Volume VI, Number XII                                                                            August/September 2005

 

So, I haven't had an Little British Car 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 British Cars, 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. Lily patted the Mini's 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.

WANTED & FOR SALE

Please Note!  The Wanted & For Sale pages have been getting a bit too long as a result of old ads.  Our new policy will be to list "For Sale" items three months.  Ads will run for three months, and will then have to be renewed or will be deleted....to renew your ad or list new ones, you can contact me at: cbaumann@lkdllink.net or call me at 1-320-963-5681.  The Service Offered ads will be continued indefinitely.