Life can be strange at times, and sometimes good things can result from a bad event. Last week on the way home from work, I was going up First Street. Traffic came to a sudden stop and I got rear ended. There wasn’t too much damage. The rear bumper was wasted and the exhaust was a little bent.

I was going to take my car to the dealership that services my Mini. They use an off premises body shop that has people trained to work on Mini Coopers. I gave the body shop a call to schedule an estimate. They weren’t very accommodating and they weren’t very friendly so I didn’t make an appointment. I was really bummed because I didn’t know where to take my car to have it fixed.

Right after I hung up the phone I went on the internet to check my e-mail. Charlie, one of my C3 friends, e-mailed me about a Mini run coming up. At the bottom of the e-mail was this link http://centralcoastcoopers.com/. I went on the site and learned that they modify Minis and have a body shop. I think the body shop came first and Scott, the owner, got the Mini bug and started modifying them. I thought to myself, “that e-mail couldn’t have come at a better time.” I gave them a call, Scott was very friendly and I could tell that he had an attention to detail and a do I right kind of attitude. I drove right over to get an estimate. The place is really nice. It’s big, it’s clean, they use the best products, the estimate guy is very knowledgeable and nice, the front desk girl is a hottie, and I left knowing that my Mini was in the best of hands. That took a lot of stress off my shoulders.

Instead of buying a new Mini exhaust I decided to spend a couple hundred extra and get a Borla Race exhaust. Scott drove a few miles over to Borla and picked it up, that’s what I call service.

Yesterday afternoon I went to pick it up. When I arrived they were washing my Mini so Scott gave me the keys to his Mini. I couldn’t believe he was letting me take it for a drive. It’s a sweet R/B MCS with black wheels, just like mine. But his has a 15% pulley, H-Sport springs and comp. rear bar, Koni shocks and an aero kit. After that drive I realized I need to get the H-Sport suspension kit sooner then I had planned. When I came back my Mini was waiting in the front parking lot. They did a perfect job on the new rear bumper cover. And to top it off Scott gave me a new Central Coast Cooper t-shirt and a couple of stickers. The exhaust looks super sweet and it sticks out of the lower valence 4 or 5 inches. It sounds as sweet as it looks. It has a really deep, throaty sound and when you let off the gas it pops, bangs and burbles a lot more then the stock exhaust. It’s a little loud when accelerating but in 5th or 6th gear at 3000 rpm it is very quiet. My HK system isn’t going to get much use now.

So in the end a bad event turned out to be a very good thing. I found a place where I can get anything I need done on my Mini and I know it will be done right. Thank you Scott, Darrell and Jamie and the rest of Central Coast Coopers for taking very good care of me and my Mini!