Rix Motor Company News A Family Run Business. Established Since 1975 in Warrington, Cheshire
The Rix Motor Company Darts open evening was a great success. Many darts matches were played, wine was flowing and all our customers who bought a car got a fantastic deal!
We would like to thank everyone who could make it, especially Colin and Gary and to everyone who helped organise such a fantastic event.
To remember the evening here is a video of our very own Managing Director, Reginald Rix, beating Gary Anderson at the oche.
Gary Anderson. (The Flying Scotsman)
Gary made his breakthrough in winning the 2001 Welsh Open and qualifying for the following year's Lakeside Championship. Despite victories in Opens across Europe, including Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Northern Ireland and the British and Scottish Opens, Anderson failed to hit the heights on the televised stage until 2007.
He powered to victory in the International Darts League, defeating Mark Webster in the final having seen off Adrian Lewis and James Wade in the knockout quarter-finals and semi-finals. September 2007 then saw Anderson back up his IDL win with triumph in the World Darts Trophy, culminating in a hugely impressive victory over Phil Taylor in the final.
The 2009 Lakeside Championship saw Anderson reach the quarter-finals before losing to Tony O'Shea, only the third time in eight appearances he had won through the first round. Gary joined the PDC in February 2009, making his debut on the PDC Pro Tour in Irvine.
Gary has quickly made his mark, reaching successive finals in Nuland, Holland, in Players Championships- losing on both days to Phil Taylor at the start of April - and hitting a nine-darter in an event in Derby. Anderson has automatically qualified for the 2011 premier league after rising to number 4 in the world after his performances in recent tournaments. He got off to a winning start by beating Simon Whitlock 8-5 on the opening night at the o2 arena.
Colin Osborne (The Wizard)
Colin burst onto the PDC scene in 2005, rocketing up the world rankings with a string of assured displays. His performances on the circuit saw him book a place at the UK Open - including victories over Kevin Painter, Peter Manley and Ronnie Baxter in his first Regional Final. He then made the last 16 at Bolton before hitting a nine-dart leg the following week during his successful attempt to qualify for the World Match play, which led to him making his Winter Gardens debut, losing 10-5 to Ronnie Baxter.
Osborne missed out on the World Championship that year in the PDPA qualifiers, but four ranking semi-finals continued his progress before victory in the Sheppey Classic in June 2006. He would reach the last 64 of the UK Open soon after and also hit another nine-darter, this time in a Players Championship.
The qualifiers for the 2007 World Championship proved more successful, with Osborne winning a place at the Circus Tavern and then defeating Kevin Painter, Wes Newton and Roland Scholten to reach the quarter-finals on his debut, before losing 5-4 to Andy Jenkins. He also made his Las Vegas Desert Classic debut in the summer of 2007, overcoming James Wade but losing to Peter Manley, and returned to the World Match play in defeat to Dennis Priestley.
He entered the 2008 World Championship as an automatic qualifier, due to his status inside the world's top 32, but went down to a first round loss to Erwin Extercatte. The Derby-based star, though, responded well to win the first ranking event of the New Year, at the UK Open North-East Regional Final, and also hit a third competitive nine-darter and defeated Phil Taylor in a Players Championship during the first half of the year.
The summer's majors, though, were less successful as he followed up a last 16 finish in the PDC US Open. He reached a final and five semi-finals on the PDC Pro Tour before battling through the field in Bolton to reach his first major final, losing to Phil Taylor in the UK Open decider.
On October 4th 2000, after 41 memorable years and 5,387,862 produced, the most famous production car namely, the Mini came to an end. Rover decided to end it with great celebrations and also build a Special Edition, which would mark the Final Classic Mini.
Classic Cooper Sport 500. These were made at the end of the line, and are a separate batch of 500 that see in the end of the Mini’s production. There is much confusion of these Minis with the Classic Cooper Sports, (Non 500s), which have the same body spec, trim spec, and were also available in the same colours. The 500s however, were only ever made in the sports pack version with Platinum Silver roofs. There are many other tell tale signs if you own a 500 or looking for one. All genuine 500s came with a rear high-level brake light in the rear window. However, this doesn’t mean that all cars with these are 500s. The lights were fitted to all Minis towards the end of production as the law changed, but there are non 500s and others without them and are a quick external check for owners or buyers of true 500s. The other identifiable item fitted only to 500s is a dash plaque that is mounted within the glove box compartment. This plaque states "THIS MINI IS ONE OF THE LAST 500 BUILT TO THE ORIGINAL SIR ALEC ISSIGONIS DESIGN". These plaques should only be fitted to the Cooper Sport 500s. Failing that fall back on the Chassis Number.
There is much debate about these Final Limited Editions. Many say it’s not unlike Rover to build more then 500. That has been denied by Rover, and I have been given a list of the 500’s chassis numbers to help confirm them and to prove that there are only 500. Then there is debate that 500/500 is not the last, it’s the last number in the chassis list. Some people say that it wasn’t the last to roll off the line, there may have been others but this is the final chassis number and was taken early off the line to be hand finished knowing it was set to be a Museum piece.
