ALLGBMINI – Page 411 – M&I / GBMINI

Ipswich Ford “cruise night”

Posted on July 15, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

Thanks to Ipswich Ford! Margaret & I first went to this just after we arrived in USA back in 1996 – we bought our first (USA) car from them and they told us about this upcoming annual event.
There are loads more cars attending now – but Ipswich Ford still hosts the event at no charge and even provides free food & drink! There were loads of different cars there – about the only rule is “pre 1972” (so no MINIs) …

Minolta DSC

MINI Circuits – Missing States

Posted on July 13, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

Regular readers will know of my fascination with numbers (such as 42!); last year this evolved into finding where all the shipped MINI circuits ended up, by cross-referencing the ZIP code with TIGER map. The resulting “map of USA” looks like this:

Yesterday I shipped MINI circuit #750! Astonishing for a “hobby” where I originally debated whether or not to make as many as 30 …

The most popular ZIP codes are: 02138, 22182, 27502, 28277, 44612, 90026, 91001 (thanks RB!), 92610, 94127, 95062 (most popular of all) and 98499.

But even with 750 shipped, to 562 different ZIP codes, I have never shipped a MINI circuit to: Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia or Wyoming.

So … the first person from each of those states to order a MINI circuit gets a special deal 🙂

2005/07/15: Thanks Craig – Iowa now filled in!
2005/10/05: Thanks John – Mississippi now filled in!
2005/10/24: Thanks Jim – Wyoming now filled in!
2005/10/28: Thanks Michael – South Dakota now filled in!
2005/12/19: Thanks David – Kentucky now filled in!

Convertible Hates Hot!

Posted on July 11, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

You might remember another MINI at PG Trionic a while back – Marie Catherine’s new convertible …
Sadly she has been having some problems with the roof on this car. In the (rare) hot weather about six weeks ago, the roof refused to open fully – the “sunroof” section worked but after that there was no more opening and just a flashing “fault” light.

I remembered reading of similar “too-hot-to-open” faults with early convertibles, identified as a problem with an overtemperature protection sensor on the motor, so we took the car to MINI Peabody and the motor was replaced.

But in the recent hot days, the convertible again refuses to open fully – although if you drive it for five minutes then the roof will happily open all the way (presumably the air movement cools the motor down).
Gary at MINI Peabody tells me of at least one more convertible with the same problem, but I am surprised not to be reading more about it online. If the original motor and the replacement have the same fault, there must be lots more convertibles out there with the same issue.

Perhaps many convertibles are garaged so the strong sun does not get a chance to heat the car too much?
So here is an informal poll – any convertible owners with the same problem? Or any convertible owners who leave their car out in hot sun and don’t have any problem?