[groovy_jr]

I am pleased I decided to go by the train to Paris because everywhere I looked there was a MINI!

....and everywhere I looked there was a car with a big dent!

I did go for the sights, however did take a piccy of a Cooper S outside La Louvre

...obsessive

....but does anyone care

....I don't!

[dietcokeplease]

Quote:

Originally posted by groovy_jr
....and everywhere I looked there was a car with a big dent!

Many Parisians have a "commuter car" which they use exclusively for driving into Paris. This is often a beaten up French car. It's amazing to watch a minor car crash within le Periphique, the occupants get out, have a look at their respective battered cars looking even more battered, shrug their shoulders in a Gallic C'est la vie fashion and get back in their cars and drive off!

[groovy_jr]

oops here it is....I know you have all seen one before....

[BruceK]

Dents? That's also the way the French seem to parked in Paris - its a full contact sport from what I've seen.

All of the old classic Mini's I've spotted in Paris have the full, non-standard nerf bar treatment, front and rear, to help fend off low speed parking maneuvers and preserve the headlights and taillights (classic Mini bumpers are just for show).

I wonder how new MINIs with proper bumpers deal with that parking behavior - I guess the front license plates take a real beating.

[Cape Cod MINI]

I once watched 4 guys pull an old Mini sideways into a parking space in Paris. Shortly after a rather large man got into the Mercedes they had boxed in and he just kept putting it in reverse and forward banging the Mini behind him and the car in front of him until he had shoved them enough to get out! I had rented an apartment in Monmartre and took great sport at watching the traffic and parking antics down below Up on the balcony with a couple bottles of wine and a plate of pastries watching the action was a blast.