Shocking lot, aren't we!

... and Cooper S's of  '67, '68 Monte Carlo Rally winning vintage were all
'dry' to my knowledge, a good 140 lbs lighter than the 'wet' hydroelastic*
ones - though Paddy was quite amazed when first driving a 'wet' Cooper 'S' -
brilliant on ice apparently. But with 8" (!!) alloys and hydroelastic
suspension - little chance of avoiding that warthog!

The Monte Carlo winning Cooper S's were red with a white roof, weren't they,
not BRG? ... and we are talking 1275 'S' in contradistinction to the later
9- stud 1275GT iron crank Mini Clubman, a dog if ever there was one, aren't
we?

Clive
* Mr ('dry suspension cone' and 'hydroelastic') Moulton now designs
high-tech hand-built folding bicycles of exceptional quality from his
inherited country pile I believe. They're much sought after by cycling
enthusiasts the world over and by 'collectors' of modern technology. He's
now 80 something and when his university days were interrupted by WWII,
became a 'man from the ministry', seconded to the Bristol Engine Co. to
assist Roy Fedden, sleeve-valve guru - after a bomb hit their drawing office
and killed several 'key' staff  - he went back to Uni after the war and
continued his study - but changed its discipline. He became a cause celebre
and another Great British commerical tragedy, when his Moulton folding
bicycle design was 'stolen' (by Raleigh amongst others) - I think his
philosphy now is '...never grow your business so large that the 'big boys'
even know you exist, let alone want to steal your dreams or buy you out' -
quite a contrast to what most entrepreneurs are aiming at today!

----- Original Message -----
From: "pensioner" <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: VW vs Rolls

> The Hon. Winston Ponsonby-Smythe and his wife is touring the Transvaal...
>
> G. Nashly Cogswell is also in country in his Paddy Hopkirk Rallye Monte
> Carlo Mini Cooper 1275S on his way to RSA to pick up the last of the Kombi
> syncro 5cyl TDIs and some spares for his Spagthorpe Whippet.  As he
> approaches a walled alleyway a dandy liveried Rolls rudely pulls out just
in
> front of his turn. Luckily the hydroelastic suspension and 8" wide
minilites
> allowed him to take evasive action in time to avoid wrinkling the
paintwork
> on the bonnet.  From the lofty cabin of the rolls a portly matron scowls
> "pig!".
>
> Cogswell flashes his most significant digit, screams back "SOW!", and WFO
> drifts around the corner scattering gravel with the deafening snarl of the
> 1275 at full chat...directly into the side of  the largest warthog on
record
> in the region.
>
> Wife looks at Winston and mutters..."no respect, those colonials"
>
> pensioner (BRG with Union Jack on top, PH RMC Mini in a previous life)