Great story Phil. Sounds like fun.
Tell me that the Volvo replaced the totalled BMW
and that the Mini is not going to be the "winter
beater"?
Congratulations on the car.
Can you bring it to the Mn MGT R lunch on Tuesday?
Paul.
--
Paul Root
'77B
proot@attbi.com
> For some time now, my Midget has been off the road for an extensive rebuild.
> Of course it is taking longer than expected, and I have developed a
> near-terminal case of "while I'm at it."
>
> So, I haven't had an LBC to drive for quite a while. This past Thursday, I
> got a call from my friend Jim. Saturday was "Wheels and Wings," the big car
> show/fly-in at Classic Motorbooks in Osceola Wisconsin. The whole town turns
> into a carnival for this event. He was unable to go because he had to be out
> of town. So, knowing that I didn't have a car to bring, and having a car he
> was trying to sell, he wondered if I would drive his Mini Cooper to the
> show, so it would get some exposure, and I'd have a car to drive.
>
> Yeah, he really had to twist my arm.
>
> I'd never seen this particular car, (Jim has a revolving garage door) so I
> walked over to his house to check it out and pick up the keys. There was a
> very clean, black Mini Cooper, 13 inch wheels, fuel injected, LHD. Very
> nice. I took it for a drive; tight as a drum. I immediately cleared my
> schedule for the day.
>
> Unfortunately my wife could not. So it was going to be Lily, my two year old
> daughter, and I. We strapped in the booster seat and right away she liked
> the fact that unlike mom's Volvo, she could see where we were going. She
> thought it was cute.
>
> 6:45 Saturday morning we were off. On the way, there's 25 minutes of boring
> suburb to drive through before we get to the fun roads north of St. Paul.
> I'm tooling along enjoying every minute when I spot a Traction Avant fueling
> up at a station on Hwy 96. I zip in to say hello and see if he's going to
> the show. Funny thing: when I ask if he's going to Osceola, he answers, by
> instinct, "It's a Citroen" before he realizes that's not what I asked. We
> both laughed. He must get that a lot. He was going to St. Paul to pick up a
> passenger before the show, so I headed off alone.
>
> Lily dozed off as I reach County Road 7, one of my favorites. With a willing
> little A-series pulling me through the curves, go-kart handling and an
> exhaust that has just enough of that anti-social buzz, I realized it has
> been WAY too long since I did this. The car ran perfectly. As we approached
> the St. Croix Trail, I saw an unmistakably vintage shape flash by, then
> another. When I reached the trail I fell in at the end of a line of
> classics, led by a trailered Isetta. Directly in front of me was a 55
> Chevrolet, then a pair of late 50's Corvettes, and assorted big American
> 50's rigs. Soon a late 50's Plymouth Belvedere fell in behind me. Then we
> passed a big Healey on another tributary, waiting for his turn to merge into
> the stream.
>
> Right from the start the show was great, lots of LBCs, and The Minnesota MG
> Group had coffee and doughnuts waiting for us. I was the first Mini there
> and was directed to a spot right at the entrance on a little hill where the
> organizers decided to put the Minis. As the rest of them showed up, I was
> between a wonderfully patinated dead-original '67 MkII Cooper S (with John
> Cooper's signature in the boot) and a restored to better-than-new early
> non-S Cooper.
>
> We wandered the field, looked at many hundreds of cars of every sort, then
> Lily started to get bored at about noon. They were giving free train rides
> on old Great Northern passenger coaches so I took her for a short run. We
> had the entire train to ourselves. The engineer let Lily sound the whistle
> at a road crossing and ring the bell. She was grinning from ear to ear.
>
> Then we went for ice cream. I drove the car into town and stopped at a
> little sweets shop, and immediately drew a crowd. A few places over was a
> red Ferrari 328 that seemed to go unnoticed. (sorry Rick.) Lily patted the
> Minis flank and said "Papa's car." I had to remind her that it wasn't mine,
> and she asked when we had to give it back. "Not for a little while," I said.
> The rest of the afternoon was hers. We drove around town smiling, and she
> went on the carousel, rode a pony, visited the balloon vendor and petting
> zoo, and was generally spoiled by dad. We had an absolutely smashing time,
> me and my little girl, in that little car.
>
> On the way home she slept again and I took the long way, deliberately using
> some of the lesser traveled back roads. Just me, and the curves and the
> sweet little Cooper.
>
> I got home and carried my sleeping child to her bedroom. I came back in to
> tie her balloon to the bed frame so it would be there when she awoke. She
> opened her eyes briefly, looked up at the balloon and beamed. I kissed her
> and she looked at me and asked "We can't keep the little car?"
>
> I thought about the day we had and, well, Jim's car isn't for sale anymore.
>
> Phil Vanner
> Minneapolis
> '61 Midget
> and a four seat LBC
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