November 5, 2009 · No Comments

Time to start down the production line in Oxford!

It’s barely been two days since I placed the order, and already I have a VIN — this car will be built before I know it!

I had the opportunity to tour the factory this past June and it was really amazing to see firsthand how MINIs are built. Though we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the factory itself, I was able to get some photos in the reception of a few original Mini models (one of which was signed by Michael Caine) as well as a few versions of the modern MINI (including the 1 millionth MINI made and a red electrically-powered MINI that was used for the subway scenes in the remake of “The Italian Job”):

I since found out that MINI podcast "White Roof Radio" was previously allowed to take photos and record a soundseeing tour in the factory, which is almost as good as being there yourself.

 November 4, 2009 · No Comments

Today I traded in my 2008 MINI Cooper S and placed an order for a 2010 Cooper S:

It’s not really a Pepper White, it only says that since that was the MINI in the slot they modified for my order. But mine was an ’08, so why did I trade it in? Well, the dealership was buying back used MINIs and giving 120% of trade-in value, so I did some math and even though my MINI was just over a year old, for what I was offered I was able to pay off the auto loan, pay off some other debts, and still have enough for a down payment on a new MINI. They’re estimating a 6-week build time for it, so it should arrive here in early to mid-December, and will (mostly) look just like my ’08. :) Now to think of a good name for this one…

 May 27, 2009 · No Comments

More photos from the Charm City Roller Girls’ roller derby bout this past weekend are up on my original Flickr account — my original account got so overrun with derby photos, I had to create a new account that I use for everything else.