Hi folks,
It's likely this question has been aired before, but I had two conversations a while back that really threw it into focus for me.
The first involved a bloke who was waiting by the Cooper S in the Woolies car-park when I came out - nothing unusual about that - I enjoy chatting to enthusiasts at any opportunity. This was a bit different. He asked me what I had modified, and when I told him (wheels, motor, interior suspension - all fairly moderate in my opinion), he muttered "Shouldn't be allowed to have one!". I was surprised, and asked him to repeat what he said, and he told me that the Cooper S was in his opinion the 'perfect icon' of the sixties, and should not be 'butchered' by people who didn't appreciate it. He suggested I should return everything to absolute standard and be glad I was lucky enough to own one.
I will admit I was a trifle miffed by this stage. Min and I have been together for 34 years, and even if she isn't his cup of tea, there was no need to be rude. So I respectfully asked him "Who do you think owns this car?", and he answered "I suppose you do". I respectfully said "Damn right, and I will do with it as I please. Now f$@# off!" - which he did...
The second conversation occurred a few weeks later - ironically at the same place, with a different bloke. I was a bit apprehensive, but when I got closer he smiled so widely I couldn't help smiling back. He told me that he "loves" the car, and asked to have a look inside and at the engine. He claimed he had been a works driver for Mercedes in the late fifties, had owned a gulling SL, and seemed o have the knowledge to back it up. We had a great chat, and then he said "You know what I like most?....This car is driven and used as it should be!" I admitted the paintwork was a bit shabby in places, and he said "No, No...that is history!" I pointed out the large scratch my daughter made with a screw driver while 'helping daddy' at age three, I noticed again the chip in the windscreen we picked up on the way back from an EPIC party in student days... and a hundred other little bumps and marks (and a bit of rust).
The bloke told me he had gone back to see a couple of his racing cars - now in museums. He said that one had been kept as it was - almost as if he had just climbed out of it - it even smelled the same and he could see his initials still scratched on the frame - and the war wounds of battle -the chips and cracks and tool scratches.
The other had been restored to factory fresh, and looked as if it never turned a wheel. He said it was like visiting a passionate lover from the past, and finding out that she had forgotten you, erased every reminder of you in her life, and undergone plastic surgery.... In his opinion, a car's history is as important as it's condition, and while I love a really good restoration as much as the next man - i fear that some cars get a large chunk of their personality removed when every nut and bolt is blasted clean.
If any car was made to be personalised the mini was it. There's room for both camps, but I say lets get out there and drive the little buggers - too much time spent polishing your bits in the shed (as my wife puts it) may send you as blind as that first bloke. I know not everyone will appreciate my car - but thats' OK, 'cos I built her for me!
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