Herbie is the name of my MINI Cooper. The MINI Cooper that I had a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with until recently. About two years ago, I traded by Audi TT Quattro for the MINI. I didn't love the Audi, but it was a convertible and was very fast. All in all, it was a fun car to drive. I liked the look of the MINI when I got it, but in retrospect, it hasn't been fun to drive (an essential characteristic of any car in my book). I made two huge mistakes: I got an automatic transmission and I didn't get the S.The S(upercharged) MINI should be the only Cooper allowed by Federal law in any state in which freeway driving is a must. The only thing that has saved my life on freeway entry with Herbie is that mostly older folks and Minnesotans frequent the freeway. Herbie has no acceleration, an S would have helped.
Manual transmissions are just more fun to drive. Automatics suck. 'nuff said about that. These lacks in Herbie have had me recently (for the last year and 1/2) scouring eBay for a new car. I was ready to sell off Herbie and move on. Tim, however, talked me into keeping Herbie and also buying a new car. This, required that I drive Herbie for one more year, before I get something more fun to drive. So, how do you transform a car you hate into something that you can tolerate driving for another year?
You make it into a living tribute to your alma-mater. I started by heading to Red Rooster with my CEHD University of Minnesota t-shirt. After several books of paint samples, we were able to match the maroon pretty closely. Then Tim came over and we had a one-day paint-a-thon in our garage–sanding, bond, more sanding, more bondo, priming, painting, and clear coat.
I also got some Gopher swag to jazz up the MINI. I replaced the old checkerboard on the roof with Goldy. I also got some chrome University of Minnesota emblems to replace the MINI emblems. I replaced the C-O-O-P-E-R chrome lettering on the trunk with G-O-P-H-E-R. Lastly, I got some vinyl yellow/gold stripes and rocker panels to finish out the car.Although I am still dreaming of a Porsche Targa, I can at least tolerate Herbie again.
2 comments:
I’m glad that you are now giving “Herbie” some love and attention! And I think it is a good idea to revamp the car and make it a good reminder of your old Alma Mater! While most Mini Coopers operate on automatic transmission, the performance given by this vehicle is quite remarkable. And it has a Dynamic Stability Control feature that measures the steering angle and lateral acceleration to determine the direction that you want to go. I hope these facts made you want to love your Mini even more!
A love-hate relationship with your Mini Cooper? Why is that so? And yeah, I admire you for paying respects to your alma mater. I’m sure they’ll be proud of you!
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