Hear that? That's the sound of me motoring. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

Picked her up this morning. Delivered Starbucks to all (well, most of) the staff at the dealership. You know, take care of the people who are taking care of you. Got floormats and a couple of keychains thrown in, which was cool.

I took a bunch of pictures while I was there. The camera's at home, while I'm at work, so I'll upload 'em a little later. It was cool. My MINI was right there at the front door when you walk in with a sign announcing that I was picking up my MINI (so BACK OFF! ). Took care of all the financial particulars (they actually paid ME to keep my old beater, what a deal!)... went over the car with a fine tooth comb, or at least as much of one as my addled brain could muster, got a quick tour of the car, and motored my way out.

Took a quick stop at home to show the wife and kids, but then I had to get to work. :impatient The "good news" () is that work is close to 40 miles away so I got to motor on down. What a fun car. Kept the top up on the way down since I wasn't sunscreened (I know, poor preparation on my part). During my commu, er, motoring a HB/W MCS passed me and we did the ol' MINI wave; that's so cool. I think on the way back I'll try it with the top down; sun's lower in the sky so I won't have to worry about frying like the white bread that I am.

Pics in a little while. Happy motoring to you, or quick dealer preps, as the case may be!

I still have a silly grin on my face.

 

ahhhh, I sooo can't wait till Monday! Congrats Doug and I can't wait to see pics!!!

 

sfodoug that is great news.

I just spoke to my MA and my MINI has been released to the trucking company and on its way to the dealer. It should hopefully be there tomorrow, but I won't be able to pick it up until th 15th. I am flying down to SoCal and then driving it back up here to SF. That should be a fun trip.

 

Just called the trucking company awhile ago. Was asked a couple of times "who are you?" and "you're not the dealer?" At any rate, they don't have the car... still stuck at the VDC. I pray there is not a problem with my MINI!

 

Hey all. Got back from my afternoon commu, er, motoring. Traffic on the 680 northbound on a Friday afternoon is always stop and go. But, you know what? I didn't care. The top was down, the sun was out, life is good!

This car is fun to drive. My old beater's power band topped out about 3500 RPMs. The fun keeps going well past 3500 in the MCSc. Wow. I wasn't really expecting it to be difficult to keep it under 4500 RPMs, but it really is!

Anyway, here are a few pics from when I picked up the car. Enjoy!

 

Wow Doug... what a wonderful looking car. It would be great for all of us to Motor together some day.

Enjoy!

 

Doug!! Cool blue is such a great color!! Your MINI looks great! Congrats!

 

Minitee- I am sure your MINI is fine. What dealer did you purchase through? Your MA has NO? idea whats happening? They should have some type of update... :impatient

 

Beautiful car sfodoug!!!!

 

So I went to finalize my insurance today. I knew things were going to go well when I pulled up to the building and a CR/CR MC was sitting out front with State Farm logos all over it. It made me smile!

After I handed over my check and my insurance person, whatever, I hear from this side office, "Is someone getting a Cooper?!"

It was the owner of the franchise! The Cooper out front is his. This is his second MINI, his first was an S. He was talking about his wife driving through the redwood national park in Northern California and how her face was plastered into a smile the whole time. i believe he said:

"She was going into 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 4th, 3rd, 2nd...etc."

And then he is telling me about how in his S when they reached the break in period, they were going onto I-5 just outside of San Francisco, and he said he was going 90 in 5th and then he shifted into 6th and it just shot off. I think I found the perfect Insurance Agency.

 

Thanks guys, she is a beauty!

One minor annoyance today, which is that our wonderful DOT is completely incapable of keeping stones and foreign objects off the road so I already picked up my first pit in the windshield. It was completely silly as I was not near any big trucks and I was actually making a conscience effort to stay far enough away from other cars to avoid such an occurence (and other possible tragedies). Oh well.

Guess I was expecting a hit to the windshield to happen fairly soon 'cuz it didn't really phase me too much. Life is still good. Hey, I had two huge cracks in my old beater's windshield for the last 16 months, so this is nothin'!

Wheeeeeee!

 

haha, we have had 2 cracks in the SUV windshield for like 3 years...oh well, I wont have to look at it for much longer.

 

Windshields can be replaced - bonnets need repairing. I'll take a rock chip to the windshield over anything else.

 

Took the whole family in the MCSc this morning. Beautiful morning. Temps in the low-to-mid 60s, sun shining. Perfect.

My daughter is funny. We've told her that God makes the wind, and lately she hasn't been the biggest fan of the wind. So, we're motoring along -- top down -- and she comes out with, "No, God. No!"

 

That right there is Classic! Something you can tease her about when she is 16

 

That's really funny Doug, great story. Glad to hear you're all enjoying the MINI.

 

.... crickets....

I know most of you are out motoring. I just noticed that in OL my "Review Order Details" page has actual information for the first time since I placed my order almost two months ago:



Naturally, the 6th is the one day I can't go (have to watch the kids), but if the schedule holds I'll fly down on the 7th.

 

Well, that looks like progress minitee! Yay!

So, had to drive past the dealership today, and of course had to stop! I was able to sit in him and really get a bit of a feel for the car. I must say that my last minute additions of chrome line interior and English Panther Leather seats really make the car!! I love how with the park lane dash, which is the body color of Royal Grey, carries into the door inserts! Oh man, 2 more days!!

 

29.5 hours to go!! YAY!!

 

Wheeeeee! Yes, I'm still saying that.

So, I have to say that trees suck. The bastards spit sap all over everything. So, my windshield looks like it has a million little sparkles on it, and my paint job feels like an emory board. My solution? Cut 'em all down!

Guess it's time to go visit the Detailing forum and figure out what supplies I'm going to procure. That first detail is sooner than I expected. Oh well, there are worse things.

Anyway, motoring update. Took the wife out on a date last night and motored top-down most of the evening. It was perfect. I do have to admit, however, that I failed to keep the revs under 4500 for a brief instant. What can I say? I was flying around a cloverleaf and had to accelerate to get on the highway. Well, to be more accurate, I was already going highway speeds, I simply had to accelerate because that was the right (i.e., fun) thing to do. It was a momentary indiscretion, I promise.

 

I have one word for you....Zaino.

I have read a lot about this stuff, and granted never used it yet, but it is supposed to be fantastic! Bought a whole detailing set. I cannot wait to use it. The polish can be applied and applied and the more you apply the slicker and more wet looking the paint looks. Check out the site at wwwzainostore.com.

 

I can already tell that I am going to be absolutely worthless at work today! hehe.

 

Beautiful car sfodoug...


Three days to go......
Or as Jerry Seinfeld would say. "You get it Thursday morning so that doesn't count. Your pretty much worthless for anything else until you get it so the reat of the days don't count. It's practically on wakeup call away.".......

 

Probably for a few days. I'm just glad I had a weekend to get some of the giddiness out of my system. I even noticed I didn't mind stopping at red lights since it just gave me an opportunity to enjoy the rapid acceleration. Hell, I was having so much fun, I didn't let the presence of a friendly police officer in the next lane prohibit me from driving away from a light in a spirited fashion. I was simply careful not to exceed the speed limit, but I did dust the police cruiser each time.

Still had a huge, goofy grin on my face driving to work this morning. This car is FUN!

Ordered Zaino last night. Today, I'm gonna track down all the microfibers, etc., I'll need.

AndyWSea, I look forward to hearing how your delivery goes. Have fun!

 

OK, so I think the wife is going to look at me with a generally disapproving look when I tell here I just dropped $350 on detailing products. Hell, I'm looking at myself with that look right about now. Quick, someone tell me how smart and wise I am for making this investment.