Why are you a MINI owner?

[CraigR53]

I was in the 1.4l auto Honda Jazz in fantastic Baby Blue (I rocked it) when I came across this in Ayr one day. No idea who owns it maybe someone on here can shed some light. I fell in love and started to researched the brand and the cars some more, rest is history and I'm glad I found these forums. Well run and had some great fun :)

What's your guys story?

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/18/865b073eb86b41840a3e32781c20cea6.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/18/f5d866e7d78cb271ab4cf823366dda02.jpg


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[jonnie]

Had three now, first time i drove my sisters cooper i was hooked and bought it from her. Just a characterful car, fun to drive, like a go kart with a roof.

[cuddles]

Brian and Williiam made me get one lol loved my first mini and the rest as they say is history lol xxx

[Crombers]

It's a long story that I'll bore you with later on, suffice to say that a liquid yellow (colour irrelevant) Cooper wearing 17" 'S' spokes on display inside Henry Bros in March 2004 swung the deal :thumbs up:

[Craig]

My first car in 1990 was a Mini and after owning 3 classics and various others, Jude got a MINI in 2003 and other than a small time away in 2009 we have owned quite a few [emoji2].


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[DigitalLemming]

Visiting motorpoint in Glasgow and not finding anything I liked, spotted a MINI in the showroom area and thought I'll never fit, but lets try anyway, found I not only fit but had a decent amount of room as well. That planted the idea and after stalking the MINI website one evening, a test drive was booked in Stirling and I fell for it straight away, deposit paid and I picked it up the next week.

The same day (or not long after) I joined NMS, 2 weeks later I went on my first run (Craig's perthshire pleasure from memory) had a blast and you've not been able to get rid of me since :lol:

[CraigR53]

I like hearing stories like this!

My one year run anniversary is due in January with the Manky Tharsh [emoji324]


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[MINI William]

Can't quite remember what got me wanting a MINI but I can remember going up to Harry Fairbairn in Kirkcaldy (Phoenix at the time) after passing my test to have a look at MINI's and ordering my ONE in the January and picking it up on the 14th April 2007 (ONE launch day). There was also a point where about a year before passing my test and the R50 still being on sale that we were going to get a MINI for me to use after passing my test, Chilli red, Aero kit, Chrono pack and the JCW Sparcos where all on the list. SO after that its all history MINI number 6 due soon

[Eddie_JCW]

I hired an S in July 2013 and loved the way it drove, loved the smile it put on my face about 2 weeks later I was in Eastern getting figures done on an R56, I was going for an S when I decided stuff it I'll end up wishing I had bought a JCW. I went through to see what Douglas Park Glasgow could do for me since my cousin works there and I set eyes on my car, wrong colour at the time and I was still unsure when I put the deposit down for a 1st September delivery. The longest wait of my life. My first run was the same as Andrews and like Andrew I've been to pretty much everything since :)

[CiderFex]

Are you sitting comfortably ?
I bought my first Classic way back in '95. Unbeknown to me it used to be owned by a drug dealer and I got pulled at least once a week in it for the year I owned it.
It was black with Wolfrace alloys that had the inner edge of the five slots painted lime green, and had a few other lime green touches, which I just loved the look of against the black.
I bought another 2 Mini's for bits , one an 850 and the other a Woody Traveller. I never got around to doing anything with them as I was very heavily into drinking at the time and sold the 850 and Woody for a decent profit and scrapped the black Mini after selling the Wolfrace alloys for more than I paid for the car.
All the above was done and dusted in one year.
I forgot all about owning Mini's until late 2000, early 2001, I honestly can't remember which.
I had seen a few pics of the new MINI and fell in love with it. I went to Sytner in t'Sheff and fully specced a Cooper S and all I had to do was to sign on the dotted line to own one of the first Cooper S's off the production line.
I walked away without signing the paperwork and bought a 4 bed house instead, a VERY wise move indeed.
I forgot all about MINI's until I saw a concept pic of a two seater MINI in late 2005.
I wanted one as soon as I saw it until I saw the price !!!
Various other cars were bought and sold until my lunch break on Thursday 12th April 2012.....

