How far to your MINI dealer?

Regular readers will no doubt be aware that my local dealership, MINI Peabody, is not very far from me (20 minutes drive).
But recently, I shipped a MINI circuit to Anthony, and his Alaska zip code made me wonder how far away his dealership was – so I asked him …
The nearest dealer is in Tacoma, WA, about 2300 miles (by road). I bought my MINI from Momentum MINI in Houston, TX.
… there aren’t many MINI’s here in Alaska. Here in Anchorage, I have seen 8 different color combos myself, and have had friends report another 2 that I haven’t seen. Could be more than one of each color combo, so I don’t really know how many there are. The Owner Directory at http://www.miniusa.com lists 10 of us in Alaska, but 4 of those
aren’t near Anchorage and one is mine.
Of course, being one of a very few is part of the fun. When I was driving it up from Houston a few weeks ago, nobody really paid much attention to it, but once I got it here, I’ve gotten lots of comments!

My MINI circuit sales map also shows where MINI dealerships are located, but unfortunately it does not include Alaska in the map (a limitation of TIGER Map, it seems)
Definitely a couple of MINI circuit “dots” a long way from a dealership – but none can be as far as Anthony!
So if you think it is a long way to the dealership, just be glad you aren’t in Alaska 😉

USA: 100,000 MINIs soon!

Decembers MINI sales were announced today:


Decembers total sales was 3,810, with 3,363 in November; the total sold in USA is just 3,368 shy of 100,000! So will the total break 100,000 in January? We will see …

Meantime, with 4,637 Convertibles in USA, they are becoming much more “common” – almost 5% of MINIs are now convertible 🙂

Welcome to 2005 and a new weblog

I have been maintaining my GBMINI weblog for a year or more now, and it is finally time I used the same format for MargaretAndIan. I use MoveableType and I like the ease with which new entries can be made; integrating pictures from the gallery is not as streamlined as it should be but it is OK. One day I need to experiment with writing some code to make it easier, but I have no urge to spend many days learning php, html, etc. Instead I tweak existing code when I need to, and get on OK …

The weblog format also allows comments, if you wish – please comment and let me know what you think about the new format 🙂

Winter 2004/2005 has been unpredictable so far, with temperatures today, the first day of 2005, reasonably pleasant at 45-50f; in fact Margaret & I drove to the mall & back for lunch in her convertible with the top down!
I don’t know if we will keep the mild winter, or if temperatures will drop to the stupidly cold level they were last year …

What will 2005 bring? No idea … we have a trip to Las Vegas booked for march, and Margaret is planning to do another Masters degree. Las Vegas is I think still my favourite destination and the trip this year is justified by ConExpo for work.

I have been debating replacing my MINI with a new 2005 model (so many improvements to tempt me since 2003) but it is hard to justify …

Happy New Year everyone!