BROOKLINE, Mass., Oct. 26 — The Larz Anderson Auto Museum featured an evening of “MINIs on the Lawn” as part of their Community Speaker Series. I didn’t mind paying to attend since “every dollar received for these presentations helps to defray the cost of providing outstanding community programming.” Anyway, who can resist showing off their Minis and mingling with other enthusiasts?

The event started at 5 p.m., and late afternoon was a perfect, cool time to park our cars on the upper show field. Owners chatted with each other and the spectators who came to admire the vehicles. There were at least 12 modern MINIs in attendance, but only three classic Minis: my 1993 Mini Mayfair, William Ellis’ Innocenti Mini, and a car I had not seen before owned by Pia Rogers. The drivers of the modern MINIs appeared to appreciate the classics and vice versa.

As darkness fell, the crowd moved inside the Museum, where the participants were treated to sandwiches, chips and water. Soon, Nick from The MINI Vlog YouTube channel presented a video account on the history of Minis.

In 1956, record high petrol prices caused a slump in big car sales and an increase in sales of economical, German-designed bubble cars. Leonard Lord, President of British Motor Corporation (BMC), disliked bubble cars and wanted a new, “proper” small car designed. His requirements were that the car get good gas mileage, seat four adults, and use an existing BMC engine. Lord tasked Alec Issigonis with designing ADO15 (Austin Design Office 15), the designated Mini project name.

ADO15 maximized interior space by using front-wheel drive, turning the engine and radiator sideways, using rubber cones instead of springs for shock absorption, placing the panel seams on the outside of the vehicle, and pushing the Dunlop-designed 10” wheels and tires to the corners. Sliding windows were used to allow large door pockets for storage, and a hinged license plate holder was used on the boot lid so the boot could be opened for transporting large items.

The Mini prototype was named the “Orange Box” due to its color. The prototype originally had a 948cc A Series engine, but the car was too fast for the price BMC wanted to charge, so they reduced the engine to an 848cc.

The mechanically identical, badge engineered Austin Se7en (pronounced “Seven”) and Morris Mini Minor were introduced in August 1959.

Nick’s video also provided information about events around the country, including MINIs at the Glen, MINIs Take Route 66, MINIs Take the States, and others.

After the presentation, we got to take a look at Nick’s MINI GP3 and learn how he was able to get serial number #0001. It turns out he won a video contest that required submitting a 30.1-second video (to match the 301 horsepower of the car). The video is lots of fun and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwRq_tPnp8A.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y., Sept. 15 — At the end of a two-week driving trip from Massachusetts through New York State, Ohio, Michigan, and back through New York, I talked my wife, Betty Lehrman, into stopping at the Saratoga Automobile Museum. The Museum had a special exhibit (cue the James Bond theme song) called “Bond in Motion” that brought together vehicles from many of the James Bond movies over the 60-year history of the franchise. In appreciation for her humoring me, I made a reservation at a historic hotel in Saratoga Springs that I knew Betty would enjoy.

The exhibit featured more than 12 cars, a submarine, a Tuk Tuk (three-wheel motorized rickshaw), motorcycles and other vehicles. There were displays of movie posters and signs with detailed information about each car. Best of all, long video clips showed each car’s most famous movie scene.

Being of a certain age, my favorite Bond is Sean Connery. Naturally, I made a beeline for the iconic 1964 Aston Martin DB5 first used in Goldfinger, then backtracked to the start of the exhibit.

Two American cars opened the exhibit: the 1969 Mercury Cougar XR-7 featured in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and the 1974 AMC Hornet X used in The Man with the Golden Gun. The scene where Roger Moore s a 360° spiral jump across a river in the Hornet is one of my all-time favorite stunts.

The 1977 Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me is another favorite car. The Esprit was one of Q’s finer efforts. Once underwater, the car converts to a submarine with a variety of high-tech weaponry. There were seven submersibles built for filming, each representing different stages of the Lotus’ transformation.

Aston Martins from newer Bond movies were well represented: a 1985 Aston Martin V8, a 2002 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, a 2006 Aston Martin DBS, a 2008 Aston Martin DBS, and a 2015 Aston Martin DB10. Other Bond cars included a 1997 BMW 750LI, a 1999 BMW Z8, and a 2002 Jaguar XKR convertible.

The Aston Martin V8 was driven by Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights and was displayed with its hydraulic outrigger skis deployed. The car featured spiked ice tires, a rear jet engine booster, lasers and missiles.

The Vanquish was driven by Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day and was nicknamed “The Vanish” due to Q’s adaptive camouflage feature that rendered the car nearly invisible. The Aston Martin DB10 was created specifically for the Daniel Craig film Spectre. Only 10 examples were built, eight of which were used in the film.