I remembered about the two seater MINI but just could not remember the actual model name.
After a few minutes of searching the internet I discovered the name of my dream.....
It was a John Cooper Works S fitted with GP kit.
I just had to look to see how much they were selling for.
There were four up for sale.
One was £22K, one had trashed paintwork for £9K, one had the rear full of speakers for £12K and one was up for sale with 47K on the clock for £11K.
I drove up to Preston on the following Saturday to have a look at it and fell in love with it immediately.
I had no money to buy it but 'Ar Lass knew of my dream to own a GP and offered to lend me the full amount to buy it.
I instantly banged down £500, nearly all the money I had in the bank at the time, as a deposit and counted down the minutes for the following 7 days.
I picked up GP1499 the following Saturday, 21st April 2012, and have been like a kid in a sweet shop ever since.
:)


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[Ivano]

I was in the 1.4l auto Honda Jazz in fantastic Baby Blue (I rocked it) when I came across this in Ayr one day. No idea who owns it maybe someone on here can shed some light. I fell in love and started to researched the brand and the cars some more, rest is history and I'm glad I found these forums. Well run and had some great fun :)

What's your guys story?

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/18/865b073eb86b41840a3e32781c20cea6.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10/18/f5d866e7d78cb271ab4cf823366dda02.jpg


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The owner of car above copied like for like a Clubman owned by Andrew (Rally) over on Motoring Underground Forum in the States. All the way down to even the mirrors and tweak of the rear light cluster which i think he got some stick for.

I think he even ran Alfa Romeo wheels which again Rally had in the past. (Not pictured)

It was seen at a few VW Shows and has now been sold on i believe.

Here is the original version from the USA

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r545/Ivano12/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally%202.jpg (http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Ivano12/media/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally%202.jpg.html)


http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r545/Ivano12/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally%203.jpg (http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Ivano12/media/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally%203.jpg.html)


http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r545/Ivano12/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally%204.jpg (http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Ivano12/media/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally%204.jpg.html)

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r545/Ivano12/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally.jpg (http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Ivano12/media/MINI%20Clubman%20Rally.jpg.html)

[EcosseGP]

I'm loving that Clubby ...
Well what more can i say but my very first car was a mini clubman in sand glow orange with chocolate brown interior (FVV549T) and I suppose looking back that's where the addiction started. It didn't stay standard long getting stereos fitted new chrome bits and laterally the engine being swapped from a 998cc to a 1340cc race engine !
All those that know me know what I'm like but I got caught up in a 205 time tunnel owning and tuning 15 at the last count !
It was time to change my car in 2008 and after selling my Subaru Impreza to finance buying a house I wanted something different again. So after taking out another Subaru, Ford Focus RS and MINI GP all back to back I fell for the wee buggy and the rest is history in the GP circle. Having put the GP in the garage for a bit of work I decided that I needed a MINI to run about in day to day too and hence the reason I usually have a couple of MINIs at any one time.
I suppose that I have to take some of the blame for Catherine wanting ONE too ...



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[CiderFex]

Some of the blame ???


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[CraigR53]

That's interesting on that clubby! I think the 3sdm's look amazing on it!

Would love a set of those Rotiform Nue's also[emoji7]


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[Ivano]

That's interesting on that clubby! I think the 3sdm's look amazing on it!

Would love a set of those Rotiform Nue's also[emoji7]


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Think the Rotiform BLQs suit the Clubby better.

Had a set of BLQs on my Golf, great looking wheels but a total bugger to clean!!!!!

[Coop1]

I set out to place an order for a Skoda Octavia (no, really) in March 2010 and ended up buying a new Mini One on the way back as the Skoda was going to take too long to get in stock. Thank-you Skoda! V quick decision made after test drive that day (in a Cooper). Then hooked. Replaced with R56 MCS in March 2012, then R56 JCW in September 2013, then current car in June this year....

[Captain clean]

My previous car(Nissan Qashqai) was on a lease to buy plan. As i was half way through the agreement i could change the car. A British racing green Mini Cooper diesel was due to arrive and posted on the site. I had years ago tried a petrol cooper and really liked the way you could throw it about and the retro throw back. Looked at whole life costs on both the Qashqai and the Cooper. Also i would own the car quicker as cost less to buy.

