[JetBlack]

I read this article this morning, and I thought you'd like it, sorry if you have already read it, here is a one liner from it
If everyone had a Mini, he said, "we could double the parking spaces in New York."

Quote:

The Mini Finds a Place in New York

May 24, 2003
By ANDREA ELLIOTT

Alexandre Klabin is a mild-mannered, polite young man, the
kind of fellow who opens doors for strangers. But, once a
day, he allows himself a measure of wickedness.

He pulls out of a parking spot, peers into the rearview
mirror and watches as a normal-size car - say, a Honda
Civic - tries five times to fit in the same spot.

Invariably, the driver gives up and the car pulls away.
That's because Mr. Klabin has vacated a "Mini spot" - a
12-foot-long parking space on New York streets that now
conveniently holds the shortest car in America, the new
Mini Cooper, with more than an inch to spare.

"I feel guilty when I take big spots," Mr. Klabin, 25, said
sheepishly. But his Mini-guilt is quickly displaced by
Mini-anger: "Nobody respects you in the street. They just
cross over you because you're small."

Delivery trucks and cantankerous cabs did not deter Mr.
Klabin and more than 500 other drivers from buying Mini
Coopers in Manhattan since March of last year, when BMW's
revamped version of the British classic made a debut in New
York.

In fact, the New York market ranks first in sales among the
48 markets in the United States. So New York Mini sightings
are increasingly common, even outside the early Mini
enclaves of the West Village and Park Slope.

"It's become like this infectious disease out there," said
Theresa Galvin, 44, a grant program manager from Park
Slope. "I was thinking I've got this cool car. But
everybody's on to the same thing."

Smallness is a relatively foreign concept to American car
culture. And it is true that driving in the Mini makes
potholes feel like canyons and S.U.V.s look like monster
trucks. But the boxy, slick, toy-like car can fit into New
York City parking spaces previously unseen. And it can dart
in and out of tight traffic. "When a car crosses in front
of you, especially a taxi, you always have room to escape,"
Mr. Klabin explained. "It fits where other cars don't."

In New York, Mini owners take their size-pride to new
levels of petulance when asked about S.U.V.'s.

"They're useless around here," scoffed Dr. Charles
Lamberta, 55, a dentist who drives his Electric Blue Mini
to work in Manhattan from Long Island every day. "It's like
driving the Chrysler building."

If everyone had a Mini, he said, "we could double the
parking spaces in New York."

Mini lovers point to its airplane-like dashboard (complete
with toggle switches), its fuel efficiency (28 city miles
and 37 highway miles per gallon), its four-star federal
safety rating (with six airbags tucked in each one) and its
relative cheapness (its starting price is $16,000, though
add-on features quickly add on).

The new Mini's appeal eerily mirrors that of the original
Mini, which first hit the streets of England in 1959.

"It was a really radical design," said Stephen Laing,
curator of the Heritage Motor Centre, a museum and archive
in Gaydon, England. "It wasn't just a car. It had a
personality about it."

That first year, 20,000 pioneering Brits bought the car.
(About 24,000 Americans bought the new Mini in its first
year here.)

Sir Alec Issigonis designed the car on the heels of the
1956 Suez Crisis, after gas rationing prompted the British
motor industry to search for a fuel-efficient car.

The old Mini - or "real Mini," as enthusiasts jealously
call it - made automotive design history. In the interest
of creating space, Sir Alec planted the engine transversely
instead of north to south, and this is now the layout of
most small- to medium-size cars.

BMW acquired the Mini brand in 1994, but the old Minis
stayed in production until 2000, and 5.4 million were sold
in the car's lifetime. The new Mini rolled out in 2001.

"Mini's kind of new to you guys in the States," said Mr.
Laing, the British curator, with a hint of mirth. "I guess
it's kind of an education for you."

If anyone is ready to do the educating, it is Chris Sell,
37, originally from Rugby, England. Mr. Sell lives in Park
Slope and he owns a 1973 Mini he shipped from England in
December 2000. He is one of six "real Mini" owners who
belong to the Mini Club of New York.

