mistertripps

Glad to see you guys finally got this scheduled. Our Hunt with the AtlantaMINIs is tomorrow and it has always been our favorite yearly event. Hope you guys have a great time!

Thanks guys! @Craig - we are hoping to come up to MOTD, even if just for the day. Not sure which car we will be driving if not both. Those lights are cool - where did you get them? And, actually, I am going to leave the badge emblems alone. I just want to black out the COOPER letters. Fortunately, the S on my side scuttles comes off, so I was able to black out the scuttle and leave it alone. Cindy's is just like yours and I haven't figured out how I am going to deal with it yet. Hope to see you guys in May - where are you staying?

Thought you guys might like to see my latest modifications. Headlight and tail light film, blacked out side scuttles and gas cap with plasti-dip. Just have to change out the COOPER badge and do something with the door handles and I'm done!

I've made the trip several times in my MINI and Cindy has driven the Clubby back and forth a couple of times. If you plan it right, you can even take a slight detour and hit the Dragon. It will cost you a couple of hours, but isn't the Dragon worth that?

Just wanted to stop in and let everyone know I made it home to Atlanta safe and sound with a packed MCS! I've actually been back for nearly two weeks, but I am still trying to get settled back in to life as it was before I moved to DC nearly a year ago. Our subscription to the site expires on the 31st, so we probably won't post much on the forum anymore, but we will keep an eye out for interesting events as I will still be traveling back up to the area from time to time. As I have said before, we definitely want to come back for the HR Falls Colors Run, especially now that it is a joint DCMM event! We also want to come back for the next lap around the beltway and make that a yearly trip if we can. Thanks again for having us since Stanley came into my life back in July and Carmen joined the family in September. We've really enjoyed the DC, Virginia and Maryland crew!

That's my twin at The Gramercy - I've met the guy, but can't remember his name and don't remember seeing him post on here yet.

Looks good!

You should have had one in your bag of goodies. I'm not sure who provided them, but they are nice!

Ooops, yes! I'm not used to having her on my computer!

Still not sure if Cindy and the kids are going to follow me home next week, but I can't wait to see how many cars actually show up. Do we need to pre-order t-shirts or will there just be a variety of sizes to choose from?

I've seen a lot of different mentions of switching to winter tires and wondered how important that is for the NOVA area -- coming from Atlanta, we didn't really have to worry about it. Fortunately, I don't have to use my car(s) for daily commuting, so I'd only be out for groceries and meets and fun for the most part.

Sorry I didn't make it. I had errands to run this morning and the weather is dreadful for driving and looking at MINIs. I did see several in the Potomac Yard shopping center complex though. I'll see the Monterey crew next week!

I drove the Clubby home in a downpour this weekend (all the way from Atlanta to Richmond) and kept checking the CAI and engine for water accumulation and didn't have any issues even though I removed the "plug" from the scoop when I installed the ALTA CAI. I figured the engine bay would be soaked, but didn't notice any water in there at all. I'm sure someone can explain why, but I haven't figured it out yet.

Sweet! That is really awesome.

I think it came in black - Cindy picked it up from MINI of South Atlanta. But, Plasti-dip should work if you tape off the Let's Motor part.

I took a little detour down Skyline Drive on my way to Atlanta last week and thought it would be nice to start a thread for photos from similar runs. Even though it costs $15 to get on the Drive, it is a nice excursion for our little curve carvers.

Here is Stanley: His new "mean" looking front end: And Carmen: Love the blacked out belt line: Yes, that now says CLUBMAN:

The headlight trim on the R53 is different than the R55/R56 - The entire headlight has to come off the R53. I didn't want to deal with it. Actually, taping off the headlights and grille weren't that bad, it was the beltline that was a pain.

I've got Cindy's Clubman for a few weeks, so I may just try to make it out there.

We had our first setback with the Plasti-dip - at some point during my drive home from Atlanta last night a small section of the front beltline peeled back. I can't tell if it was because there was a bubble or place that was painted poorly or if it is just something that is likely to happen. I'm not going to give up yet - we'll see how the rest of it holds up on Carmen and on Stanley. We may try to use tape on the front beltline if it turns out to be a problem on both cars that may be the result of the extra wind pressure in that area. On a positive note, the headlight rings and front grill still look great, so I am still hopeful.

If I do the door handles and gas cap, I will probably order the covers from Aesthetic Creations and see how they work. I don't plan on doing anything to the scuttles. With the chrome I can't get rid of in the headlights and tail lights, having a small accent won't be bad.

Here is Stanley's new CAI and STDs. Following these pictures, I did switch the intake tube back to the stock pipe as I couldn't get ALTAs to stay attached. So, I don't have quite as many red accents in the engine as I intended....yet.

Made it back to DC safely this evening. Here are a couple of pics of the weekend mods to the Clubman (which I drove home for an emissions test).

Here are a few shots of the black-out - I think it turned out incredibly well. Plasti-dip rocks! We blacked out the beltline, scoop, headlight rings and the entire grill assembly as well as the boot handle (which you can't see in these pictures). I also bought a black vinyl boot bumper cover/ The only chrome I have left on Stanley is on the door handles, gas cap and scuttles. I may leave them that way for a while as they are a nice accent with the rest of the chrome gone.