Minis visit area on trip up Eastern Seaboard

Travel agents Muling and Amy Peng had vacationed in Miami and were returning to their New York home in a 2006 Mini Cooper sedan. But rather than the time-saving yet rather uninspiring haul up Interstate 95, they cruised through small towns on U.S. Highway 17, visited Savannah and expected to stop in eastern Virginia.

The Pengs also spent late Monday afternoon and night in Greater Charleston. The trip wasn't by chance. They were participating in Mini Takes the States, a carmaker promotion in which motorists traveled along the Atlantic Coast from a major gathering of Minis in Miami to a similar event in Boston.

"It's pretty good," Muling Peng said of the drive. "We took 17, (which is) not like 95."

The somewhat informal rally, where drivers join in and drop out as they please, was patterned after a more structured drive from Los Angeles to Connecticut two years ago. But this motorcade of about 30 cars differed in that it had historical detours along the way, including St. Augustine, Fla.

"These stops, the dealers said we want to be involved, which is great," said Carol Strickland, area manager for Mini USA in the Carolinas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

"We are happy to be in Charleston," said Strickland, who drove a new chocolate- colored Mini Clubman hatchback. "It's a beautiful town."

Mini of Charleston helped arrange a "Dinner Under the Stars" at Patriots Point as drivers on the Miami-to-Boston trip as well as local and regional Mini enthusiasts dined on Lowcountry food at tent-covered tables and got their pictures taken in their cars with the Yorktown in the background.

Mini, built by German luxury carmaker BMW, is a larger, more powerful throwback to the famed British-built Mini Cooper of the 1950s and 1960s.

The boxy coupe and sedan, with quirky features such as an extra-large steering wheel and huge, rounded gauges, had instant success when introduced close to a decade ago. The company has gone on to add the S series, a convertible and the hatchback this year.

Guests at the Monday stop in the Charleston area included Mini USA Vice President Jim McDowell and Rauno Aaltonen, a Finnish race car driver who specialized in Mini Coopers in the 1960s and 1970s.

The septuagenarian said he races only occasionally now, but takes part in rallies such as Mini Takes the States.

"It's an emotional activity to drive and own a Mini," Aaltonen said.

A speedboat driver before he switched to car racing, Aaltonen, known as one of racing's Flying Finns, originally raced Mercedes-Benzes. But he liked the Mini's handling and switched in 1961.

"I was so convinced of it," said Aaltonen, whose credits include taking home the European Rally Championship in 1965 and winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1967.

The event Monday included perhaps 50 new Minis. There were more than 100 people at the three-hour fest, enjoying beach music on a hot but not steamy Charleston night.

Art Nercheim, who is a member of a Charlotte area Mini club, drove 93 miles from Sumter to the dinner. He said he originally owned a rare 2004 gold Mini Cooper and now drives a red 2006 model.

He prefers the less-powerful Cooper to the beefed up Cooper S, but likes Minis as a group for "the economy, the fun factor."

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or jparker@postandcourier.com.