A year of MINI circuits …

Posted on by Ian C.

About a year ago, after making two MINI circuits for other people (and one for me) I decided to make a small batch of about 30 and sell them.

Since then, I have shipped over 600 auto-up-windows MINI circuits!
Orders increased slowly last year as word-of-mouth “advertising” enabled more people to find out about the circuit – and there was a big peak in orders when Gabe Bridgers MotoringFile reviewed it.

Since the new year, when I pushed up the price, orders have tailed off significantly – but that is OK since I was being overwhelmed sometimes last year! Maybe the increased price has put people off, or maybe I have now saturated my market.

Currently I have about 80 MINI circuits in stock – although I will be taking 11 to Las Vegas next week for Sin City MINI Club members; I expect the rest of my stock will run out by June.

Customizing GBMINI#3

Posted on by Ian C.

My plan for GBMINI#3 was to customize the exterior with chrome bonnet stripes and a “moving S” on the roof.
Julian at Sublime Restorations has been working with Scott Mackay of Thin Air Grafx; this is the design he has proposed for the roof:

GBMINI#3 “S” roof design

For the bonnet stripes, I originally investigated painting them but the cost & labor was prohibitive, so we decided to try clearcoating over vinyl chrome stripes in the hope of getting a paint-like finish; unfortunately the results are not what I hoped for:

GBMINI#3 chrome stripes mock-up

The “orange peel” mottled effect is disappointing – I was hoping for a mirror finish like the rest of the chrome on the car but somewhere between the vinyl stripes & the clearcoat, the “orange peel” appears.

I don’t know yet what to do about this … I might just try some “plain” chrome vinyl stripes; at least the cost is not too bad if I decide they are not right.
John at MINI Peabody suggested that I actually chrome a MINI hood! Expensive no doubt …

New MINI, new tire bag

Posted on by Ian C.

I have aftermarket non-runflat tires on GBMINI; because it is an “S” it does not have a spare tire – so long ago I bought the MINI “skinny spare tire” (the one that is standard with the non-S) and on longer journeys I carry it in the car.
For GBMINI#2 I had a color matched tire bag made for me by JerseyGirl, so for GBMINI#3 I needed a new tire bag to match the new colors – and it arrived yesterday!

GBMINI#3 red tire bag

Nice 🙂
Thanks Robyn … see Robyns MINI “Nittany” here and check out her many products including the tire bag here at The Bag Lady link