Some of you may already know that I recently purchased a 2005 MINI Cooper S to sit alongside Jacqi, my 2008 Bullitt Mustang. Others of you had no idea. And that’s fine if you didn’t know, because I tried to keep it a secret until I could get around to doing a proper video shoot of the new girl. And if you’re wondering her name, it’s Lola. The reason for this is the old Kinks song of the same name.
Lola was actually written by brothers Ray and Dave Davies, of The Kinks. Ray Davies wrote the lyrics after seeing the band’s manager, Robert Wace, hanging out with a black woman at a party, but she later turned out to be a man…
Well, I’m not dumb but I can’t understand
Why she walked like a woman but talked like a man
Oh my Lola, L-L-L-L-Lola, L-L-L-L-Lola
So basically, the reasoning behind the name of my MINI was because everyone kept saying after I bought it, “Wait, aren’t those things for girls?” And the name just popped into my head… As well scenes from Austin Powers, making me think, “She looks like a girl’s car, but she’s meant for a man, baby!” Okay, corny as hell, I know. But still fun nonetheless.
Lately I’ve been referred to as being just like a Bing commercial…
Anyway, with all that out of the way, it’s time to talk about driving my new car out west to Asheville, NC. I drove out there with two friends. One was meeting a friend out there, and the other friend just went driving up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway with me. We drove around the Mount Mitchell area, which is closer to Boone, NC, home to Appalachian State University. Or to any college football fans out there, the little team from NC that whooped Michigan’s ass in 2007.
I left on Friday afternoon and arrived back on Sunday afternoon. But the events leading up to the trip are where the stress builds. Allow to me explain.
You see, I recently purchased a 15% supercharger pulley from Alta Performance. All of the instructions I was able to find online outline everything nice and easy. Except for the fact that getting the original supercharger pulley off is a pain in the keister. That’s right, I said it. What should have taken a few hours took almost 24 hours between 4 people who know their way around a car pretty well. A MINI, not so much, as we all found out. I’ll spare you the blood and glory details. But all I have to say is, don’t buy a special pulley tool if you own a MINI. Just go down to Advance Auto Parts and rent yourself a pulley puller to get the job done. It’ll be hairy, but just stick with it, because it works. Also, the new serpentine belt isn’t easy to get on, either. But once again, I’ll leave those details for a beer and, more beer.
Upon the arrival of my newest car, I ordered a few things for her: black John Cooper Works style grilles, carbon fiber side mirror covers, sunroof sunshades, and an M7 carbon fiber shift knob. The latter has yet to arrive… The grilles, like the shifter, were on back order, and arrived almost 4 months after I ordered them.
Well, the only real reason I’m posting this article is to say that there’s a video coming soon of my trip to the Parkway. So stay tuned for it. It’ll be pretty cool, I assure you.
