The tax disc is now in so from Tuesday the Mini will be un-sorned. I’ve had it out of the garage to check tyre pressures, oil, water and brake fluid levels. Fortunately the weather is looking good for the week ahead so hopefully I’ll be driving it to and from work.
MOT – check
Insurance – check
Tax disc – almost
Next Tuesday (as long as the weather is nice) my Classic will be back on the road after its winter hibernation.
There is something about driving the Classic Mini that the newer MINI just can’t match. It could be only getting 200 miles out of a tank of fuel, but its not. It could be the noise generated by the sports exhaust, air filter and the 1275CC A-series that makes the radio impossible to listen to, but its not. It could be the ineffective heater, the bumpy ride on anything other than a perfectly flat road, the lack of room for any luggage or passengers or many, many other things, but its not. It’s none of these, yet it’s all of them at the same time. It’s just got that something extra…
Later this month the insurance policy for my 2000 Mini Classic Cooper Sport is due for renewal. I’ve received my renewal quotation from my current insurers and they want to charge me £430 for 1000 miles. This is roughly the same amount as last year. One reason the price is high is that in August 2005 I was involved in an accident that wrote of my previous Classic. It went head on with a combine harvester and lost. Now having shopped around for an alternative, the only quote cheaper than the current insurer is the one that wrote off the previous one, they’re quoting £280 which is quite a saving. The only drawback of this is it took them six months to payout after the last claim. Is the saving worth the hassle if I have another claim? Probably.
On top of this it has been day of cars. This morning started off watching the Grand Prix from Malaysia. I’ve then washed and polished my MINI. This evening I’ll be trying to watch the opening round of the Champ Car World Series where hopefully Justin Wilson can get going with a victory.
