By the time I was 19, I was in the Army, stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. My 1SG wanted me to be his driver when we went to the field. I had to admit that I had never learned to drive. He suggested I go to a driving school in the area, and there I took lessons in a Ford Bronco II. My instructor got me through the tests and I received my first license in the state of Colorado. I completed the qualification for my military license, and soon after the driver's side of the 1SG had vinyl letters stuck along the base of the windshield reading PFC Nieves. So in a way my first car was a HMMWV or Hummer. It was the 2 seater with the soft-covered rear cargo area, like this one:
My first few experiences as a driver were not especially promising. Shortly after assuming the position of 1SG's driver, I accidentally rolled my parked vehicle into a the civilian vehicle of a newly arrived S3 Captain. The parking brake was a bit loose it turned out, so it was not entirely my fault. But I did have to apologize to the Captain and take remedial drivers' training.
While still at Fort Carson, I considered buying a civilian car for myself. In fact I went with a couple of my platoon mates to the local Toyota dealer where I test drove a gray Corolla. It was a fine economical car. I had a steady income being in the military. But in the end I decided not to embark upon years of car payments after I had just learned to drive.
A PCS to Darmstadt, Germany brought additional driver training. Especially since my unit convoys occasionally traveled via the Autobahns amidst the civilian drivers who enjoyed travel without speed limits. Our convoys were required to travel at the speed of 55 mph with a full vehicle distance between each vehicle. The German civilians took advantage of our slow and steady movements by changing lanes, zipping in and out and passing our vehicles two and three at a time. It definitely made me nervous. After all driving for the 1SG at Fort Carson mostly just required driving downrange on the base, with little traffic and few obstacles.
With the fantastic public transportation available in Europe, I never even considered buying a car while overseas, so another few years went by before I took the plunge. After leaving the military, I finally found the need to get a car when I moved to Santa Barbara for college. California, and the west coast in general is very much a car culture. Getting anywhere usually required a freeway of some sort. While Santa Barbara did have a mostly convenient bus system and network of bike paths, sometimes you just needed to have a car. I also had a dog, and though she wasn't large, she was big enough that I couldn't sneak her on the bus, or put her in my backpack as I rode my bike.
My actual first car was a light blue 1995 Geo Prism, very basic, it had manual window cranks, and in fact I don't even think it had air conditioning. I leased it new, mostly because my dad was worried that if I had a used car that ended up needing repair, he wouldn't be able to fly out from New York on a moment's notice to help me with it. I had originally planned on going with the smaller Geo Metro, or the Toyota Tercel. I favoured smaller cars, but my parents expressed concern about my safety. I had the Prism for about a year. Leasing just turned out to be too expensive for me as I had to pay a premium on insurance with my limited driving experience and the full coverage required on a lease. I turned the car in early which messed up my credit. I wouldn't have another car for at least a year, and I made due with the bus and my bike. I'd ask a friend to drive me and my dog to the vet or to take me along on larger grocery shopping excursions.
Finally I saved up about $900 in cash and bought a 1983 Ford Mustang. It was brown. With a beige stripe along each side of the body. It was pretty pitiful really, held together by electrical tape, velcro, and staples, but it got me around town and school. I had that car until I graduated and then eventually moved with it to graduate school in Provo, Utah. The car didn't last long in Provo however. Soon I lost the reverse gear, causing me to scramble around and park so I could pull out forwards as much as possible. In the winter snow, I often ended up pushing the car backwards, either alone or with help, to get it out of the only available space in the grad student parking lot. Soon after, the transmission quit altogether.
After another short and really inconvenient carless period - I was living on a mountain, a long uphill walk from school even in the best weather -I cobbled together about $3000 to buy a 1989 Toyota Camry. It was light blue, just like the Prism I'd had a few years earlier and very similar to the '89 Camry my mom had owned back in, well 1989. It ran pretty well for a 12 year old car. I put a new stereo in it, and it served me for almost 3 years until its transmission died, just like the Mustang.
