The Italian Job

I went on a "drive" with the Mini5280 club. We met in a commuter parking lot on a Saturday. 33 Mini Coopers. Different colors. Different styles. Each car as unique as its owner.

My car is the fourth in line. I'm wearing a red "Mini" hat.

I am in awe of the President of the club. He was a mountain bicycler until he had a bike accident that left him a quadriplegic. He met another wheel-chair bound fellow who drove a Mini, and discovered that driving a Mini brings back some of the excitement of riding a mountain bike. (He has some use of his arms and can drive a car outfitted with hand controls.) The President plans weekly drives. Each one as unique as the Minis that are in the line-up.

Recently, the drive wound through the front range of Colorado. 

We followed each other on some fun, twisty-turny roads. 

We drove for about two hours, then descended on a local Sonic for lunch. It was the perfect day. Sunny and not too hot. More Minis joined us and we began the trek to the new Schomp Mini dealer in Highlands Ranch, CO.

There is nothing "Mini" about this dealership. It has the largest building of any dealer in the US.

I'm there.... somewhere!

The club was given an exclusive tour of the new building a few days before it opened for business.

According to our tour guide, these hoses dispense everything, including ketchup!

The highlight of the tour was our "drive through" tour. By this time we had collected 68 Minis, and we drove through the parking areas, drove into the service writer's area, then turned and drove through the service department at the dealership. It certainly was reminiscent of the movie, "The Italian Job"... well, sort of. At our fastest, we were only going 10 mph... not racing through, and we didn't go down stairs... and we didn't go up and over viaducts. Regardless, we had a great time!

I couldn't find a way to embed the video that was produced (using a drone camera). If you are interested, you can copy and paste this URL to see our drive:

https://www.facebook.com/SchompMINIColorado/videos/1058791204204796/

Cussler's Last Stand

I have read every Clive Cussler novel featuring the character of Dirk Pitt. Back in the day, Clive couldn't write his novels fast enough for me... I was always waiting for the next adventure to be published. Clive's novels always feature a unique, vintage car that is usually driven in some sort of wild chase, or that has a key role in each story. One of my favorites was "Treasure", where the characters elude their pursuers by racing down a ski slope in a 1930 Cord L29.

Clive Cussler with his Cord L29
Photo from Internet

Recently we Dreamers joined the Mini5280 Club on a trip to Clive Cussler's museum. Clive used to live in Colorado, and his extensive collection of restored cars is housed here.

The collection features cars from 1900 to the 1960's

This 1956 "Woodie" belonged to a gold miner who used it to drive it to his gold mine in Montana.

It has been restored to its original colors.

This '36 Ford Cabriolet Hot Rod was featured in "Atlantis Found".

Clive found it in immaculate condition and transformed it 

into a hot rod, like the one he drove in high school. 

This car was in "Crescent Dawn"

I loved seeing all of the cars. They were all so beautifully restored, 

and most were very colorful. 

But I have to admit, my favorite display was the 

1936 Pierce-Arrow V12Berline, which was featured in "Inca Gold"

It certainly wasn't very colorful, but it's navy blue had a deep shine to it.

What I liked most is the 1936 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge Trailer that was towed by the massive Pierce-Arrow. 

It was so pretty inside!

The museum visit was great fun. The museum houses about 70 cars,  a bit more than half of Clive's collection, and the cars are rotated in and out. Many of the cars were restored by Clive and his son, Dirk. Only 17 of the cars are featured in Cussler's novels, so he has a lot of writing to do to cover his entire collection!! 

Outside of the museum there was another collection. A collection of the Mini Coopers driven by club members.  Dreaming (in pink) is looking over the Mini herd. Her new Mini is in the back row, you can only see a bit of its black top, just over the top of the red and black Mini in the center.