Black on Black on the Pac

Contributed by Jerry Bradbury

Today brought a winter storm down on Northern California from the Gulf of Alaska: low skies, steady rain and temperatures in the 50's. It's not really unpleasant and it does make the hills go green. I had just dropped Jake, my youngest, full of turkey and stuffing, at his dorm at UCSC and was heading back north out of Santa Cruz on the Pacific Coast Highway, California Highway 1. The rain was moderate but steady, the clouds and fog all but obscured the oily green rollers until they creamed on the beaches below and the light was pearly and soft. Coming down a hill I saw a car pull out of the beach parking lot ahead of me and head north up the other slope. “Joe and Minnie Sixpack, heading home after a brisk wet walk on the beach,” I thought. Even though the grade rose, the dotted line was on our side and Sad Arthur was turning 4000 rpm in 6th gear. No trouble to just scoot around them. But I didn't seem to be closing as fast as I should. In fact, Joe and Minnie had accelerated to my speed and were pulling away a little. “Hmmmm,” thought I, “must be a QUICK CAR.” And I put the pedal down to overtake.

What soon materialized out of the smoky rain mist he was dragging was the distinctive greenhouse, unmistakable taillights and centered twin exhausts of a MINI Cooper S, and he was hauling butt. I pulled to within a respectful distance and followed. He seemed to be having a little difficulty with traffic, even when the dotted line was on our side and the road was clear so at the next opportunity I put my foot in it. The supercharger whined toward redline, the pipes sang harmony and we zipped past handily. The road widened to 3 lanes soon so I drifted to the right and slowed, giving him and his female copilot the thumbs up as he retook the lead. And then, oh my goodness, didn't we motor! Here was a lad who obviously felt comfortable at triple digits in the rain, and who was I to say no?

After about 10 minutes of this, he signaled and turned in to a beach rest spot. I followed and began a most delightful conversation with John and Amber from Santa Barbara, out for a drive up the coast in their new MINI. They had purchased their black on black MCS two weeks previously after seeing it on the lot at Universal City MINI and striking a deal for only $1K over MSRP, thus avoiding all the anticipation, planning, ordering anxiety and impatient waiting that most of us have gone through. Naturally, they love it. It's Amber's car, but she lets John drive it . . . fast. She admitted that I would have been long gone had she been driving. John and I share a history of motorcycling and he was in total agreement when I said Sad Arthur was more like one of my bikes than one of my cars. Amber admired Sad Arthur's Chili Red coat and John glanced greenly at the JCW badges he wears. We chatted each other up for awhile, rain dripping off our hat brims, admiring each other's fine taste in cars. Finally I told them how to access all the MINI sites on the web and we motored off together toward Half Moon Bay where they turned off and left me to continue home alone. Instant friends. Isn't it amazing how affection for an object of common interest can bring total strangers together like that? I hope they show up here soon and share some stories with us.