What did you do with your MINI today?

Wow !! They look brand new.

 

Nice work Metalman. I'm feeling a bit old & raggedy, can I come down to the shop & take a ride on the lathe?

 

This is going to get expensive. One of my front wheel bearing has worn and getting it replaced. Service guy just called and told me the wheel speed sensor is seized also. The sensor on the other side was replaced just a few months ago. I guess I should have had them replace this one too. But then, they would have noticed the worn wheel bearing and the cost of the service during the early part of the pandemic would have been really high.

 

Not cheap repairs, but much cheaper than new car payments for years on end. Hope it works out for you.

 

Paint, done.

I have 2 mesh options for the gills. I'm leaning towards the round hole v. the mesh.

 

I really was not intending to spend a lot of money on my car anymore. But I haven't found anything that has the same balance of reasonable affordability, usability and fun-to-drive/performance as the R53, or even current MINIs. Though others are approaching that balance as we wait.

My car is 16 years old and has 290,000 kms on the odometer. If not for the COVID dempanic, my car was on schedule to have 300,000 kms on it by Jan 1 this year. If MINI had kept their regular schedule of MINI generations, I would be trading in my R53 for the 4th gen (Gxx) MINI Cooper S this year. Instead, doing a wait n see for another couple of years.

Hey...the current gen F56 loaner isn't all that bad. But feeling bigger and just a bit less nimble than my R53. But I already have an F generation MINI.

 

I kind of like the mesh better, but the round holes would be easier to keep clean in the long run.

 

I also like the round holes better.

 

Hard to tell without seeing both installed. Even though the side scuttle mesh is round, I think "the mesh" option turned 90 degrees is a closer match to the rest of the grilles and would flow better with overall look of the car.

 

Very insightful observation that I hadn’t thought of.

 

That would be a thought if I could find it an a wide enough format. This stiff come in a bit of a roll for lack of a better term. It's sturdy enough, but I need about 16 inches from top to bottom of the vent, and this stuff only came in a 13 inch width.

 

I moved to Frisco in 1995. The population was about 8,000. It is almost 200,000 now. The course was probably Plantation, and it has been surrounded for about 20 years, now. The mall is probably Stonebriar, and they just added a Hyatt Regency Hotel to it. It is not near 75, though. That would be in Allen or McKinney. Maybe your office was on Hwy 121?

It is actually a cool place to live. Everything one could want, but still some small town personality. I just know my house has doubled in value.

CD

 

I think it used to be called Hank Haney, but that Plantation course is in about the right geographic location... probably bought up and built into a subdivision and rebranded. It was a no-tee-time course, so the first person to show up got on the course. Back in 1998 the sales manager for the company I worked for at the time would meet me out there at sunrise and we'd play 18 holes and could get back home and showered before noon, so our wives/families didn't loose too much of our weekend time. The prize for 'winning' was a 6-pack of the winners choice and the handicap was the stroke difference from the previous week's round, so we were basically trading beer every other week. The Google satellite view of Plantation is amazing for me to see... When I played it, it was a tiny course with a ramshackle club-house and was surrounded by open land. Now it's fully built-up. Crazy!

 

I've been driving Babs MINI & adding salt to the patina. Love the Michelin Ice-X3 shoes. This MINI just goes & goes.

Thank you Andy for the great deal on the wheels & snow shoes.

Almost forgot new wipers front & rear so we can see where we are going & where we've been.

 

Hank Haney Golf Ranch was on the Frisco/McKinney Border. It is gone now. Plantation is a totally different place. There is a TPC golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf where Hank Haney's place used to be. It will be the host course of the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson PGA tournament. Things have changed.

https://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/TPC-Craig-Ranch

CD

 

So, I went out in the yard with my dog, and he chased a rat up a tall bush. I quietly slipped back inside and got my pellet gun. I snuck up on the treed rat, had him in my sights, about three feet away, and... click. CO2 cartridge empty. By the time I get a refill, the rat was gone.

At least no new rat nests in my MINI's engine compartment. I don't smell $#IT burning anymore, so I guess I finally got all the nest stuff out.

I really miss our neighborhood feral cats.

CD