[Claudia]

Quote: Originally Posted by btdoyle

Im in the same boat (no pun intended) as you ikrause. Hope that we got loaded and the WW site just didn't have time to update before the night came. This would make sense because it has done that before..

Same here: received at terminal the 23rd, checked the booking nr track and my VIN # does not show an asterix. So let's hope were on!!

[Magictux]

Hey Slidearama...and any other Aussie shipmates..

the map attached shows where our cars are!!! Just over three weeks until docking in Sydney!

[Tom B]

OK. I broke my promise to myself and tried to find out what ship my MIN was going on. I've had a VIN # for a few weeks now and my MINI was completed 3/25 and released to a carrier for its ride to the docks . and now shows "awaiting transportation" status. So why does the WW site not have any information on my MINI?

Is this good or bad? Did the truck driver make it to the dock in time for it to get on the Madame Butterfly? Will it be put on the Jingo Maru? Is it shipping via worm hole?


Tom

[Ken30307]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tom B

OK. I broke my promise to myself and tried to find out what ship my MIN was going on. I've had a VIN # for a few weeks now and my MINI was completed 3/25 and released to a carrier for its ride to the docks . and now shows "awaiting transportation" status. So why does the WW site not have any information on my MINI?

Is this good or bad? Did the truck driver make it to the dock in time for it to get on the Madame Butterfly? Will it be put on the Jingo Maru? Is it shipping via worm hole?


Tom

I'm sort of where you are..."released to a carrier and awaiting transport to the port of exit" according to the ASKMINI automated system. No news on WW and my MINI was finished on the 24th. My MA is always very slow at getting back to me...I think I'll wait until after the 1st to contact him directly again.

Worm hole delivery would be great, but I think that might damage the paint job.

[lkrause]

Well I checked the status of my Mini again this morning and still shows not loaded on vessel but has no asterisk beside the VIN number. I'm still hoping that I am on the Madame Butterfly. My production finished 3/23/05. The car has been received and scanned at the terminal. By the way, do they drive them on board the ship into crates? We were wondering how they are stored on their way over here. Good luck to the rest of you who are hoping yours is on the MB also.

[Tom B]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ken30307

I'm sort of where you are..."released to a carrier and awaiting transport to the port of exit" according to the ASKMINI automated system. No news on WW and my MINI was finished on the 24th. My MA is always very slow at getting back to me...I think I'll wait until after the 1st to contact him directly again.

Worm hole delivery would be great, but I think that might damage the paint job.

Ken, you too? Let's hope we both made it onto the Madame Butterfly and the reason they are not showing on the website is that ours have 1st class accomodations.They're not in steerage with the rest of the commoners.

As for worm holes damaging the paint....Jodie Foster made it through OK.


Tom

[Ken30307]

Quote: Originally Posted by lkrause

Well I checked the status of my Mini again this morning and still shows not loaded on vessel but has no asterisk beside the VIN number. I'm still hoping that I am on the Madame Butterfly. My production finished 3/23/05. The car has been received and scanned at the terminal. By the way, do they drive them on board the ship into crates? We were wondering how they are stored on their way over here. Good luck to the rest of you who are hoping yours is on the MB also.

I'm pretty sure they are not in crates...I think they are just on the ship with parts covered in plastic...I think I saw a picture of what it looks like on the ship somewhere..if I can find it, I'll post the pic or link.

[erickvonzipper]

Hi, Ben.

That's the nice thing about the movies - they make you think you are seeing what they want you to see.

First of all, they're not carrying any loads. Those quick closeups of the MINIs being loaded are just for that effect - to make you think they are loaded with gold. The cars being driven in the film have nothing in them but what needs to be there, and in some instances, some beefed up hardware for jumps and such.

Most of the general public wouldn't know the Coopers from the S's, so since they went through 32 MINIs to make that film, I guess they felt it was more cost efffective to use the less expensive Coopers for all the rough stuff (notice nothing major happens to the red car).

And finally, the stunts were limited in scope to what the slowest car could do. In a real-life gymkhana, given equal ability-level drivers, the S would have been able to make some better headway. But in the movies, they can make it all look any way they want to.

