The Line-up in the Parking Lot.

Here is a line-up shot of all the cars who showed for our lunch meeting. There were a few more later after this picture was taken. I really like the new wheels on the grey MINI right behind Mark in this shot. You know whose those are....nice wheels man.

As for this week...MINIs on the Dragon 2007!! More to come on that one. Standby.

Stripes!!

Founder of the Tar Heel MINI club http://www.tarheelminis.org/ , Mark Vogler, applies some stripes to a chili red MINI in a parking lot in Greensboro last Saturday. We had a gathering to "pass the torch" for the new officers in the club. There was a nice crowd and we had great fun as always eating and talking all things MINI.

First Tire Rotation!

Here is a shot of my first MINI tire rotation. You can see the 17mm socket for the lugs and various breaker bars and ratchets. The torque wrench is there and my MINI manual says 88.5 foot pounds is the correct torque settting for these wheels.
Note my old Craftsman floor jack which dates back to my MG Midget days. Soon I will share some pictures of that adventure! Long story...
Note...the Red Bull in the picture is not a requirement for MINI tire rotations unless you are my age in which case it is a good idea to have an energy drink around to perform any manual labor....

A Final Shot of the New 2007 MINI!

Man I had some fun last Sunday. Thanks Flow Motors - your people are great! It is almost a week later and I am still smiling. All I can say is this. If you are considering a new car this new MINI is one awesome automobile! I love the turbo and the new styling. This car puts a taxidermic smile on my face. Take my advice. Go drive a new MINI. I'll see you on my next MINI adventure. Be safe and have fun!

Here is my 2007 R56 Fun ride next to my R53!!!

A blue "S." Ahh... OK let's tell my story of last Sunday afternoon. I was late getting over to Flow MINI. I have a busy schedule so I managed to get over there (over an hour away) by 4:00. I knew the event was over at five so I had to work fast. I signed up for a ride and in no time I was sitting in this blue beauty. Honestly I thought I would not really like this car. I was wrong. I love my 2006 and always will love the retro-styling but this generation is the future of the brand. I really like the new styling and technology. I am such a BMW convert these days.

Here is my comments for what they are worth. This car is new. I am skiddish about first year-model cars of any type. I will say this. This car is better than the early first generation MINIs. It is truly an evolution of the past and the best of the current technology. I really believe I will own one of these as my car ages.

OK I am dying to tell you my story so here goes, enough of that stuff you can read in the car magazines...First Joe Culp was our lead car, check him out here...http://www.flowmini.com/Our-People.aspx Joe is a wild man!! A true MINI guy! He had this first generation MINI with a small number "1" on the back glass. I lined up behind him in my blue 2007 "S"...there were 2 other MINIs behind me. As I adjusted the mirrors and tried to figure out how the new seats worked I waited for the traffic light to change so I could feel the car out. Finally I got the seat tilted forward to a comfortable position...yes this car is a little different. The light is green! Woohoo! I press the gas pedal and I feel the new engine for the first time. YES! The turbo is kicking some serious ass! Man... what can I say. The boost is awesome. the torque is obviously very strong. A we merge on to I40 I am on the back of the lead car. I am not going to let Joe get away from me. Suddenly I feel really young and my face is getting that wide smile going. OMG what a car! Can I say that again? Can I hear an AMEN? Woohoo!! We hit the first exit ramp and I try to drift the car in the extreme curve. None of that for this auto. I am way up the speedo and not even sweating the handling. I am all over Joe and by now I am laughing my ass off. This was the best thing I have done to drive over here and try this car out.

We hit the off ramp end and come to a stop sign. I finally see the two MINIs behind me catch up. We eaze though the low sped zones until we see a "Euro-round-a-bout" My new crazy friend Joe holds his hand up and does a circle with it. I smile. I know exactly what he wants to do. We have the right of way. There are several "ons" from connecting roads but we are going to put on a show for the "un-initiated" We made at least four circles at about as fast a speed as you could do through that circle and we were putting on a real show for the people sitting there watching. Everyone just stared! It was so funny! Like a movie or something. Everyone was smiling and I think I was crying it was so much fun. OK people, this was a "MINI moment." As we exited the round about we sped towards the S curve ahead and I knew my test drive was winding down. Damn this car is great. I pulled in next to my car to take a picture or two. What a car. What a car. Life is good baybee.

The radio is on and I am ready to ride....

As I set my mirrors and tuned the sound system I am almost ready to ride in a new MINI. My heart is pounding. Woohoo! Check out that start button! Verray nice!

A random interior shot...

A random interior shot for your viewing pleasure.

Lounge Leather....Oh Yeah Baybee!!

