April 2, 2004 – Here’s an email we recently received; The pic you see is the end result.

[...] To: miniguy@miniguy.com
Mr. MiniGuy- I’m in elementary school in Santa Barbara and really like Minis. We are doing a magazine and one of my articles is on Mini Coopers. I also have to do an interview for it and I was wondering whether I could do the interview with you. I could come to Ventura to do the interview, I could email you the questions, or I could call you. It’s up to you. It should only take 15 minutes. We could do this anytime in the next two weeks. Thanks, Josh B.

As a former student journalist, then professional journalist, then News Editor, I was only too happy to help 11-year-old Josh B. with his project.

Mrs. J., his 6th grade teacher at Hope Elementary in Santa Barbara, had given an assignment to create a magazine around a theme. Along with an article on classic Mini Coopers, Josh’s magazine will also include articles written by him on antique cars, future cars, hybrid cars and hydrogen-powered cars. Not content with that, he also plans an article on how engines work.

Hmm… He’s this ambitious, and he’s only 11 years old? What do you say Josh, when you finish school, would you like a job at MiniGuy?

Following the interview, we of course sent him home with an armload of Mini posters, magazines, MiniGuy stickers, and a die-cast Mini too. (Insert nefarious laugh here.) It’s all part of our long-term, diabolical plan to nurture an irresistable desire within him to someday see us to adopt a classic Mini of his own…