Peter, an MA at MINI of Fairfield County, who has just recently (finally) taken delivery of his GP#1636, has been interested in Minis for a long long time …
He recently sent me a fascinating words & pictures history of his Mini life, which I’ve uploaded as a PDF (8 pages, 3.5MB), well worth downloading & reading if you enjoy that sort of thing 🙂
A few excerpts:
… Got some good grades and the next year, I was allowed to buy my own car if I had enough money to pay for it, which after a few summer jobs, I did. Well, I searched and looked all around, and found a well used (it had been rolled) 1962 (?) Mini Cooper 1071 S … Somewhere in New Jersey one of the tired flat-top pistons got a hole in the crown, and I became a moving smoke machine, much to the annoyance of any motorists near by. I finally made it home after stopping at every gas station for oil. The ensuing days taught me a lot about the inner workings of the Mini engine, and transmission …
… I was very successful in racing, winning the New England Regional Championship and the North Atlantic Road Racing Championship many times, and qualifying for the SCCA National Championships often …
… I had to wait 4 years to get my next real car, a new MINI. I have claimed on many MINI websites to be the first person in the US to place a deposit on a MINI, on Sept of 2000 …
… My next MINI, #19, will be a 2006 MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP kit, roof # 1636, is scheduled to be here by the time you should be reading this article …
M&I / GBMINI 
That was very nice. Thanks for sharing, both of you.
The one pic shows a guy sitting on the roof of his Mini. Wouldn’t want to try that on my 2004.
twistybitz, was rb