New to the forum and the club

[DoneRightAuto]

Hey all, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Mike, I live in Tucson, and I am 24 years old. I have an '04 R53 blue with a white top. Barney got me interested in joining the club a few months back. I was stopped on the road side looking at a beat up Toyota Celia that was for sale. Barney pulled up, and got out of his car and i figured he was interested in the Celica too. He handed me a card and we engaged in a fantastic conversation about the world of minis. That card stayed in my wallet for at least 4 months before it saw daylight again. Finally found the time to pop in and say hello.

If you work on your own mini like I do, you know how much fun it is to crawl underneath it, with minimal breathing and working room. My car recently hit the 130k mark, and it was evident that I needed new wheel bearings, and CV shafts. I was dreading the idea of pulling out the jacks and stands again, but I was also dreading the idea of paying someone else to do the work. What I really needed was a garage with a LIFT! I did some research, hoping to find a place that would rent me a lift. Most places in Tucson that I contacted thought I was crazy, and said that their bays were off limits to the public due to insurance and liability reasons. I found a place up in Phoenix that could rent lifts out, but I didn't want to put that many miles on my already worn out wheel bearings. That's when I decided to start a business. I wanted to provide a service in Tucson for the people who want, or can only afford to do the work themselves. I also wanted to provide a full service garage for those who don't have the time or knowledge to do their own auto work. My business partner (Richard) and I found a garage for a killer price in Tucson, and so we jumped on it. Richard is ASE certified, and was already running a shop, but really wanted a shop of his own. I manage the business side of things, and he manages the shop. Together we opened the doors last week, and I was finally able to do work on my own Mini, in a swamp-cooled bay, on a lift, and with all the right tools. It felt amazing! We are now renting out bays with lifts and tools for an hourly or daily rate, and it is going quite well. The hard part is getting the word out that there is a DIY shop in Tucson. We have a 3,000 sqft garage with 7 bays, and 5 lifts. Don't hesitate to stop by and say hello if you are ever in Tucson. We will be giving 20% discounts to anyone that are members of the DMC.

Looking forward to meeting you all, and seeing what you guys are all about. I have a lot of catching up to do on the forums lol.

[danjmcs]

Welcome aboard Mike!

[AKA IAN]

Mike- hello. Hope we get to see you at some of our events. We post the events here under Club Events, on our Facebook page and e-mail if we have your address. Contact madmenoftucson@gmail.com Did Barney get your e-mail address?

[66Cooper]

HI MIKE,

I am glad you held on to the card and finally popped on the DMC forums. Shoot an email to our Tucson chapter, madmenoftucson@gmail.com and we can let you know what we are doing locally next, also check out the events here on the forum and the club calendar.

Happy Motoring,
Barney

[CooperS]

I met a few of you at the MINI Tempe coffee meet this weekend, really bad with names....however it was good talking to you, MINI coupe black with matt black stripes.
I really hope that the club can find some new motivation as it would be great to make it as strong and big as the last MINI club I was in, look forward to meeting some new people soon.

Mike

[66Cooper]

I like to think there is lots of motivation in the club. But I am in the Tucson area. I see lots of stuff posted by both chapters for events, and I for one just don't have enough time to do them all.

I know a lot of stuff isn't posted in our forums any more that Facebook seems to have blown up so big many of our members chat in our members only group on Facebook now.

I take it you are a member of the DRP chapter?