OK there is one item I don't have on my car that I would love to have. The 2007 " lounge leather seats." OMG I really like the way these seats look. (insert drool) This is the way an English car should look. AND...they feel absolutely great. Better than leatherette for sure, not to say leatherette seats are bad...any MINI seats are better that none at all! (Yes I went for leatherette myself and they are not all that bad..still wish I had that English panther leather) If you strip your car down to put your money in your 401K you should at least treat yourself to these seats! You deserve them! They feel soooo good and they ooze class. Nuff' said.

BIG OEM Exhaust!!

Did I mention the big factory exhaust on this 2007 model car? Yeah they got it right this time.

Oh I forgot...I Found a spare under this car!

I thought this was a cool shot so check it out!

An Awesome Powerplant!!!

OK so I made my decision to buy the 2006 S with the supercharger. I love my car and the supercharger whine. In fact I have owned quite a few Mercedes Benz products, Rice-burners (I still own a Toyota Land Crusier and no it is not for sale) , English roadsters, American this and that, and of course so many Volkswagen sports products..I really don't want to elaborate. Fact is this MINI makes me feel damn good everytime I sit in it. OK it is the BEST car I have ever owned in several ways. This 2007 Turbo MINI engine you see in my picture is a real winner. I will tell you more in the next post or two.

Meanwhile back in the shop!!!

Here is a very nice MINI on the rack getting the once-over for a lucky new owner. I like the fact that Flow invited the Tarheel MINI club out for an exclusive 2007 test drive and a chance to look at cars even on the rack in the service bay. OK prospective buyers take note. You are not just buying a car. You are buying many things and one of them is a chance to hang with some real nice people who love the car they drive. The dealer in Winston-Salem will take care of you and you will have fun. Nuff said yet?

A nice view under the hood....

Many changes this year. More to come on that in a minute....

Mondo Exhaust...

Man I really like the new exhaust on the Coopers. I guess the design people caught on to the aftermarket craze of "big-old-honkin' " exhausts we all want on our cars. Finally, no more OEM beer cans...but I still like the factory note.....and the aftermarket one. In fact I have never met a MINI exhaust I didn't like...unless it has a buzz or rattle, in which case you need to buy more beer for your mechanic...

New R56 2007 MINIs at Flow in Winston-Salem!

Check this out...as you probably know by now the R56 2007 MINI is now in the dealer showrooms across the country. I am reading all kinds of web logs and literature outlining all the changes. Last Sunday was my first look and all I can say is WOW...can I say that again? WOW! I love this Yellow one.

Ready for the Trip Back Home!

The last picture of the trip. My car waiting for a driver to head home. With Mabry Mill in the background the sun is going down and it is time to head home from a really nice 68 degree day in the middle of January. Wow what a nice day in more ways than one.

Small World! Me and Dan Zipkin !!

As we headed towards our final destination for the day which was Mabry Mill http://www.brptrails.com/brp1762.htm I ran into someone I had never met but talked to several times on the phone. Dan Zipkin. Talk about small world...both of us were over two hours from home! Dan runs a shop that MINI owners all over the country know as Grassroots Garage. http://www.grassrootsgarage.com/ Dan had his family up for a picnic and we just happened to come by at the same time! Dan is the man in all the German car and MINI performance worlds so give him a call for help with your street or track car. I plan to get some help from him with my car as I add some mods. Can't wait!

Julie likes the Wine!

My co-pilot says all the wine is good! Our favorite was the "Black Dog" and a real surprise was the "Sweet Mountain Laurel" which I thought would be too sweet for me. But I really like the muscadine flavor. Tastes just like the local grapes in our region. I just this past Summer picked some mucadines from my kayak on a local lake while paddling. I like my Italian Chianti but there are plenty of great wines at Chateau Morrisette!

Two Nice Guys at the Chateau!!

Here are the guys who served us during the wine tasting this afternoon. They are holding a a real nice bottle of 2003 Reserve Tannat. http://www.chateaumorrisette.com/index.php?pr=wine The guy on the right is Kyle and if you zoom the picture you can see Robert Longo is on the left. Robert took us on the tour and really knows his stuff. He is also found at the restaurant up the hill at times as well. They have some great wine at this winery and I took several bottles home with me in the boot of the MINI. Thanks guys, we'll be back soon.

Oak Barrels as Far as the Eye Can See....

We were just a bit late for the start of the tour but we joined "in-progress." Here you can see a 'whole bunch" of wine in barrels. We took a look at all the tanks and packaging equipment. Check out the dog paw prints on those barrels... A very cool tour indeed. I am getting thirsty, where is the bar?