I figure i could fill you guys in on the Mini that I'm getting soon. (not that you care...)

'76 Austin Mini, BRG, RHD
Let's turn the calendar back almost 2 months... On March 17th, I take the Mini to this place called Flying Circus in Durham, NC, because I heard that they were the experts. We were experiencing crappy running, shitty mileage, and an oil leak. (not a NORMAL English leak, either) It took us about 2.5 hours to get from the coast to Durham, with a few stops for gas, etc. The car only goes 70 if you're on a big hill, bump drafting, with a tail wind... During the run, the chase car, a rental white Fusion gets COVERED in oil. So we leave a 150 mile long oil slick to the shop, leave a laundry list, and they said that they would get back to us. No problem.
Right off, we start having communication problems. I'll skip all the gory bits, but they basically had the car for about a month before real progress started happening. Excuses everywhere. Finally, I verbally berate the owner's sister, saying that I heard you were the best, blah blah, I'm not happy, I know business is down right now, bad press isn't going to help, etc. They've been very helpful since. They start off with fixing a hack mechanic fix to the intake system, an oil leak, and something else, I can't remember. Each was $500 in parts and labor. Not an insignificant piece of cash, especially since we were hoping for $600 tops. We agree to let them continue, and then THE CALL comes. "We fixed the intake, and the other things, it's running great now... EXCEPT for the major oil leak." They'd been running it on the lift to check things out, and only noticed the leak after it had been running for a bit. Turns out it was the rear main seal. "Well, luckily, everything's apart already, so we just have to pull the engine, etc." I ask how much. "ANOTHER $1-1.5K." Now we're getting into serious money. I mean, we're approaching the purchase price of the car in the first place. (which, if you do the math, is still loads cheaper than most decent rust free Minis on the market)
anyway, I called again last week, just to ask the owner if we were still within our "estimates". For once, there's good news.
He has to crunch the numbers, but the next day, he calls and tells me that it looks like, all told, it will be $2500. At least we've had some time to get used to the number.
He's supposed to call me this week to let me know everything came back together all right, and that it's ready for pickup.
I'm pretty excited, as is my wife. She's going to park the X3, and use this as a daily.

Now, normally, I would have done the work myself, and saved a boatload of cash, but this time I'm glad I hired it out. First off, it had some major issues for a Mini newbie like myself. Second, all this happened during my move/relocation.
Third, this car is a frankenstein, too! '76 body, but apparently it's a 92/93 engine. Seems every time they've ordered a part, at least half of the received parts are the wrong part. Plus it's an automatic... not common, and obviously more difficult to work on.

Pics, etc. soon, I promise!
Saved rounds:
1. Turns out, most of the stuff on Minis is "imperial", not metric. That's good news and bad news. You tool guys know what I mean.
2. I wanted to do a manual swap along with the K1100 16v head. I have an extra engine+tranny that comes with the car, but I can't remember if it's an auto or manual... The reason this is important is because you CANNOT mate a manual transmission to an automatic engine. F--k.

... Update from the shop today... Car is coming together, should be able to drive it and check to see if it's sorted by the end of the week, maybe we can pick it up soon!
Oh, and the extra engine and tranny? Married. Automatic. Anyone want to guess what's worse than an engine that only accepts an automatic transmission? TWO OF THEM!!