red MINI Cooper Hardtop sold in the USA. Maybe I need to get the DB-man to make me a special Nightfire Red Owners Club emblem?

At least I no longer need to worry about someone else in town seeing Twiggy and ordering one just like her!

 

Ray: I was there in England when MINI unveiled the Mayfair - I have to admit that I fell in love with this model; it's absolutely gorgeous - and I was seriously thinking about trading in for one.

Then I realized, I love Bubbles - he's been a great car. Why trade him in?

It doesn't surprise me that NFR will be phased out? Many people still go with the regular red/blue/white/black colors.

Great song too Ray. Reminded me about that "first playlist" thing that I totally forgot about. My first song was "Highway to Hell" - ACDC followed by Rush's "Tom Sawyer"! hahahaha and it's been a great ride 2 years later!

"A modern day warrior, mean mean stride, today's Tom Sawyer, mean mean pride"

 

What a day! My wife and I took the train to Tacoma (it arrived at 10:57 am, just one minute late). Our MA called me just as we were pulling into the station and came right over to give us a ride the 2 miles back to Northwest MINI. Twiggy was in the showroom, covered with a MINI wrap. Ordinarily, they wait until the paperwork is all done to unveil the new car, but I already knew enough to realize it was probably Twiggy hiding under there - so I asked, and the MA undressed her. How beautiful she was! Even more than I had envisioned.

The MA took quite a bit of time (an hour and a half or more) explaining how everything worked and what all the books were for, etc. The part I had been dreading most was the financial paperwork - especially the "certain" attempt I knew they would make to sell me the 10-year/100,000 mile extended warranty, the extended maintenance package, the protective covering option, the Lo-Jack anti-theft option, etc. But, the lady was very nice and made no effort to convince me to reconsider when I told her I was not interested in any of the packages. She had all the papers ready to sign, and we were all done and out of her office in less than 15 minutes. I have never had such a positive experience in buying a car.

My MA included the floor mats gratis, and the gas tank was full. So, after taking some pictures, it was time to say goodbye - my final words were, "Let's Motor!"

The dealership is 79 miles from where we live. But, I couldn't bring myself to drive home on the freeway. So, I hooked up my iPod (the first song was, of course, "Come Saturday Morning" by the Sandpipers) and headed in the "wrong" direction... looking for the old highway. My son had given me a Garmin Nuvi (customized so the drawing of Twiggy with the Euro-style license plate comes up on screen when I turn it on - and the little car icon on the map is a Nightfire Red MINI with a black top and black bonnet stripes!), so I decided to see how long it would take to drive the lady inside nuts. Every time I ignored her attempt to direct me back to the freeway, I could almost detect her frustration with me - I thought she might get so fed up that she would just say, "I tired of recalculating - you're on your own!"

Anyway, it took us four hours to get home. I've driven those back roads many times before, but never did I have so much fun. We stopped for lunch in a teryaki place in Stanaway, and later stopped for some Marionberry cobbler in Chehalis. I never quit smiling all the way home, and I hope the feeling I get from driving Twiggy never goes away. I had forgotten a car could be such a joy to drive - I felt like I was 22 years old again, when I bought my first new car (a 1967 Formula S Barracuda fastback that I wish I still had).

I will post some photos of Twiggy in my gallery after I get her cleaned up - even though I was driving on the back roads, the bugs found her! Meanwhile, here are three photos I took at the dealer.







I am still amazed at how much fun it was tracking the progress of Twiggy - the people in the Week 34 Support Group and the Nightfire Red Owners Club were wonderful during the 2-month long period of "labor" and car-birth - I couldn't have done it without you!

 

She's a beauty Ray! Congratulations....and it looks like you've already lost the prenatal weight we all usually gain! Feels great, doesn't it!

Something about NFR - makes the MINI look so much different - and I'm still not sure what it is? I think Hot Chocolate does the same thing...it's those dark, thick, metallic colors that changes the MINI somehow?

CJ....PASS THE BUTTON! Welcome to "vested" status Ray!

 

Ray! Twiggy is a beauty! I recognize the big grins of happy new owners too. The Badge of honor is now yours!

 

<High 5's CJ as we team up to deliver another member of the NFR>

<Passes CJ a special slurpee>

 

<Clinks cups with dbMan>

Another NFR safely home, my friend. Good job!

 

OK - just what do you guys put in your Slurpees? Methinks it might be something like extract of hemp! Where can I get some?

Life is good. Actually, now it is VERY good! Yesterday was another perfect day (last one for awhile, I'm afraid - it is raining now), so we took Twiggy to see the Pacific Ocean. We took a small 9-car ferry across the Columbia River to Oregon at Cathlamet, and then drove to Astoria and on to Seaside (the end of the Oregon Trail). Coming home, we drove across the 5-mile long bridge at the mouth of the Columbia and took the backroads along the Washington shore. Twiggy was a little scared of going across the covered bridge at Grays River - she has so much to see and learn!

 

You'll find out soon enough what we crazy Canadians put into our slurpees! Enjoy the journey with Twiggs!

I looked at the 2010 options for Canada - and NFR is no longer available on the Coop - only the Clubman! It's the end of the line for the Coop NFR's - so Ray might have the last one? CJ - you'll have to make a special "last one" badge for Ray.