Paul & Sheila, Tom and Matthew – an unexpected visit

Posted on by Ian C.

On Tuesday night we had a phone call from Sheila, that they were thinking of visiting … immediately! With our trip to California and MINI Takes The States, we wouldn’t have much time to see them – but they were welcome to borrow our house and car … so yesterday they flew over!
By chance, they had booked flights from Newcastle to Boston via Paris, which with the current flight chaos in England was a good move. They landed in Boston only about half an hour late (compared with a British Airways flight from Heathrow which was listed as five hours late!)

Of course by the time they got to our house (in two cars – neither the MINI nor the Audi can carry six people!) they were tired, although the boys quickly became active again. We gave Paul & Sheila our room, which is big enough to put an inflatable bed down for the boys, and Margaret & I slept in the guest room (till Tuesday, when we fly to Monterey!)

This morning, with comfortable temperatures, lots of sun and blue skies, we sat on the deck – the boys enjoyed watching the fish and Tom was very interested in the different birds & the noise of the crickets …


Then, we took a trip to Halibut Point State Park:

 

MINI CONCEPT for the future

Posted on by Ian C.

A while ago (thanks Jordan!) I learned of a special edition book available at the UK Motorshow – and I managed to get hold of a copy (thanks Alex!):

 

The book is beautifully put together, all glossy except for some deliberate “sketch paper” style sheets at the back for Hands On and Part Matrix (I didn’t want to bend the spine too hard, which is why I photographed pages instead of scanning them). It’s full of details about the MINI concept cars shown in Frankfurt, Tokyo, Detroit and Geneva, including information about the ideas behind each concept, and the methods to create the cars – here is the contents:
MINI CONCEPT – design for life
“The Basic Premise Is Space” – interview with head of MINI design Gert Hildebrand
MINI Concept Frankfurt
“The MINI Concept Gives Me A Sense Of Floating” – what young japenese designer Yashiro Mihara associates with the MINI Concept
MINI Concept Tokyo
Driving The Future – the thoughts of German futurist and trend analyst Matthias Horx on the future of motoring and the sensory aspects of car design
Come To Your Senses – see, hear and smell – experience the MINI Concept with all senses
MINI Concept Detroit
Why We Need A Car With Endless Possibilities – design guru Tyler Brule loves the MINI Concept
MINI Concept Geneva
“The Time Is Right” – Vice President brand management MINI Dr Kay Segler on the future of MINI
Hands On – behind the scenes with the MINI design team
Part Matrix – combining four cars into one

 

Recommended for all MINI fanatics 🙂