Zip

Quote: Originally Posted by bandrews

I I threw in The Italian Job again last night, watching the MINI scenes really carefully and concentrating on the cars themselves. Only Charlize Theron's CR/W car (like mine ) is a Cooper S - the other two are plain Coopers. Kind of odd considering all three of them are carrying equal loads and driving in a pack... guess it's a testament to the capabilities of the Cooper more than anything! Also, watch the wheels really closely on the HB Cooper... you can see that they change from the flashy alloys it has in all of the showy scenes to the 15" 8-holes when they're doing performance driving. Subtle, but noticeable to us MINI nuts if you watch carefully.

Ben

[Ken30307]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ken30307

I'm sort of where you are..."released to a carrier and awaiting transport to the port of exit" according to the ASKMINI automated system. No news on WW and my MINI was finished on the 24th. My MA is always very slow at getting back to me...I think I'll wait until after the 1st to contact him directly again.

Worm hole delivery would be great, but I think that might damage the paint job.

I take that back..just heard from my MA

Good Morning Ken,


Yes, your MINI has been built and is awaiting transport. As of this morning, I couldn’t find which ship/shipping line your car will be carried over the pond with. From what I can see from our intranet, it’s still at port in England. I’ll be glad to check again tomorrow and see if I can get more details for you. Let me know if you have any questions.

That's good news...but I'm guessing it means that the MB left my Cooper at the port screaming..."Wait for me!!" and the other Coopers just waving back.

[bandrews]

Quote: Originally Posted by erickvonzipper

First of all, they're not carrying any loads. Those quick closeups of the MINIs being loaded are just for that effect - to make you think they are loaded with gold. The cars being driven in the film have nothing in them but what needs to be there, and in some instances, some beefed up hardware for jumps and such.

Most of the general public wouldn't know the Coopers from the S's, so since they went through 32 MINIs to make that film, I guess they felt it was more cost efffective to use the less expensive Coopers for all the rough stuff (notice nothing major happens to the red car).

Zip

Sounds about right. I did my own simulation of the Italian Job here in Blacksburg the other day - an organization I help run organizes "engineer's week", and as one of the events we have "Penny Wars". Each engineering department (electrical, computer, mechanical, materials science, etc.) gets a jar. Pennies put in the jar are points in the positive direction, silver money deducts from points (quarters deduct 25 points, nickels 5, etc.) Anyway, this year the Materials Science folks brought in over $1,000 in pennies - yes, that's 100,000 pennies. Guess whose car got to move them all??? Let's just say the sporty handling of my Mitsubishi Expo var (van + car - get it? haha) was, uh, significantly reduced. While I was transporting copper, not gold, I still can't imagine running a MINI through the stunts in the movie with gold in the back without *significant* modifications. It just wouldn't make any sense for filming.

As for the Cooper vs. S, I'm not surprised - given that the movie was in production throughout 2002, the S was probably difficult to get a production allocation for. The Coopers were a lot more expendable.

Quote: Originally Posted by dpacker

Ben's trip sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. He will have to keep a picture diary for all of us - HINT

You bet! I haven't quite decided on the route to take yet. My current thinking is to go west from Virginia to Kansas City, then north through Wyoming into Montana, then west through Spokane into Washington State. On the way back in August I think I'll go through Montana into South Dakota then down through Minnesota and Wisconsin for a change of scenery. I'll make sure to take pictures whenever I pull over...

Speaking of pictures, I found a few that I had taken of cars at Flow MINI when I placed my order. There's a CR/W Cooper S that convinced me I was making the right color choice, and a black Cooper convertible that I test-drove (since I wanted to get a feel for handling without struggling with a manual transmission, and there were no MCSa cars on the lot). I kinda feel sorry for that poor Cooper convertible - it had NO options except premium, not even stability control. I hate to generalize or stereotype, but with those options, I firmly believe that poor car will not get an enthusiast driver anytime soon I uploaded the pics to my personal gallery here.

Ben

[dpacker]

Quote: Originally Posted by bandrews

Sounds about right. I did my own simulation of the Italian Job here in Blacksburg the other day - an organization I help run organizes "engineer's week", and as one of the events we have "Penny Wars".

You bet! I haven't quite decided on the route to take yet. My current thinking is to go west from Virginia to Kansas City, then north through Wyoming into Montana, then west through Spokane into Washington State. On the way back in August I think I'll go through Montana into South Dakota then down through Minnesota and Wisconsin for a change of scenery. I'll make sure to take pictures whenever I pull over...

