We have all experienced buying a "rare" vehicle and imediately afterwards see all kinds of them on the street.
I recently bought an '03 MCS. It is SO much more than I had expected, but I was initially intimidated by the 160 mile drive to a dealer (who was said to have provided his service employees with an eye-patch, cutlass and a parrot for their shoulders.)
Luckily, our excellent independant Porsche wrenchs have a soft spot for Minis, and are both reasonable and competent!! (What a concept! One apparently unexplored by a number of dealerships.)
I digress.
After following the thread re: waving at fellow MINIpushers, I nearly always see at least one oon my daily travels, occasionally TWO, and on one lucky occasion three...all of whom waved!

Keep in mind, this is not L.A. or New England...this is the middle of Arkansas, replete with bean fields, cotton, rice, ducks and thousands of Chevy 4x4 pickups...not many mini.

So I was somewhat whelmed today when I made my weekly round trip from Little Rock to Marion Illinois. Half busy, truck covered I-40, and half nearly deserted I-55.
A MINI! 20 minutes later, another, 1/2 an hour another. The rural countryside covered in Easter egg colored Minii, ALL wearing those hood (sorry) BONNET stripes in white plastic, uniformly unique(?)

What IS it with the plastic parenthesis?

In 8 1/2 hours, I passed either 12 or 13...Unless there are TWO graphite justas. I think I passed him again coming back toward Memphis.

I was reminded of the days when fully 10% of American road traffic was made up of VW beetles.

BTW: this wasn't any sort of group or parade, never saw two within 10 minutes of the other.

I was thrilled to see so many (mostly women over 40 or so) sharing my enthusiasm.

Yesterday, whilst driving Prudence, my son was approached by a witless female person who wanted to know "What is that CUTE little car?"
She actually said "itsy-bitsy"
My son, in full desert BDUs straight-faced replied,"Why, maam, this is the 2012 PT cruiser embryo."

Looking like Bette White, she accepted his explanation completely.

 

 

Minimiser, Well written and entertaining, but I do have one comment. If you are able to identify gender and ages of oncoming drivers, you either have Superman vision or you're driving too slowly!

 

I live in the Cape Girardeau, Missouri area and still do not see that many MINI's. I see more on the Interstates than any thing. As for the plastic White Bonnet stripes. I am offended. Mine are Black!!! He He! I personally love my stripes, but hey, variety makes the world go round.

Sounds like your trip went well. Motor On!

 

There's tons of MINIs in Memphis and the surrounding area. We had about 30 at our last event and that was a fraction of our club's membership.

In fact, there are probably a minimum of 10 parked in the parking lot outside my office.

 

Well, that may account for some of them. I retrace the trip tomorrow same time...I will diligently count.

 

Love it.

 

I live in the Bay Area. It's good to see MINIs coming and going on the highways and city streets. What is really special about MINI Cooper and what they have done that is brilliant is allow for personalization that ensures that no two are truly alike.

 

Yup....Mini has officially become a ME2! car

 

I once could go days between seeing a MINI...but now it is every little while...the average owner is less of a fanatic, less of a waver...but it is nice to see mini suceede...heck once upon a time it took me 45 minutes to get gas...too many people asking me mini questions

 

Good to see the counts going up, to separate the commuters from the enthusiasts, perhaps y'al can do a little more MINI uniqueification. (I know new word ... )

When you have 2 in the garage, you become more obsessed.

 

Ok, did the exact same route today..LRock/Memphis/Sikeston/Marion Il and return.
590 miles and skirting thru Memphis...TWO Minii, one in Forrest City AR., and the other, CMS, In New Madrid...the 13 musta been a fluke.
In any case, good to see um multiplying,
Now, if we can generate some dealer/ non-dealer competition.

 

I see about 1-2 MINIs a day in the Detroit area.

Don't complain our little car is popular. You can't have survive if you are obscure (low sales) and you can't be special if everyone has one. Only be happy for what you have and enjoy it.

If you want rare, get a Clubman. I've seen ONE on the road in 2 months.