At least the last one you will see for sale here at dbmini.us.

That is because it’s mine.

Details after the jump. You can see photos of the MINI in my flickr stream.

I am selling my 2003 Velvet Red MINI Cooper (R50). It has every option that was available from the factory in 2003 except Satellite Navigation and Park Distance Control.

This MINI is in less than perfect shape, but would make a great project car or a first time owners car (with some repairs). The following repairs need to be done.

• Rear brakes
• Steering rack
• Front axles (both sides)
• Struts replaced (all 4)
• Tires (all 4)
• Door locks – will not open or close from keyfob
• Sunroof – Currently stuck open
• Air bag light stuck on (might require a wiring harness

The above list is my wish list. I haven’t had a professional look at it for a proper quote, and I would highly recommend that. This car drives perfect, stops great and still gets 35MPG on the highway. It uses about a quart of oil every other month and has a leak in the cooling system as well that might be the thermostat housing.

Idealy, I would like $4,000. As is. But, if you are in SoCal, would seriously be interested in purchasing this car and have cash, let’s talk. You can contact me here.

One of the questions I get asked more than anything else is about the tires I use on my MINI.

Pictured above is the Kumho Ecsta ASX and it has been my tire of choice for over 160K miles. Great in the rain, handles well for daily driving and the occassional canyon-carving session, stops great and is quiet. And, as a bonus, I can get about 40K miles out of each one, which makes them a pretty good value in my book.

As for tire shops, I prefer Discount/America’s Tire to TireRack. The price is comparable (after installation) and, for a little extra per tire I get a smokin’ extended warranty. If you have one close, I highly recommend them.

I also have used Yokohama ES100’s (replaced by the Yokohama S.drive, pictured above). It’s a very aggressive tire that handles and brakes exceptionally well, but is horrible for daily driving duties. It rides rough and wears quickly (about 15K miles if you are lucky), but they are great on the track or for AutoX.

Comments are open. What tires do you like?

That is all.

For future reference, should anyone ask, if you hit a curb in your car, there is a chance that you can do a little bit of damage.

That’s right gang, I pulled the king-of-the-idiots stunt today by driving right up and over a curb at a speed faster enough to put me up and over the curb. Now, when that happens many a thing can go wrong with your vehicle. If you have bullet-proof wheels like I do, then the bulk of the bone-jarring force is absorbed into the tires. And, as was my case, it can do bad things. Like split the sidewall.

Luckily, I buy my tires from Discount/America’s Tire with the extra road-side damage warranty. In short, the good lads were able to replace my tire (although, not with the same, but that’s another post) For around $35 (taxes and fees on the tire installed). Not only was it cheap, but they are always nice, usually pretty fast and they run a very clean shop. It’s where I get all my tires and you should too.

In an effort to bring a little consistency and organization to things, I have dropped feedblitz as the WRR subscription service. This means that if you were subscribed to White Roof Radio via email, you won’t be receiving those any more.

That is not to say that you are no longer able to subscribe to WRR via email. I have changed the service to a different provider that should be able to provide faster updates consistently.

If you would like to subscribe to WRR via email, you can do so below. Want to follow WRR other ways? Check out the subscribe page for all of the options like iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed and RSS.

For those that missed it, this rumor started last week and everyone watched as The Stig removed his helmet for the first time.

World famous F1 driver and Bacardi Ambassador (really, where would I apply for that gig?) Michael Shoemaker!

Ok, that’s enough Top Gear this week. At least until Sunday.

For those of you that might have missed it, Top Gear has started it’s 13th series tonight.

Of course, those of you that have direct access to BBC Television have already seen it. I too have already watched it and I’m pretty sure it was made with at least 120lbs of awesome.

“But how did you watch it db?” you might be asking. I don’t have access to BBC Television other than BBC America, which means it will be chopped and whatnot to fit commercials and a tighter time schedule. That is after a few weeks or months delay. However, I do have access to a little thing called the internet.

If you were to click over to FinalGear.com, you will find a link to what is called a torrent file. The key is in that file friends. But, before you download it, you will need a program to open it so that you can download Top Gear to your desktop.

Mac users are going to want Transmission. If you are on Windows, uTorrent would be a great place to start.

The easy way is to download and install the app, download the torrent file and open it with the program you just downloaded. After 1-3 hours, depending on the speed of your internet connection, you too will have a piping-hot serving of Top Gear.

Of course, if you want to go hardcore, you will want to modify your router settings to properly share the files (that is how bit torrent works) and tweak the settings so you know where the file goes as it’s being downloaded.

Go forth and download!

Some fine specimens from the Huntington Beach Concours.

First week of the new job and I have already had to traverse 2 different roads that were made of dirt. 1 I couldn’t avoid, the other was google maps drawing a straight line.

Going to have to put a hurry up on the new shocks. Or, get a kidney belt.

I just spent a few hours Saturday cleaning my MINI. Please forgive me for letting it get so dirty. I mean, it was pretty bad. It was also the first time in at least a year that I actually washed my MINI in the driveway. And it needs some serious help.

Small scratches everywhere plus the big scratches on the drivers side door. Rough spots in the paint. Wheels are scratched and dirty, inside and out. I’m not even going to go into the interior.

So I have decided to tackle the exterior of my MINI and try to get it looking as good as it can. I’m going to need do a bit more than claybar and wax this time and wonder what you, the enthusiastic MINI owner, uses when it’s time for a serious polish on your ride. Would a D/A be ok, or should I go orbital? Have a good polish that you like?

Of course, when it’s done, I’ll be giving her a coat or two of Meguiar’s, but I’ve got a long way to go before I get there.

Comments are open! I would love any suggestions you might have.