The 2008 Aston Martin DBS was one of seven used in Quantum of Solace, and the display car was replete with stunt damage. One does not expect to see a partially destroyed car in a museum.

“Bond in Motion” occupied the Museum’s entire first floor. The second floor contained additional special exhibits and several ongoing exhibits. There were a variety of race cars, luxury cars built by small companies, and a few truly unusual cars.

The curvaceous 1947 Cisitalia 202 MM was the most attractive race car on display. I favor sleek, smooth lines over the bumps, angles, and spoilers of modern race cars. My favorite vehicle, however, was the psychedelic “Light” VW Hippie Bus. The Bus was originally displayed as an art exhibit at the Woodstock music festival and restored for Woodstock’s 50th anniversary. For details, see the bus website, https://lightvwbus.com/.

The Saratoga Automobile Museum is well worth a visit. “Bond in Motion” runs through January 31, 2024, and free docent-led tours are available on select days and times. See the Museum website, (https://www.saratogaautomuseum.org/), for additional information.

STOWE, Vt., Sept. 15-17 — The British Invasion is a multi-faceted weekend with something for everyone. But would we get there this year? With Hurricane Lee storming up the East Coast, would we be comfortable leaving our home unattended, without knowing the exact path of the storm? We wondered how many other people had the same dilemma.

Being adventurous souls, my husband Tom and I decided to take the risk. The first event that we chose to attend was the Street (a/k/a Block) Party on Friday night. The show cars paraded from the Stowe Special Events Field to Main Street in Stowe Center and parked at a 45° angle to the sidewalk on both sides. As soon as the vehicles arrived, the street was packed with appreciative onlookers asking questions of the owners. Add to that a food court, and more food and beverage (even wine) sellers in different spots along the street, plus Jerry Leone’s Chop Shop Band, and we had a big, lively party.

Day two at Stowe we took in the 32nd year of “the largest All-British Motorcar Show in the Eastern United States.” No rain here, the day was cool, crisp and delightful. The fields were filled with over 400 cars and motorcycles. This year the featured marques were Jaguar, Land Rover and Morgan. There were plenty of them all, especially the Land Rovers.

When I drove “Jack,” my Union Jack-painted Mini 1000, to my class I was delighted to park next to a 1993 Mini Mayfair owned by Gary Porter. I also have a 1993 Mini Mayfair, and it is rare to see another Japanese model with air conditioning and an automatic transmission.

Although I have a passion for all Minis, I fell in love with and coveted the one parked on the other side of Jack. Neil Wright, one of its owners, told me he purchased the 1966 Austin Mini Cooper S Mk1 on eBay in 2012. It was all original with matching engine and body numbers. He knew how rare this car was and decided he had to have it without ever setting eyes on it. And I thought I was a risk-taker!

Neil’s car had something that I was unfamiliar with, a Hydrolastic suspension. My cars all use rubber cones for suspension. The fluid-based displacement system was a new concept to me. I learned that by using a Churchill Hydrolastic pump, a machine often referred to as a “Dalek” (you Doctor Who fans will know why it got its nickname when you see one), you can adjust the car’s suspension. Interesting. This wonderful Mini had the cute mustache grille, sliding windows, a replacement steering wheel, and a Heritage Certificate. With a highly polished red exterior and Union Jack roof it was a real people pleaser.

The group at the Invasion were courteous and most did not leave until all the awards were presented. That included 61 classes of cars, some of which had three awards, plus several special awards. There must have been a large number of cars from Canada because many awards went to them. They had an enthusiastic cheering section, which made it even more obvious and fun!

The Mini/MINI winners were:

Class #28 (Mini Saloons 1959-1969): 1st, Neil and Kate Wright, 1966 Austin Mini Cooper S.

Class #29 (Mini Saloons 1970-2000): 1st, Wendy Birchmire, 1973 Morris Mini 1000 2nd, Gary Porter, 1993 Mini Mayfair.

Class #30 (Mini Variants, Non-saloons): 1st, David Icaza, 1969 Austin Mini Countryman.

Class #31 New MINI (2001 to Present): 1st, Cheryl and Tom Petty, 2015 MINI Cooper S 2nd, Glen Zabriskie, 2006 MINI Cooper S Drophead.

Next year perhaps we will take part in the Self-guided Tour of the Vermont countryside, the Saturday night Reception/Dinner, the Notch Run, the Sunday Competitions or any of the other events that are offered. See, there really is something for everyone when the British invade Stowe.

John Gallagher and I have been loyally supporting the Lime Rock Historic Festival for the past 25 years. But the track decided they wanted to use the B paddock swap meet vendor area for racing trailers, leaving us with no space in which to set up and sell over Labor Day weekend.

