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Minis at Mt. Cooper.
Victorian Mini Club Mini 40 Show.
Editor, John Heselwood, went along for a look.
Take a jumper and wet weather gear she said. It gets cold and wet down there this time of year she said. After not taking Gayle’s advise on the last Mini Run to Kingscliffe and getting cold and wet, I thought I had better take her advise.
So, off to Melbourne I went, and boy am I glad I did what she said. The weather was dry, no wind and very hot! The temperature was a very warm 32 one day and the mid 30’s the next. One thing she added was “take a hat not a cap”, and of course I took a cap and ended up with very sun burnt ears. “Think you would learn by now”, she said on my return.
The reason for the trip to Melbourne was to meet up with a couple of “Mini Nut” friends, Terry Hickey and Stephen Dalton, and attend the Victorian Mini Club’s “Mini 40” at appropriately named Mt Cooper. Terry was on the organising committee and asked if I would be a guest judge for the Concours, hence the very sun burnt ears!
The Victorians were keen to knock the Queensland Mini Owners Club off it’s perch by having more Minis than our effort at Norwell. The cars on show ranged from one of the first 850’s to the latest Rover Cooper, but our record still stands, with about 250 turning up. The quality of the cars in the Concours was up there with the best, with an immaculately restored Mk2 Cooper S owned by Keith Wright from Sydney standing out from the rest. Looking at the car made me want to get back home and start my restoration all over again. (Look out Dave Perkins when Keith brings his cars up for our “Mini 2000 Show-n-Shine”. He also has a Mk1 done to the same standard). Also on show were some very nice Mid 90’s Cooper Replicas in a matching Red, White & Blue, along with large contingent of race Minis.
The Concours was set out in eight different classes, with three categories in each; Original, Restored and Modified. I had the pleasure of being one of the two judges assigned the original category. I must say that I picked up a few good ideas to help make the judging a more efficient task and also ideas on a well designed computer program to make the collation of the data a breeze for one operator. With just under one hundred cars to be judged, it was done in the allotted time with the trophy presentation going to schedule.
Other activities to keep the crowd happy were Spark Plug Changing, Sound Off, Push Khana, Rocker Cover Racing and Remote Mini Racing.
My thanks to Terry Hickey and his wife Doreen, for looking after me for the week-end, and congratulations to the Victorian Mini Club for a well run event. But, without sounding biased, I think that we still hold the crown for this year. I look forward to attending the Minis at Mt Cooper in 2000.
One thing is for sure, the Mini Owners Club Inc. Queensland is certainly well and truly on the World Mini Map. Members from all over Australia were keen to talk about our club and our Mini 40. They credit us with injecting a new life in the Mini Club around the country. They are also expecting us to stage a bigger event in 2000 as they are coming up to join the fun. (Better break this to Kathy slowly, Tony).
John Heselwood.
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