Posted on October 26, 2011 at 10:34 pm
This past weekend I participated in my third rally with the PhillyMini.org folks. This time it was a very long rally called the Picture Perfect Parks Rally. It stared in Kennett Square, PA and ended up in Ridley.
A long rally it started at 9am and finished off at 6pm, tho to be honest I bagged out at Valley Forge Park and headed home around 3pm. My dad was my navigator this time and I think he really enjoyed it.
It was a very spirited fun day and I’m looking forward to my next rally… the Night Owl Run.
Photos over at Flickr, not too many photos cause I had the Android.
Posted on June 5, 2011 at 9:44 am
Let’s just quietly ignore the fact of how freaking lazy I’ve been about updating my blog…. and get on with the Mods we’ve been making to our new baby.. the MINI Cooper S!
My best friend Chuti came down from Beantown just after we got the car to help with the mods. The weekend he was here we did the following:
1. Blacked out the Belt Line (the chrome ring under the windows and above the body)
2. Replaced the red hood scoop with a black one (a gift from him!)
3. Replaced the super long 10″ antenna with a amazing stubby one (another gift)
4. Coated all the remaining chrome pieces in PlastiDip. This included:
- Headlamp rings
- Gas Filler Cap
- Taillamp Rings
- Side Scuttles
5. PlastiDip coated the trunk handle.
I took photos of everything (natch) and posted them over to Flickr
Just a peek or two here:
I wanted to say thank you to Chuti for his help and tutelage. I don’t know what I’d have done with out him!
Posted on May 8, 2011 at 8:47 pm
About two and a half years ago, when my better half’s Volvo lease was up we went looking for a new car. Two of them bubbled up to the top, the Honda Fit Sport and the MINI Cooper. We went out to test drive the MINI and instantly bought that car. We picked one off the lot, Oxygen Blue with a white roof and a six speed automatic transmission. I will admit that I liked the car quite a bit but I had no idea how much I’d fall in love with it.
Since 2004, I’ve been a Volvo guy. Really love my Volvos. From our first S60 to the XC70 to the new S60, I really love them, but once I started driving the MINI on a regular basis, I stole me heart. It stole it so completely that about a year into our three year lease I began to lust and want after our next MINI. Seriously, I had fully planned out the next car we got after this lease was up would be another MINI but this time it’d be a MINI Cooper S and a this weekend that dream came true.
I took our Oxygen Blue MINI Cooper into Otto’s MINI for service and found out that I needed some new tires, three tires to be exact and those three tires were going to cost me $1200.00. It seemed silly that I’d have to pay that much money to put tires on a car that I’d be giving back in less than six thousand miles. So I went over to my salesperson Holly and asked about a new MINI.
I had hoped to order our new MINI and watch and wait for it to go through the process of being built but, it turns out that Holly had a MINI on the lot that was more than I ever dreamed of.
She is a 2011 MINI Cooper S Hardtop. Chili Red and Black outside, Black with the Anthracite (black) headliner and Rooster Red Trim inside!! I would never have gone for that inside, but I love it. She still needs her bonnet stripes and I have plans to black out all of her chrome bits but here is the first photos of her!
I will post some more pics as I go!
Posted on March 2, 2011 at 10:59 am
I’m taking advantage of being seriously far behind in my blogging to talk about the Geneva Auto Show. It’s going on this week and as it’s one of the big international auto shows, there were quite a few cars introduced that piqued my interest.
MINI Rocketman
MINI introduced the Rocketman concept car giving us a glimpse of what the future of MINIs might be.
While I’m not totally crazy about the over all design, I do like how it’s very connected to the current MINI design language and I love the roof. I’m not so crazy about the mood lighting and the tray style trunk. It’s still a nice concept car and I’m sure we’ll some of these things in the next MINI.
Volvo V60 Plugin
We all know how much a fan I am of Volvo, and the V60 (the wagon version of the S60) Plugin Hybrid looks impressive. A fuel effecient diesel engine and a 70hp electric engine with a flexible drive train that can allow you to be electric, gas or hybrid gets my blood boiling, the gorgeous design moves my spirit. Too bad it will never come to the states, we can’t even get diesel engines here yet.
Lamborghini Aventador LP-700
It’s not every day that Lamborghini puts out a new model. It’s a big event and the replacement for the Murcièlago is no exception. Beautiful, light and fast, it’s certainly worthy of the money of rich men and the lust of teenage boys. I wouldn’t have minded having a poster of this on my wall if I was a teenage boy.
Alfa Romeo 4C
And last but certainly not least, the most beautiful car to be unvieled so far… the Alfa Romeo 4C. A smaller brother to the Maeratti GrandTurismo based 8C. It’s so pretty. It looks to be the size of a Lotus Elise but impossibly curvy and looks like it’s going a million miles an hour while sitting still. This is a car I’d consider driving. It seems as if it’s headed for production, but who knwos how much it will cost!
