What was I waiting for?

[vito]

For much of my early life I was living paycheck to paycheck. It was not as precarious as it might have been since I was in the Army and I knew for sure that the paycheck was coming, pretty much no matter what. But my last few years as a worker I was doing pretty well financially and managed to put aside a pretty good nest egg for my old age. But here I am at 78, still pretty healthy overall, but certainly in my "old age". And it occurred to me that there was no sense whatsoever for waiting any longer for anything that I really wanted to own. Ironically there is really nothing that I dream about, other than maybe the new motorcycle that I already decided to buy. But my wife has on and off over the years joked about wishing she had a "little convertible" to just go for fun rides, but neither of us had ever done anything to achieve this dream. Then recently she mentioned that she had gone for a short ride with her friend who owned a Mini, and how cool it was, and that it would be even cooler had it been a convertible. So something clicked in my head, and I thought, "I'm 78, she is turning 75, and what are we waiting for?". So yesterday we went and ordered a new 2022 Mini convertible in the color she wanted. Not cheap, but not outrageous either. We may not have many good years left to us, but now we can enjoy that little convertible in the time we have left.

 

[loaded round]

God bless you and your wife. Enjoy!

 

[Johnnu2]

Congratulations vito.... wishing you both many years of top-down cruising.

I constantly tell young people to go out and live your dreams before you get too old to dream at all.....

ENJOY that tribute to yourselves

J.

 

[Dave P.]

Good for you!
How long before you get it?
Dave

 

[Big Old Boy]

Congrats we will need pictures, good for both of you. Just do it my wife has always wanted to go to Aruba I told her to stop dreaming and go, she leaves next month.

 

[vito]

Good for you!
How long before you get it?
Dave

The dealer said to expect it in 8 weeks. It gets made in the Netherlands, and we were able to have it built to our preferences and colors. I'm not sure that a Mini would have been my first choice for a convertible, but it was what my wife said she had dreamed about. And my preference, for a BMW, would have been a lot more expensive. Ironically, Mini is owned by BMW.

As to living your dreams when you are young, this is absolutely true. By the time of our lives that we were able to afford to visit many of our National Parks, my wife and I were already at the stage of our life that we had to stick to the paved trails. No real adventuring as we might have done when younger. And other things that I had put off when younger I was never able to do and now it is too late, like getting a private pilot license. But I did get to do some skydiving, and even though I didn't start until in my early 40's, I've had 35 years of motorcycling, another boyhood dream.

My kids are taking my experience and advice. They are all in early middle age right now, and finding ways to make those trips and to fulfill some of their dreams while still relatively young. Its easy to let "life" get in the way, with work, kids, bills to pay, etc. and before you know it, you're old. When I was still working, as a Nursing Home Administrator in my second career (after 24 years in the Army), I sat at the bedside of one of our residents who was slipping away at 92 years old. One of the things that he said which really stuck with me was "It all went by so fast."

 

[GA Cracker]

Good for you! Live to love, love to live. I always told my parents to sell everything and spend all they had, it was theirs and they earned it.

 

[Kevin]

That’s awesome! Good for you. Don’t the Mini’s have BMW engines?

Post a picture when you get it.

 

[Hawk-in-Wi]

Good for you

 

[Jeepnik]

That’s awesome! Good for you. Don’t the Mini’s have BMW engines?

Post a picture when you get it.

Mini's are BMW's

 

[clintsfolly]

Few years back my Dad was say he planned to leave some money to us kids. My reply was if you have enough to cover your final expenses I will be happy go have some fun!

 

[blackhawknj]

If you have met all your obligations to others-or don't have any-then enjoy yourself.

 

[paboxcall]

Congrats, you two earned it. Looking forward to seeing pics!

 

[Bob Wright]

After I got to the point we were fairly well off, we took some fabulous vacations, all by our own private vehicle. We'd load up the car, and later, our Jeep Grand Cherokee, and we'd head to some wildlife refuge, National Park or other point of interest. And I documented much of the trip with first a 35mm camera and later a digital camera. I am converting these photo records to DVDs snd now we can sit in the living room and relive many of those trips on our big screen TV.

Also at the time I recorded on audio tape dates, mileage on the odometer, weather conditions, where we were and what we did.

And, we're still able to make shorter but just as fun day trips to out-of-the-way restaurants and wildlife refuges.

And, many of my pictures show my two sisters who often traveled with us. One now dead and the other in a care home.

But, Oh! what memories!

Bob Wright

 

[RSIno1]

That’s awesome! Good for you. Don’t the Mini’s have BMW engines?

They are completely BMWs and most are built in Holland. The current Prince engine family jointly developed by BMW and Peugeot is available in 1.4- and 1.6-liter displacements. A turbocharged version of the engine found in the standard MINI Cooper is also used in the Cooper S. Peugeot uses these engines in the 207 and 308, and Citroen puts them in the new C4.

My O5 Cooper S had a Brazilian motor - In 1997, Chrysler Corporation and Rover Group (then a subsidiary of BMW) formed a joint venture called Tritec Motors to design a new small straight-4 engine. The new company built a factory in Campo Largo of Curitiba, Brazil specifically to manufacture the new engine. The Tritec name stands for the union of the three countries involved: Germany, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

It was a fun little car for short trips around town. On the highway it sucked choppy ride of the S suspension and run-flat tires didn't help it's manners. It was so flexy that it cracked the windshield in the corner. They knew about the problem and replaced it under warranty. Lots of plastic on plastic squeaks. Their fix for the dash one was to tear out the whole dash and stick a few felt washers under the mounting screws. That worked well for about 2 months.

 

[bobski]

isnt that a stiff ride for old bones? im more of a buick man myself! or maybe a 1970 454 caddy coupe de ville!

 

[bobski]

like they use to say...wouldnt you really rather have a buick?
:>

 

[Mobuck]

Not a vehicle but last fall I decided I wanted a newer JD hay baler to replace the 40 year old Vermeer. Several comments about whether I "NEEDED" to spend $15K on something I only use 5 days a year had put me off for years but I finally made the decision. I actually spent $16K but ended up with a one-of-a-kind low use unit that will last this operation for decades after I'm gone. After a couple of afternoons running the baler, I'm asking myself why I waited so long.

 

[OVERLOADDED]

My wife purchased her first new car, Buick, in August of 2019! It has less than 5,000 miles on it, today! We have had 8 new pickup trucks, I to!d her get what you wants, and she did! Overloadded

 

[blume357]

Good for you... we got Mini's all over the place here and I tried to get my wife to replace her Porsche with one but she declined.... she gave the porsche to our church and now we are down to only two vehicles.... I'm still not comfortable with that.