Cafepress

Posted on by Ian C.

I recently decided to experiment with Cafepress to see what fun could be had with their products & GBMINI; I spent a few very frustrating hours using their web sites last weekend to set up various items for order with a combination of a picture of GBMINI or a close-up of the “S” logo.
Their website was shockingly slow, and timed out more than once – forcing me to repeat some steps.
I was also disappointed by the fact that you can’t set up more than one of the same item, with different designs (unless you pay $$$/month for the premium services).

Anyway, I did eventually get some things set up and ordered – they came quite quickly and mostly look like nice quality items:

Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC

I also ordered a few Tshirts and other things. The customisation process is quite good, allowing you to upload your images and size & position them on the items.

I guess not everyone wants a shirt or teddy bear that has their MINIs logo on it, but for those that do, Cafepress offers a useful solution, with good quality items at reasonable prices.

SuperCars – better than MINIs

Posted on by Ian C.

Sad to say, there really are some cars in the world that are better than MINIs!

Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC

This Lamborghini had just arrived at my friend Roberto’s body shop (last year I visited there too and compared GBMINI to a Ferrari). Interestingly there is a (tenous) link between my MINI and this Lamborghini – the Lamborghini dealership is owned by the same group that owns MINI Peabody

Inside there were a number of Ferraris being worked on, including an Enzo, and a more traditional Dino Ferrari, with a couple of other Ferraris filling the shop floor space!

Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC

But I think the Lamborghini looks much better than any of the Ferraris 🙂

Screw holes!

Posted on by Ian C.

One of the still-not-right parts of the interior of GBMINI#3 is the screws holding the door panels to the door – they really show up with the red matched paint of the trim, and they shouldn’t.

Recently Gabe reviewed the MyMINI knee pad and I wandered over to MyMINIparts to have a closer look … I did actually order a knee pad but unlike Gabe, now it has arrived I don’t think I will fit it; it does not give a perfect fit to the down tube, and it makes the downtube even thicker so increasing the chance of my leg leaning on it. I should have realized that before, but I didn’t.
Also, it fits to the down tube high up and my knee rests below the bottom of the part!

Anyway, while I was at MyMINIparts I looked around at what else they offer and found some “chrome” caps to cover the door trim screw holes! Ordered, received and fitted:

Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC

I would disagree with the “chrome” description; they are more like polished metal and have a somewhat rough look rather than the pure smooth chrome look of the factory “real chrome” elsewhere in the car; but for $8 for the set of four, there’s not much to complain about – and they do look better than the bare holes.