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[94touring]

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[John Gervais]

Late night in the kitchen last night; I made 10 kilograms 'brombær' (blackberry) marmelade.

[94touring]

Mmmm.  My sweet tooth likes that photo.

[MPlayle]

I've been seeing that extra blank space for a little while lately.  I think my browser settings block the actual pop-ups, so I have not seen the ads themselves.

[94touring]

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[Jims5543]

LOL That is a mean joke, I want my sugar dammit!!

[94touring]

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[Jims5543]

[MPlayle]

A very good likeness!   :D

The sack of potatoes is more useful as well.

[94touring]

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[Jims5543]

Been a while.....

[Jims5543]

[ADRay]

In winter, I'm a Subaru driver... expecting snow in NH tonight.

[Jims5543]

LOL!! When I used to Autocross a lot I would laugh at the Subie guys with their "Pray for Rain" stickers on their cars.

[BruceK]

Just saw this car at a stoplight.  Seeing the UK number plate threw me off, because multiple clues seem to point to a US-spec Focus:

1) It is LHD, not RHD
2) Bolt holes on hatch around the number plate look to be for US-style license plate and most UK rear plates are stuck on, not bolted on.
3) Headlight units have amber reflectors when viewed from the side indicating US-sidemarker lights
4) It had a sticker for Cobb Tuning which is a US-based shop (and where I got my Mini aligned, too)

However, I "ran the plate" online and it is in the right format for a 2013/2014 UK car from Peterborough.  And it has a UK front plate too, white in color as it should be, with the same reg number. 

Perhaps it belongs to a US serviceman who just returned from the UK?   Anyway, I drive my '88 Mini all around with it's UK plates on and I've never been stopped once - but of course a Mini looks "old and foreign" and my car is RHD.  I imagine it is a bit different with a modern car sporting UK plates - even more so because of the LHD situation - it may cause a cop to take interest. 

[Jims5543]

Just saw this car at a stoplight.  Seeing the UK number plate threw me off, because multiple clues seem to point to a US-spec Focus:

1) It is LHD, not RHD
2) Bolt holes on hatch around the number plate look to be for US-style license plate and most UK rear plates are stuck on, not bolted on.
3) Headlight units have amber reflectors when viewed from the side indicating US-sidemarker lights
4) It had a sticker for Cobb Tuning which is a US-based shop (and where I got my Mini aligned, too)

However, I "ran the plate" online and it is in the right format for a 2013/2014 UK car from Peterborough.  And it has a UK front plate too, white in color as it should be, with the same reg number. 

Perhaps it belongs to a US serviceman who just returned from the UK?   Anyway, I drive my '88 Mini all around with it's UK plates on and I've never been stopped once - but of course a Mini looks "old and foreign" and my car is RHD.  I imagine it is a bit different with a modern car sporting UK plates - even more so because of the LHD situation - it may cause a cop to take interest.

I have a very good friend that used to be a patrol officer and now is a detective. I asked him once when he was patrol if he would pull me over for having a UK plate in the prominent position with the US plate mounted under the car. He said he had better things to do and the chances a classic mini was up to no good was about nil.





I have been thinking of getting a custom classic (Blue in Florida)  tag that has the same numbers as my British tag.  I think that may eliminate any confusion as to what my tag # is.

[MiniDave]

That's what I did for the Racing Green Mini (Euro Kansas plate) I carry the actual Kansas plate in the car with me, but no one has given it a second glance, and I've had cops sitting right behind me for blocks at a time.

[jedduh01]

Truck Truck Truck Mini

[BruceK]

Truck Truck Truck Mini

Love it!  They must have loaded the Mini first, then the smaller truck, thne the next biggest, all the way to the biggest truck.


It reminded me of the sighting of a Mini I spotted out on the road in Italy last summer.  There weren't many around - saw a lot more of the classic Fiat 500s than Minis, so when I saw this one, I had to take a photo through the windshield of the rental car.

[BruceK]

This is an actual text exchange I had with my daughter about 5 years ago.  I think she was jealous of a college roommate with a scholarship.

[MiniGene]

However, I "ran the plate" online and it is in the right format for a 2013/2014 UK car from Peterborough.  And it has a UK front plate too, white in color as it should be, with the same reg number. 

Perhaps it belongs to a US serviceman who just returned from the UK? 

I might know this guy, and I if I don't know him I probably would know his face.  A lot of people who work at RAF Molesworth and RAF Alconbury live in Peterborough.  When folks transition in, they are allowed to drive on their US plates until the DVLA issues an official V5--then you can get your Brit plates.  It's the same way when you ship your car back, gotta drive on the Brit plates until you get to whatever state you're living in and get it registered stateside. 

[MPlayle]

They don't do the US Military "green plates" anymore?

WAY back when I was little and we were stationed in England and Germany, they issued special "green plates" for US military personnel stationed in Europe.  You did not have to get local plates on a car taken over from the US as it got issued the special plates.

Then again, everyone knew you were American military from those same plates.  They may have stopped them so military personnel did not stand out anymore.

[MiniGene]

Here in the UK you get the same plates as everybody else.  I know in some countries you do get issued plates that make you easily identifiable as an service member--I don't know why.  I prefer to blend in as much as possible.  Sometimes that's not quite possible as many dudes here wear some very very skinny jeans and I'll be damned if I wear those-hahaha.

[BruceK]

Back in the 1990s when I lived in San Antonio, it was fairly common to see lots of cars driving town around with foreign license plates, as well as cars that were never imported into the US too.  There were 4 active Air Force Bases in town (Lackland, Kelley, Brooks, and Randolph) plus the Ft. Sam Houston US Army post, so there were a lot of returning service personnel as well as many visiting servicemen from other countries. 

[MiniGene]

Dallas is the location of one of the stateside "Vehicle Processing Centers" for folks shipping their cars in or out.  I was about to drive my 4Runner down there from Denver to ship it over here.  I ended up selling it a the last minute, though. 

Depending on how my "Brexit" goes in 2018, we may have to ship my wife's Cooper S to Dallas.  You'll then see her tearing up the American roads with her British plates (temporarily.)