September 2004 – Page 2

In USA there are clear “lemon law” guidelines for what happens when a car has repeated problems. I thankfully have no experience with the law but my understanding is that the law does work … in England there is no direct equivalent that I know of; the closest would be the “Sale Of Goods” act which requires that something be “fit for the purpose for which it was sold”.
There is a sorry tale on MINI2 at the moment of a new MINI Convertible with repeated failures; the owner (convertible) writes “The problems started with the roof failing during the handover which delayed the car’s delivery by a few days until it was supposedly “fixed”” … “waited 6 months to take delivery and it is the worst car that I have ever had” … and he has posted this picture:

It seems there are “teething troubles” with some of the early convertibles; for the good of the customer and the good name of MINI, dealers should be striving to resolve these issues and work with the customer, and not fight against him/her.

UPDATE: The owner, Darren, sent me a video of the convertible roof (not) working; it does not look well:

Back from my third British Invasion (the first year I just visited, and last year I was there with Jason & Keith).
For this years visit a MINI2 thread got Jason (again) along with Gavin, Ricardo and Rich – and some MINI owners I have not met before including another Jason with an unusual VR MCS!
While it rained heavily in Massachusetts, we stayed dry – an overnight shower left us with clearing skies and eventual sun! This year the new MINIs were recognized as a separate class to the classics; we had 10 including a convertible and a late arrival from Hrach – the convertible drew the lions share of attention – most people have not seen one up close – and it also drew first place in the “peoples choice” awards!

Minolta DSC

GBMINI came away with second place, and the “VR MCS” got third place – no doubt due to the sun reflecting on its roof. As well as the new MINIs, there were many classic Minis and other British cars.
After the MINI awards, Jason again led us on a local drive, including Smugglers Notch and a couple of photo-ops:

Minolta DSC

Sunday morning is much less formal, with cars parked by color instead of class, and events including driving a figure 8 course with the driver blindfolded(!), and the tailgate picnic competition – my absolute favourite was Nightmare Before Christmas:

Minolta DSC

If you love British cars, MINIs or otherwise, put next years British Invasion on your calendar!
Thanks again to Jason for leading us on the run, and to all my MINI owning friends for a great day 🙂