Gianni's cars part 9: 2005 MINI Cooper S

Towards the end of 2004 I was getting tired of the Mazda Protege5 Econobox.  A week before Thanksgiving 2004 I ordered a 2005 MINI Cooper S.  At the time MINI's were extremely popular on the West Coast.  Unlike today, dealers had no cars on their lot.  You special ordered your car.  The Washington dealer, located in beautiful Fife, WA, was NOT taking orders at all.  They told me to call back in 6 months.  The Portland dealer was taking orders for a build 9 months in the future and it was MSRP + $700.  The Salt Lake City dealer was 6 months and $300 over MSRP.  California was the same as WA.  On the East Coast things were different, so after reading up on the North American Motoring (MINI) forum.  I contacted Julie at Classic MINI in Cleveland, OH.  There was no wait to put an order in, and it was MSRP, which was as good as you were going to do on a new MINI in late 2004.  So I put in an order for a Chili Red Cooper S with minimal options - leather seats, 17" S-Lites and a body colored dash.  I got the build number a week later and was able to track my cars progress in the factory.  They started building it in early December and it landed in the US port on New Years Eve.  I decided not to fly to Cleveland in the dead of winter and drive it back, so I had it shipped out in an enclosed transporter.  It waited a couple of weeks at the dealer in Cleveland as the transporters were busy in Arizona with the auctions.  I got my car in early February.  I still have it almost 10 years and 100,000 miles later.  Here it is with the GTV circa 2007 at my old Seattle home.