Amherst Pulley Party

Posted on by Ian C.

I wanted to visit todays pulley party in Amherst, NH to say “hi” and to show off GPMINI 😉
It happened that Margaret & I had to go to Milford, NH this morning – and it turned out that we were just a couple of miles from the party MINIs, so it all worked out well!

I got to say “hi” to lots of MINI people I’ve met before – Joe, Pat, Pat, Pete, Pete, Jim, Jason, Richard, Rick, Jock (I hope I got everyone!) – and I also met a few new people, including Sheena & Robert. I saw Pats new MINI (congrats Pat!), and Jims not-so-new-but-still-looks-like-new MINI (see NIIICE from a few years back):

Joe & Jim both told me about this new “ICE” polish from Turtle Wax, which they say is perfect for the MINI since it leaves no residue on the black wheel arches! Jim coated part of GPMINI, including half a wheel arch – and considering there was no pre-washing and I’d just driven 70 miles in rain, it looks pretty good … it also feels amazing, a really smooth finish on the paintwork:

I’ll be buying some of this soon – and hopefully Josh will also buy and report on it as a follow-up to his recent wheel arch trim test 🙂

Oh – and I let Joe drive GPMINI – he’s one of the best people I know to give me a good comparison report, and he was VERY impressed … his first comment when he got back was to wonder if the tires weren’t runflats, because they ride so smooth!

GP touch-up paint

Posted on by Ian C.

A GP owner recently tried to get touch-up paint and couldn’t – I checked with MINI of Peabody and the touch-up paint is back-ordered …

Today I visited my friend Julian at Sublime Restorations; he’s been wanting to see the GP since I got it, but when he saw it, the paint chips from driving MINI Takes The States bothered him!
Julian checked his paint match computers and found paint code A64 listed, so mixed a few ounces of paint – which was a perfect match for the GP of course! So he tidied up a few of the biggest stone chips while I was there …

I’ll probably send GPMINI over to Sublime Restorations for a few days, to have all the chips sorted, and a “clear bra” installed – I’m not keen on them, but I trust Julian to do a good install job!

Meanwhile, if anyone needs touch-up paint, see if your local bodyshop can mix it for you – or call Julian to see what he’ll charge to ship some to you …

And while I was waiting, I got to enjoy the new Sublime Restorations seating!

100,000 miles for Jason

Posted on by Ian C.

There’a a few MINIs that have done 100,000 miles or more – the first I knew of was back in July 2004, and more recently Don Burnside passed 100,000 miles (and I think is now over 130,000).

While I was driving coast-to-coast during MTTS, my friend Jason reached 100,000 miles in his 2003 VR MINI and wrote a great 100,000-miles-in-pictures on MINI2 (interesting that DB and Jason both have VR MCs – is that a prerequisite to reach 100,000 miles?!)


I first met Jason at the original 2002 MINI meander – second from left in this picture:

Since then, I see Jason once or twice a year – pretty well guaranteed to see him at British Invasion … Jason was also, famously, the driver of the “Marshmallow” at the original MINIsOnTop (2003), due to a moose encounter … this accident, and the rest of Jasons MINI history, is well documented on his MINI2 post.

Meanwhile, I covered about 8,300 miles in GBMINI#1, 28,000 miles in GBMINI#2, 22,000 miles (so far) in GBMINI#3 and 5,600 miles (so far) in GPMINI – a total only about 2/3 of Jasons count (but then he has a 200 mile drive each way to the dealership, while I have only 20 miles!)

Jason – it’s great to have you as a friend 🙂