ARRRRGHH! Thar be Black Kate!

Dateline 5 June, 2009

Black Kate, my new MINI Cooper arrived today. She’s a sophisticated little thing with beige leather interior, black body, white roof, and chrome trim bits. We even got the black and silver union jack side scuttle because Cinda liked the idea of a Pirate themed car and seemed to think the “Black Jack” scuttle was pirate themed. I don’t have white sport stripes because she threatened to call it Pepe’ because it looked like a skink. Likewise, I was not able to get yellow because then it “looked like a taxi” or “looked like a school bus.” I was also prevented from sky blue. Cinda probably would have gone with hunter green (“British Racing Green”) which would have looked sharp with the beige leather, but Green is a very common color of MINI and I wanted to avoid that. I’m also leery that green might lower resale. Red was way to common and I don’t favor pure metallic colors (silver, gold, etc.). The white wasn’t white; it was sort of a cream color. Went with a base Cooper because those still have spare tires but I upgraded to the 16 inch wheels which come with run-flats because there are more replacement options for the 16 inch size when the time comes. Because I had run-flats though, I opted for buying the tire maintenance warranty --- more on that later. Anyway, here she is … Black Kate. 2009 MINI Cooper Hardtop. Midnight Black with a white roof and chrome line package. Tuscan Leather interior with Piano Black trim. 6 speed manual transmission on a 1.6L engine putting out 118 horsepower and lots of torque. Automatic climate control, xenon headlights, front and rear fog lights, and 16” white bridgestone wheels. More pictures here.