Today is Leon's 10th birthday! 10 years ago I just happened to be driving by Otto's Mini in West Chester Pa and saw him being unloaded off the truck. I always love those little Minis and actually owned a few British cars in my youth. But the sight of him sitting there in his Dark Silver paint with his shiny Black roof and racing stripes just about snapped my neck. It kind of reminded me of a guy wearing a tux with sneakers (which I am guilty of in the past). I immediately wheeled around, looked him over and literally bought him off the truck. Turns out he was one of the first refreshed R53's on the east coast. He was well optioned and slated to become the sales managers demo. I put a stop to that by plucking down a $1k deposit. I Went to my credit union that afternoon and 4 days later I was driving him home on MY 43rd birthday. Hard to believe it's been 10 years... Leon's 10 and I am 53 now. My kids are grown and gone, 2 grandkids later and I am still driving this Mini. It's the longest I have ever keep a car in my life. My wife wants to get rid of it because it rides rough (she doesn't understand sport suspension at all !). I've considered selling it and even put a deposit down on a 500 Abarth but, backed out in the end. I just can't part with it and keep thinking the "fun to money ratio". Meaning, how much more money will I have to spend to have the same fun that I have with my well optioned/modded, nice looking, PAID FOR R53? I can't come up with a car (short of spending about $50k on) that will give me what I already have with my "refreshed" 1st gen R53. I just had to get my tags renewed. The guy at the DMV kept going around my car and checking the vin. He even brought another guy over and had him check too. I wasn't sure what was going on and asked if there was a problem. He said no, I just couldn't believe this was a 10 year old car and had to verify it. It still looks that good! Well enough about me, how long are you keeping your Mini?

 

Awesome story , congrats. Happy 10th. Post up some new pics.

 

Just put your pads, ss lines, and rotors on last fall. Still stops on a dime and will give ya 9 cents change

 

Awesome. Then pics are a must. Its nice to hear the DMV say nice thing about your MINI.