"Somebody walked over it," he said, pointing to a footprint
indented on the purple hood in March. "It adds to the
character, I suppose."

He has watched as the new Mini surfaced on Park Slope
streets. He even considered buying one, but the price of
the super souped-up version - $29,500 - threw him off.

"I was talking to the wife about it and she said we can't
afford it," said Mr. Sell, who owns the Chip Shop in Park
Slope, a British eatery with Mini regalia on the walls.

His advice to new Mini drivers: "You've got to take on the
personality of the car, which is small and inoffensive. You
can't get road rage with a Mini."

But his advice may prove unnecessary. New Yorkers seem
eager to take on the meek Mini persona. The owner's manual
suggests that Mini drivers give each other the thumbs up
when passing in the street, and New Yorkers actually
comply.

These New Yorkers are excessively eager to talk about their
cars, using Mini-propagandistic words like "motoring"
instead of driving. (Of the nine Mini drivers contacted for
interviews - four with notes left on windshields - all
called back within hours, some repeatedly.)

They are soft and emotive when discussing their cars, which
they tend to name, said Dana B. Hagendorf, director of
marketing for BMW of Manhattan.

"It's almost like they're buying a pet," Ms. Hagendorf
said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Such was the case when Pamela Simpson first saw her Chili
Red Mini.

"It was love at first sight," said Ms. Simpson, a
television writer and producer who lives in Manhattan and
does not tell her age.

"It is like the sexiest car I have driven," she said.
"People go running up to it. One guy said, `Oh that red is
so fabulous with your dark hair.' "

By comparison, Ms. Galvin's love-at-first-sight experience
was bittersweet, tinged with the guilt of a torrid affair.

First, she preempts the story by talking about her former
car with utmost regard:

"I would never badmouth a Corolla. A Corolla is a great
car. This was more of an impulse thing."

But the day she drove her `95 Corolla to a Mini dealership
in New Jersey was the last day she saw the car.

"I left it," said Ms. Galvin, who traded it in for a Black
Mini Cooper she has since named "Dinte" because "it sounds
English."

"This has never happened to me before," Ms. Galvin said of
her new car romance. "We're married. This is a long-term
commitment."

The original article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/ny...96377d21be8c87

[visionary]

Park your car on the street and take your chances!

[EBMCS03]

Seriously... i dont like parking on the streeets... people park by feel. forget that!

[Bino]

A garage is, of course, a good idea. But such luxuries are kinda pricey in Noo Yawk. When I lived on East 22 Street, the garage around the corner charged me almost $200 a month to house my trusty old Toyota, and that was ten years ago!

[MoonPie]

Fun article!

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=31978

oopsie

[visionary]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bino
A garage is, of course, a good idea. But such luxuries are kinda pricey in Noo Yawk. When I lived on East 22 Street, the garage around the corner charged me almost $200 a month to house my trusty old Toyota, and that was ten years ago!

PIER 40

When I lived in Nova York, I kept my Toyota pu there. It cost me $200.00 and that was about 2 years ago.
Peace

[evmel1]

Live in NY with a Jet Black and only get great comments..

[KarmanS]

Great read. MINIs is definitely a popular car in Manhattan, but no matter how many I see I can never get sick of them as it seems like each of them I've seen have been different color comboed ones

[ontheroadagain]

Thanks JetBlack, I recall reading that article but wasn't sure where or when. I like the idea of extra parking spaces...if only everyone would drive a MINI in the city!

[jrepetto]

good article, never thougth about what newyorkers have to go through reference parking, only time I visited New York, I was amazed at ALLLL the taxis's.......

[justbob]

After growing up in Jersey and doing my time in hel...I mean, NYNY, I can see why it would be fun to have a MINI there--if you don't mind scapes and dings!

To bad the original author of this article didn't interview any Banzai MCS owners....and take a ride at the track.

[EBMCS03]

Quote: Originally Posted by justbob

I can see why it would be fun to have a MINI there--if you don't mind scapes and dings!

I think that goes with ANY car in NY... garages there in Manhatten only allow valet parking too!!! Which is a big NO NO in my book.