Gone

I sold my 2005 MINI Cooper S today.  Owned it for almost 12 years.  Vaya con dios el MINI.

Waiting in the dealer lot, January, 2005

Ready for the Craigslist ad, July 2016

Austin Mini Van

Note the front license plate.

MINI at 11

My 2005 MINI Cooper S is turning 11 years old this month.  I ordered it on 11/18/2004.

Here's a picture that the salesperson took of it on 1/11/2005, when it arrived at the dealer in Ohio.  Since there were no dealers on the west coast that were taking orders (or had a 9 month wait), I ordered it at a dealer in Ohio and had it shipped out to me in Seattle.  I wonder what happened to the MINI parked next to it.

Bentley T2

Cars & Coffee

Turned out to be a nice morning for some cars and coffee.

MGB

BC visits Cars & Coffee Shoreline

I found out about a Cars & Coffee event that takes place every weekend from 8 to 10 at the Central Market in Shoreline.  I got up early this morning and fired up the GTV and headed over to Shoreline. The weather was perfect this morning.

I parked the GTV next to a '73 911 Targa.

This car belongs to the guy that runs the Seattle's Classics blog

That's a rubber chicken hanging off the bumper of the second Volvo.

It was a fun morning kicking tires with a bunch of like minded individuals.  Verdict:  I am going to make this a Saturday AM ritual.  Next time I think I will drive the NA...

OT: Tales of the nitrile glove - MINI motor mount

The passenger motor mount on the MINI decided to puke out its oil a while back.

I had been keeping an eye on it - watching for signs that the inner rubber was collapsing.  I hadn't seen any evidence, but with the car 500 miles away from 100K, I decided not to tempt fate any longer and ordered a new mount from Pelican Parts.

First step was to get the car off the ground and onto jack stands.  Someday I will have a lift...

Next step was to disconnect the ground strap and a few other hoses and clips.  The bottom of the mount is held on with a TORX E10 torque to yield bolt that is one time use.  I thought I might be able to remove it with just a 10mm socket, but no joy so it was off to McKlendon's then O'rielly's for the special socket.  The second stop had it, but I had to buy a set and expand my tool collection.  Once I was sure I could losen that bolt I removed the top engine mount after supporting the engine with a trolley jack and a 2x4.

Here's the grubby old mount with dried oil running down the side.  Under it is the funky E10 bolt.

Assembly was the reverse of dis-assembly as they say.

The E10 torque to yield TORX bolt was interesting.  You torqued it to 41.5 ft-lbs and then tightened it an additional 90 degrees.

I'd like to say that the car doesn't vibrate as much (it wasn't vibrating to begin with) and shifting feel has improved (no shift issues before either), but I can't.  It wasn't a hard job or time consuming (except for the two store stop to find the TORX socket).  Hopefully it's good for anther 100K miles.

MG Miget

Land Rover Defender 90

Jaguar XJ-S

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.

 

Ford Escort RS Cosworth

And you may ask yourself:  how did I get here?