Speaking of pictures, I found a few that I had taken of cars at Flow MINI when I placed my order. I uploaded the pics to my personal gallery here.

Ben

Pennies, gold bars w/ women on them - they're all the same, right? That reminds me. I also read that the MINIs in the subway system (in Italian Job) were electric. It said that gas-powered cars were not allowed in the subway, so they had to use electric. Then I read something about them using a NASA hangar to film part of that. Cool!

For someone who hasn't decided on a route quite yet, sounds like you've done a lot of route planning. I think the cool thing to do on a trip like that (if you have a long time to get where you're going) would be to take a street GPS, load in the maps for the states you are going to travel through, load in some way points along the way, and then just drive whereever you want to go. If you get lost, just select a way point to get you back on track. How fun would that be? Makes me want to quit my job, grab the GPS, and take my own cross-country trip!

I was looking at the pics in your gallery. At first I thought that was my husband's EB/EB MINI there beside the red one (that one was cute), but then noticed that it had EB mirrors instead of the normal ones capped in chrome. In the background of the pic with the black one (and I agree that they should have added a few more options), there is a yellow one with a white top. Did you happen to look inside that one? It has blue interior! When I saw that car with that blue interior (someone may like it), it confirmed for me that I absolutely didn't want a yellow MINI. Then I drove to Greenville the next weekend, saw that yellow and black one, and ordered one! Go figure! I looked at that red one a lot too. It was almost like it was smiling at you when you walked by - so CUTE. They also had a red/black convertible there too. That baby was sweet! Seeing that one and then the LY/Black one, I had a hard time between those two color sets. You do realize that with that cute little red car w/ the white top that it's going to be a magnet for women? There's a Cooper like that here in town (poor little thing doesn't get driven much though) that I have to see every day when I drive home. It always makes me smile - just so cute.

ANYONE get any ship updates yet?

Oh - I saw a picture too with MINIs on a vessel. They were all parked side-by-side with plastic on parts of them. Don't remember exactly where - I think it was somewhere on the WW site. If you go to the site and navigate to the place where they have vessel pictures. I will see if I can find it again.

Debbie

[dpacker]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ken30307

That's good news...but I'm guessing it means that my MA left my Cooper at the port screaming..."Wait for me!!" and the other Coopers just waving back.

Yes, but maybe your little MINI will get loaded on another boat in the next day or two that can get here faster...and then your MINI can wave when it's passing that big boat waited down with all those extra cars! I forget the stats, but I did notice that some of the boats had quicker times than others...by a couple of days. Does that make you feel any better?

[AprilWhine]

Quote: Originally Posted by bandrews

As for the Cooper vs. S, I'm not surprised - given that the movie was in production throughout 2002, the S was probably difficult to get a production allocation for. The Coopers were a lot more expendable.

At the time of filming, the MCS wasn't available in either IB or PW. That is why the CR was the only MCS. One other oddity is that the PW has a white roof, never available in production models.

[ryanelp80]

Hey Deb! I am still in the dark as to where Valentine is... He left port on the 12th, so, it has now been 16 days in transit... should be getting here soon. I emailed my MA and he said IF Valentine gets to the dealership in the a.m., he could have it ready for me to drive home be the afternoon So, all there is to do now is wait, hope the ship comes in on time and hope the VDC doesn't have him for too long...

Quote: Originally Posted by dpacker

Hey everyone! I started reading tonight and noticed that I was about 10 pages behind - I've been gone most of the weekend, which is good because that's less time spent wondering where the boat is with my MINI. I'm following that good advice from a couple of days ago to find something else to occupy my time.

Hey Ben - congrats on arriving to the US! Not too much longer now! I don't know where our K-Line is at the moment - we have about eight more days until its arrival in Charleston. You have to be so excited at this point though!