Something happened though between the time I got the Camry and when it died. I spent the summer of 2002 in Belgium, teaching at a language school in the tiny town of Thiaumont, near the border of Luxembourg. The school was located in the very southeast of Belgium, a short jaunt from not just Luxembourg but also Germany and France. The opportunity to travel in my off time from teaching was great, but the public transport in that tiny corner of Belgium was not. I ended up leasing a little car from a company that did holiday leases. Basically I rented it for the summer, but paid a lot less than if I rented by the week. It was a Peugeot 206, a compact little hatchback perfect in size for city traffic and in fuel efficiency for long trips and high European fuel prices. We actually used to nip over the border into Luxembourg for fuel since the taxes were much less than in Belgium. While zipping around Thiaumont and the nearest proper town, Arlon, I got my first glimpse of the newly relaunched MINI Cooper. It was love at first sight.
I'd long been an Anglophile, a lover of all things British - music, literature, pop culture and of course this included the now iconic classic Mini Coopers owned by everyone from the Beatles to the Queen. I'd never considered owning one though, considering their well known reputation for being unreliable. I was no mechanic, and fixing up and driving a classic car like that would require large and frequent infusions of cash. Not to mention the safety concerns. Oh yeah, and they hadn't sold the Mini in the United States since 1967.
Fast forward to 2002. There I am in Belgium looking at this amazing new incarnation of the classic car, and owning one suddenly seems an actual possibility. I started to do research on the internet to see if they would be selling the car in the United States. And yes, they had just barely become available. Upon my return to Provo in early October of that year, I continued researching and wishing and longing to get my own MINI. I finished and defended my Masters' Thesis in December and was all set to graduate from BYU in the spring of 2003. As a recent graduate, with a semester to semester adjunct teaching position at the local state college, my finances weren't in the best shape. My credit was still damaged from breaking the lease on my first car. So I wasn't going to be able to get financing for a new car, any new car, without help. And the MINI, well it may have been a sub-compact, fuel efficient marvel of design, but it also had the brand ownership and engineering prowess of BMW behind it. The new MINI wasn't cheap. It was packed with standard features that would be extras on most economy cars. And it was to be a limited production vehicle. Its small supply meant that discounts were scarce and premiums and waiting lists were the norm.
Somehow I managed it. With the help of my dad as co-signor, and a bit of money left me by my grandma, I ordered my 2003 Indi Blue MINI Cooper on 24 May 2003. Modestly equipped, and built just for me, in other words - perfect. Online, I was able to track her progress from when her VIN was assigned to her movement through the paint shop and final assembly in the Oxford factory. I followed her status as she was loaded on a train to Southampton, and then aboard a ship to cross the ocean. I was able to learn the ship's name and call sign (Don Quijote SFQP), its daily position coordinates, its progress through the Panama Canal, and arrival in Port Hueneme, California. After being unloaded from the ship and inspected, she was loaded onto a car carrier and transported to MINI of Murray, near Salt Lake City, Utah. She arrived and was prepped for delivery. And on 21 July 2003, I had to take the bus up to the dealership (the Camry had died by then) where she was waiting to meet me. She had a name, MINIfir. I'd already ordered her a personalized replica British plate. Keys in hand, I met my new baby.
Less than a week later, MINIfir and I joined the Utah MINI Motoring Club on our first club run or rally.
Fast Forward to 2009. In her 6th year, MINIfir has 68,000 miles on her odometer. She's been with me through a move to Las Vegas, MINI Takes the States I and II, and many runs with the Sin City MINI Club including AMVIVs. She's carried me safely all those miles, and my friends and family members for a few of them too. She's witnessed some awkward relationship moments, and a few quick changes
of clothes, but always kept me safely within in rain and snow and windy dustiness. She's taken a few turns on the racetrack, and never met a twisty road she didn't like. Even when I don't quite trust my driving ability, I know I can trust her.Everyday I get to drive her to work or on errands or anywhere at all, I feel lucky. I still smile big when I see her. I take care of her as best I can (though she's endured her share of nicks and scratches, rock chips and parking lot rudeness), and one day soon, I'll even be able to pay off her loan in full.
I thought about all this yesterday while we were on the road, the SCMC run went to Scotty's Castle in Death Valley, and how though my history with cars hasn't been entirely auspicious, I met my match in MINIfir. She is the car who made me a car person, because she herself is so much more than just a car.
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