Ice Cream by the Charles River

Posted on by Ian C.

Today was the Charles River Ice Cream run, following a route planned by Ivan (snek on MINI2) and ending at Needham Junction Ice Cream, owned by Eliot & Donna (MINIrandolph on MINI2). We started the day gathering at a school just off exit 18 of route 95/128, then took a drive along the Charles River through some great locations, including estates with many multi-million dollar homes … we stopped half way at this pond for more pics:


Finally at Needham Junction Ice Cream, everyone got free ice cream courtesy of Eliot!


Thanks to Ivan & Eliot for a great day (and thanks to Hurricane Charley for not raining on us).

Lunch at MINI Peabody

Posted on by Ian C.

Today there were a number of MINIs at MINI Peabody; some in for service, some just visiting … Steve needed a wheel hub replacing after a bolt sheared in it at the end of his track day this week, Ivan had a strange noise from the front of the car (turned out to be loose suspension) and Jason had a Borla exhaust installed!
Lunch (pizza from Steve and cake from Dan) was served, while watching one of Hrach MINI videos, upstairs in the “staff canteen”:

(Jared, Susan, Dan, Ivan, Steve, Evan and Jason)

Thanks to MINI Peabody for allowing us to hang out – more like visiting family than a car dealership!

Chrome rings in GBMINI

Posted on by Ian C.

Today I installed some chrome rings in GBMINIs interior; I bought the three official MINI rings in the center (for the speedometer and the two air vents) from MINI Peabody – the vent rings are quite easy to fit but the speedo ring requires some work (see MINI2 for details).

I bought the rev counter ring from CoolNew; this English company easily handles delivery to USA, but does not show the rev counter ring alone on its web page. It was pictured in an advert in GoMini magazine so I just phoned them and had no trouble ordering.


MINI USA will not sell the official MINI rev counter ring, since it requires disassembly of the rev counter to install! The CoolNew ring is a simple slide fit over the rev counter body – it is also a much nicer feel than the official MINI parts (but the MINI parts are less expensive).
I have two chrome pieces to go over the hazard & dim switches in the center console, but they are on back-order with MINI USA at the moment …