Hey rsinsheimer - thanks for the SF post and the earthquake pictures. I've heard others say before that the earthquakes are something that you get used to, but I don't know that I ever could. When I was in VA, we only had one blizzard, and it was only about 42" (I think that's about right) of snow. That one wasn't scary, but I imagine those in the north probably have different feelings about some they have encountered. The worst thing for us was trying to take our three dogs outside. We had to be careful not to lose the Pomeranian, and our Chow would not go unless he could see grass...not easy when there's 42" of snow to dig through! The hurricane thing, that's a different story. I've been in South Carolina for a little over six years. We've yet to have anything big hit us here, but I've been ready to pack up and leave a few times, especially this year. The good thing about them is that you get warnings, but I still don't feel safe with them. I felt much safer in VA with my mountains and snow. I'd definitely like to visit SF some time. I haven't been able to talk my husband into it, but maybe if we made it a cross-country MINI trip he might be interested! Ben's trip sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. He will have to keep a picture diary for all of us - HINT

Ryane - have you heard anything more about your ship? Are you getting close to arriving at port? It's Easter...and Valentine is almost there!

Oh...about my day. We had a six-hour round trip drive today. We drove from SC to NC and then back to SC this evening. We took my husband's MINI. Until today, I'd only driven it about two miles. Not the best way to get to drive, but he was pretty tired and not feeling great, so he pulled over after a while and let me drive for a couple of hours. What fun! It hit its 1200 mile mark last week, so I didn't have to worry about the limits. I didn't want to push my luck though since he was letting me drive, so I kept it near the speed limit and didn't exceed 4500 on the tach. It was a lot of fun. I was trying to imagine it as my own, but with that Electric Blue panel staring at me and his array of electronics on the dash, it was hard to imagine it as my own. Oh well, I figure it's only about three more weeks until I get to drive my MINI home. So exciting!

I hope the rest of us get ships soon. As hard as I tried not to be disappointed last week, I was pretty disappointed about missing the first boat and waiting to find out what was going on. So if anyone needs cheering up this week, I'd be happy to cheer you up! Been there, been sad, waited impatiently, finally got boat!

I think I already have a book here, so I'll stop now. Hope everyone had a good weekend...and hope everyone has a great week. Ships for everyone!!!

Debbie

[rsinsheimer]

Pictures from the VPC/VDC (depends who's talking as to what its called):

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...&highlight=vpc

Here you can see pictures of a BMW on the ship and then being offloaded:

http://www.offworld.com/e46/images.html

[Claudia]

I'm not very hopeful my MINI made the Madame Butterfly. My MA told me last week it would come on a K-line ship, so I guess she's right. I read their schedule and they have the Andes Highway leaving today the 28th, arriving Charleston 4/11. What I don't understand is that my MINI was booked on the MB and was there in time (23rd).
BTW, for what company is the Jingo Maru sailing?

[gaminicool]

Hi guys. My Mini was booked on the Madame Butterfly but WW shows it was never loaded It was supposed tol eave Sunday? Now I don't know where it is. I would much prefer to drive my mIni as opposed to my crappy rental. The wait is killing me Any suggestions as to another ship?

[Tom B]

Quote: Originally Posted by Claudia

BTW, for what company is the Jingo Maru sailing?

Hi Claudia.

The Jingo Maru is a Wallenius Wilhelmsen ship.

Tom

[Tom B]

I'm a little confused. I think i've heard on here that a lot of your MINIs were assigned ships way before they were manufactured. Mine's been finished and "released to a carrier". Why don't I have a ship yet?

Tom

[rsinsheimer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tom B

I think i've heard on here that a lot of your MINIs were assigned ships way before they were manufactured.
Tom

I don't think that that is correct. What appears to happen is very opportunistic -- the car is completed and shipped by train to Southampton, where some (I assume) very harried folks have to figure out which VDC the vehicle is headed for, then figure out which RORO is headed that direction next, and whether there's room to book your car onto that ship. As you have probably seen, people get booked onto ships and then bumped, that probably gives the poor people who are trying to get the car to its anxious owner-to-be yet another bout of apoplexy as they have to start the process all over again.

Just to make things more complicated from our end, for the East Coast US MINI seems to favor W-W, while for the West Coast US they seem to favor NYK, but they opportunistically will vary from that "rule" as needed. The only way to know for sure you aren't on W-W is to enter your car's VIN onto the W-W website once it get to the "waiting at port" stage, and see if it recognizes you. If yes, even then you're not assured that you won't get bumped and end up on another line's ship. If you continue to be recognized on W-W then you're one of the lucky ones who can easily find out what ship their car is on, the rest of us have to get the Bill of Lading from our MA (available a few days after leaving port) and contact the shipper.

Hope that helps (a bit).



-- Roger