My buddy Chris loves big American Iron. So do I, but I could always tell he never quite understood about minis. Usually when we see each other, there are things to do, and traffic when we are done. Today was different. He came by to drop off some wood at about 7:30 and had some time, so I took him on a spirited drive. That was good, but when I let him drive back, that is when I could see the light go on in his eyes.

First off, he almost put us through the window first time he braked. "Wow this has good brakes!" Then I encouraged him to make him use the full RPM range. He liked that, but what was really fun was how twitchy he was driving at first. He just kept twitching us back and forth until he realized he didn't have to move the wheel much to turn. He noted "this handles great".

By the end of the drive he was smiling ear to ear. I think he sees what we see now. Lol. He couldn't stop talking about it. I am sure he will spread the word and not allow anyone to disparage minis in his presence.

One more on our side.

 

 

I have a similar story, although I wasn't around to see the conversion. One of my lab mates at school always used to joke about my car until I loaned it to him for a few hours one day. He came back with a huge grin on his face, handed me the keys and said "i take back everything I've ever said about your car!"

 

Looking at your Mods list, it sounds like your particular MINI would make a very convincing argument for the brand!

 

I hope you don't regret what you've done. If he trades the truck for a MINI, he won't be delivering any more wood.

 

I never appreciated the MINI at all, until a friend practically twisted my arm to drive his. BTW, this friend makes his living working on "big American Iron," and has his own custom shop in SoCal. The problem is that the MINI was marketed as a "boutique car" (ughh, slap me for typing that) at least here in the US. Anyway, I usually try not to judge a book by it's cover, but call me guilty on this one. Anyway, when I sense that people are judging my car, I don't mind. I imagine them wrestling their heaps around, while my most mundane of journeys is a pleasure drive.

 

That is funny.

No, I think I am safe. He's one of the "you can have my truck when you pry it for my cold dead hands" kind of guy..

Danny, regarding the mods, it was a fair fight. He's the kind of guy who put a 350 in a 79 Wrangler and a LS6 in a butt ugly 1970 Nova, so nothing he ever drives is "normal" by any standards. I just saw him today and he was still happy.

He's a tough guy to impress HP wise, but if you can imagine based on his rides, he hasn't really had a car that can handle worth a crap even 1/2 as good as a mini so it wasn't really hard to impress him that way. I will be curious to see if he moves to a more spirited vehicle in the future.

 

Same thing happened to my sister...... and then she ordered hers. Up to now she was leasing a car, but the MINI - she had to OWN. Its fun to see their faces just light up......