So with head ruling heart i bought the Cooper.

It was on the drive home that it was not just the head it had won over but my heart. Here was a car that was fun to drive but was economical.

[MINI William]

Great hearing everyone's stories

[Sinky]

I didn't really care for Mini's till my sister gave me a shot of her JCW and the rest is history. Now a proud owner of a mkII GP and looking now to order a Cooper SD for my longer commute

[ELFMAN]

I was hooked on 'Classic' Minis from an early age (my first 'Mini Adventure' was when I was about 4) back then in the 60s (yes I AM that old - don't be fooled by my boyish good looks) they were just 'Minis'... but folks from all walks of life loved 'em. Can you think of a current car which has such a broad fanbase? Bet you can.

Years later I constantly 'borrowed' my dear Mum's 1100 Clubbie (Sandglow - sort of beige, with brown velour upholstery - proper 70s stylee!) which was the most fun I'd had in a car up to that point. The first car I bought with my own money was a metallic light blue 1982 998 Mini HLE, which through time grew lots of mods, including another 276cc's and another 60bhp... and that was definately the most fun I'd had in a car - maybe in any car. Of course I was young and immortal back then and consequently used up at least 7 of my 9 lives! These days I know immortality's only true in fairy tales which is maybe why I drive a bit slower now. It (not me) used to race everything in sight, it was never beaten 'off the line' and rarely matched anywhere else due to having a strong motor and weighing the same as a crisp packet. It was on drum brakes (spent all the money on the engine) and wouldn't stop after 15 minutes of thrashing. Although I've heard some folks enjoy a good thrashing, and they don't stop either - but that's going off topic!

Went through a succession of fast Novas and Peugeot 106's, which were mainly great - especially my tuned 106 GTI which was a fine machine with a great engine, handling (if you watched the back end! - cured by lowering), and again light weight. But nothing quite captured the feeling of that wee blue Mini... Until 2001.

Saw the New Cooper. Fell in love with the New Cooper. Read every review and collected every brochure and promotional pack. Knew I was going to buy it way before I drove it. Bought it, drove it, loved it even more. Like finding out Kylie not only looked wonderful, but was a really nice person and would snog your face off at the drop of a hat.

That Cooper got more attention in 2001 than any 'exotic' would have. Folk from 8 to 80 really liked it, and it brought lots of smiles to lots of faces - especially mine. It was Indi Blue and Black and kept it for two years during which I joined NMS. First run was (I think) to Skye. In those early days, the only thing which got a bigger reaction to a New MINI was a convoy of New Minis! It still kind of works even to this day - albeit to a much lesser degree, sadly.

I then had my R53 (same colour) for 5 years and it 'grew' (like my original Mini) into a JCW 210 with a "Motörhead" soundtrack courtesy of Playmini, and I've had my R56 since 2009 - again it's been down the same road tuning wise, and down the same roads, literally, as my first Mini around 30 years ago... Same roads, same fun, same style, same smile. Nothing comes close to matching that combination, and I'm not sure anything ever will. The New MINI, despite being a world away from the 'original' in size (and costs!), still captures that feeling I first got all those years ago, barreling down a back road with nothing on my mind but gears, revs and adrenalin. That only happens with a very special car.

Throw in NMS - the nicest bunch of fellow MINI nuts you'll meet this side of Valhalla and the friendships and memories we've made together over the years...

THAT'S why I'm a MINI Owner.

[Crombers]

Brillant write up Elfmeister :thumbs up:

[MINI William]

Fantastic Elfman

[EcosseGP]

^^^ :):):)


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[ELFMAN]

Aye, the old MINI Mojo is still in there somewhere ;)
It's been on Life Support for the last couple of years due to stuff outwith my control, but "Never Say Die"!

Unless you're buying two dice, or changing your hair colour... Which I'm not :frown: Maybe I could hire some...

[EcosseGP]

You never lose it Ewan just sometimes other things become more important ... The mojo is still in there it'll return at some point :)


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