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/

Mustangs

We saw a herd of Mustangs!

To be honest, I should say we saw small bands of Mustangs.

We saw some as we drove out of Bryce Canyon, UT.

There were a few more along the road heading south.

And finally, there was a large band in Kanab, UT.

If you put them all together, it would make up a herd.

OK, to be fair, they weren't ponies...

What we were seeing were Ford Mustangs.

It seems that the Ford Mustang is 50 years old today. That's an awesome track record. Ford is commemorating the birthday with a celebration at the Charlotte Motor Speedway concurrent with one in Las Vegas.

The Mustangs we saw were just a few belonging to a group of 100 cars rented by 200 members of the Mustang Club de France. They were enjoying a group tour of the west before the official celebrations began. What a fun trip!

Most of the cars sported this banner, which, in case you can't read it, says:

Mustang 50th Birthday Celebration

50 years 1964/2014   Mustang Club de France

Las Vegas

source

Happy Birthday, Mustang!

It's hard to believe you are a half century old!