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I have always been in love with small cars. One time when I was little, I saw a Mini on a t.v. show. I loved the car, but as time went on, I forgot about it. When I grew up and joined the military, I received orders to England. I did some research on what to expect, and I lost my breath. I saw a picture of the car I once saw and loved as a kid. I knew I was going to be in heaven, but little did I know it'd be the start of something big in my life. Over the course of the two years I was stationed in England, I owned 5 classic Minis. The first one I bought was a cream colored 1979 Austin Mini. The second one I bought was a 1985 Mini Mayfair. The third was a 1986 Mini Ritz, and I also had a junk one I used for parts. The fifth one I bought was a 1973 Austin Mini which I still have today. There was big hype, and controversy in England around the time I was there about the new MINI Cooper made by BMW. If you don't know, the classic Mini was made by Rover, the same company that brought you the Land Rover. BMW bought out Rover and sold all its car monikers to other various car manuafacturers, but they kept the Mini for themselves. I had problems with this for a while because BMW started sending their legal representitives to small Mini specialists in England and told them they would take legal action if they did not drop the "mini" name from their business. These people had been in the business working on Minis long before BMW had gotten their hands on the trademark name. Anyway, I didn't like BMW's approach. I felt that these people were doing an honest job and trying to make a living.
Fast forward to 2003. I had just paid my truck off in October. I figured I'd use the extra money from not having a car payment to fix up the truck.....some more. Well, the following month, there was a Gold MINI Cooper sitting on a used car dealers lot. It started calling my name. I couldn't resist and I went to the dealership to have a look. I instantly fell in love with the car, and went and told my wife. She went with me to take a look and she agreed that I should buy it. about three days later, she was mine.
It took me a while to get used to the Gold color, but then you don't see too many Gold colored MINIs. All you see are the Reds, blues, yellows, and charcoal grays. I'm also unique when it comes to the MINI, because I didn't buy mine as a "me too" car like so many other owners did. I have experience with the originals, and even still own one of mine. I apologize for not having more pictures, but I am overseas right now. I have a whole slew of parts sitting at the house waiting to go on the MINI when I get back. One of the pictures on the page shows Pamela, my 1973 Mini next to Lilly, my 2003 MINI. Pamela is going to be my next project. I will be tearing her apart completely and will be restoring her. When I get back, I will update the page with current pictures.