Bugs Palace!

Looks like it was just a phase 🙂 As of Thursday of last week I am the proud owner of a lightly used Mini Cooper S.  I would have posted something sooner, but I wanted to keep it a surprise until I surprised some people. I still have a couple people left to come show it to, but my recent schedule just hasn’t allowed it.

Impressions after almost a week of owner ship: Wow. It’s fast, sexy, raw, and a hell of a lot of fun. Not to mention the stock suspension out handles any car I have ever owned. Even my GTI and TDI with full cup kits and coilovers don’t hold a candle to this thing. I am really looking forward to throwing a rear sway bar on it and cleaning up the only weak spot on it. (and MAY lower it a hair, simply for cosmetic reasons… Still undecided on this).

Shannon has taken it upon herself to name the car “Coop”. Which to me sounds like a boys name. I just don’t think it fits. This car is clearly female. It is petite, sexy as hell, smooth curves with no sharp edges anywhere. Not only that, but it’s turns on a dime (however physically not emotionally), and with the super charger, it has a constant whine present at all times, Add to that BMW heritage, I’m sure its going to cost me a fortune over the next 5-10 years.

Monday night Kevin was over and we finished putting the engine in the bug. The only thing stopping the car from running was either a faulty distributor or faulty ignition coil. Not sure which. Long story short: No sparky sparky. I will be grabbing a spare coil and distributor from Alex tomorrow after work. Hopefully next time Kevin comes over the Beetle will breathe its first life in 3 years.

On to less the fun news. I received an email this week with some grim details. Unless my union reaches an agreement with the school board by the end of the weekend, I will officially be on strike as of Monday AM. Luckily Shannon was able to escape the evil strike as her union settled last week. Unfortunately I don’t think I will be as lucky. Cross your fingers that some sort of resolution will be made as I really do not want to strike.

I recently read an article on the VWVORTEX and it asks the question “are you a lifer, or is this just a phase”.  It really got me thinking.

I have always been a huge fan of vws since as far back as I can remember.  Mainly air cooled stuff, but more recently I’ve gotten into the water pumpers. As anyone who has read this site knows, I’ve been restoring  a 74 beetle for almost 3 years now. Not for resale, but for a personal vehicle which I plan on keeping long past my expiry date. (who ever follows through with my wishes from my will after I die may be pissed when they find out I intend to be buried in the driver seat with my right foot on the go pedal, one hand on the wheel, and the other on the shifter.)
So I guess in that sense you could say I’m a lifer.

However, when it comes to daily drivers, I think I may just be in a phase. A few years ago I sold my pride and joy to purchase a more economical and fun little car. My first new VW, a 2003 VW Golf TDI. Great little car. I had some fun with it, but realized that it was more economical then it was fun. So after just a year of ownership, I traded it in for my second VW; a 2003 GTI 1.8T (technically my 4th if you include my beetle and my wifes jetta). Now this car is as much more fun as it is less economical. You can’t have everything, and its still a huge improvement from my truck. I love the GTI, but I am already finding myself thinking about my ‘next’ car. As much fun as I’ve had with my TDI and more recently with my GTI, I have very strong doubts that I will buy another VW. At least not my next car. I love the current generation of Golf (hence me owning two!). But the next generation, I just don’t feel the same draw to. Nice cars mind you, just don’t have those tingles when I see them. And as for the rest of the VW line, they don’t suit my needs. To big, to expensive and again, not screaming my name. With all that in my head and heart, I realize, in the next 3 years when I start to look for a replacement for the GTI, I find myself looking away from the VW dealer and towards manufacturers that I would never have considered before. I guess only time will tell what I will do, but I’ve got a strong feeling a Mini Cooper S May be the car to replace the Dub in the driveway.

But in the meantime, I plan on playing with the GTI and having some fun with it while I have it. (who knows how long that will be!) Like I said above, I love the car, I just don’t think we will be together till death do us part and as long as we both shall live. Those words are only true with my wife and beetle. (yes Dear, in that order despite what you may think.)

Pictures Pictures Pictures. Little did I know, but my wife and friends have been using my digi camera quite a bit over the past bit. So I have a ton of pictures that need to be posted that I didn’t even realize I had.

Donnas Birthday, Grandmas Birthday/Fisherville Funday, and Party at our house August long weekend.

Also included in this update are some photos of Shannons Garden, Random Puppy pictures, and a couple updated to the beetle as seen HERE and HERE. And lastly, some updates have been done on Xtacy’s Talon.

I’m sure I have more I could say, but frankly I’m tired from sorting and posting all these photos. I really need to spend a day or two and rebuild my web server with new automated gallery software. ACDSee is getting old and long in the tooth and I need something to scale my photos down a bit.