So, what should we do with all that money we were going to invest at Lime Rock? I know. Let’s go to England for the weekend!

A quick check of flights showed Aer Lingus had a round trip flight to Heathrow via Dublin for $895, not too bad. Four of us agreed to share a rental vehicle and cottage. I met John and Rudy and Greg Zimmermann at Logan Airport in Boston on a Thursday night after work, and we flew overnight to Merry Olde England.

We arrived at Heathrow at 11 a.m. and headed to an offsite location to pick up our VW Transporter. We get to the rental counter and guess what? Yep, the Transporter is gone. We do have a very big Renault van and it’s a 6-speed with right-hand drive. No problem, I can do this on the left side of the road after three hours sleep and through 30 roundabouts!

We miraculously arrive in the historic hamlet of Brockenhurst, a classic 16th century New Forest village with thatched roofs and wild horses wandering the fields behind the hedgerows. We unload the big van into our four-bedroom cottage, splash a little holy water onto our faces, and shuffle to a pub conveniently located 100 yards down the lane. By 8:30 we are all snoring up a storm.

Saturday morning is bright, warm and sunny, and we are off to the Beaulieu swap meet, which is a little like Hershey with a ton of Lucas boxes. Loads of tools, prewar Austin bits, locals selling out of their trunks, some absolute jewels of badges, P100 lamps and so much more. Great cars — Invicta, Motorette, Alvis, Morris, MG VA, a litter full of Rovers — and some bloody good blokes.

Sixteen thousand steps later we drag ourselves back to the big van and head to the second of the pubs within walking distance from our cottage. There we watch John (our resident Irishman) explain to the bartender how to make a Black and Tan. I suggest he roll with the local fare, but he is on a mission to teach them the necessary skills needed to get a perfect pour. Pretty comical, if I do say so.

Day two dawns very warm and the Brits are melting from the heat. Our big van is a real challenge when trying to navigate the hedgerow-lined narrow secondary lanes. I am concerned about all the brush scuffing the left side of the van. I guess it was their fault for giving us such a big van.

We cover whatever booths we didn’t thoroughly comb on Saturday, then geek out at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum Sunday afternoon. Tons of rare and unusual vehicles. I am so impressed with the early Austin Swallow — the lines are spectacularly crafted. There are speed record cars, micros, and too much else to describe. Definitely worth a trip!

Monday morning, we head back up the road, through 30 more roundabouts, and get to Heathrow. Monday night we are back in Boston. I wake up Tuesday morning and check my receipts to make sure I didn’t dream it.

I think next time I will stay over for the week and go to Goodwood the following weekend. Anyone want to join us? We’ve got a big van.

The NEMO Holiday Party will once again be held at Black Dog Bar & Grille in Putnam, Conn., on Saturday, December 9th, at 12 noon.

The Black Dog address is 146 Park Rd., Putnam. Take Exit 45 (Kennedy Drive) off I-395. Kennedy Drive becomes Park Road. Black Dog is about a mile from the exit. This restaurant was formerly called J. D. Cooper’s and we went there a number of times for our Holiday Party in the past.

We need a head count, so RSVP by e-mailing or calling me at faithlamprey@gmail.com or (401) 766-6519. Let me know how many are attending (and ages of any kids). We will be ordering off the menu.

We will be holding a Yankee Swap, so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $35). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is their turn to pick. (Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens to them!) You get to pick a gift for every gift you bring (please, no more than one per person or the party will never end).

Our Holiday Party is one of our more popular events every year and this central location in Connecticut is convenient for most. Hope to see you there!

MANSFIELD, Mass., Aug. 12 — I last attended the Mansfield Rotary Club’s Classic Motorcycle & British Car Show in 2018. The show is held annually at the Mansfield Municipal Airport. The 2023 edition was not well publicized and I only learned about it a few days prior to the event when several British Motorcars of New England (BMCNE) members mentioned it on Facebook.

High heat and humidity or rain caused me to skip a lot of shows this season. The weather forecast for Mansfield was sunny and low 80s, so my wife Betty and I decided to attend.

It was a perfect day for a top-down drive on back roads, so we took my 1950 Morris Minor Tourer instead of the Mini. For those living in MetroWest, I highly recommend exploring Rt. 115, which can be accessed from Rt. 126 or Rt. 27. All are scenic, twisty, tree-lined roads.

The show was sponsored by the Rotary Club with an assist from BMCNE on the car classes and judging. Cars were parked by class on the lawn. I estimate British car turnout at about 40. Spectator admission was free.

There were a handful of vintage Volkswagens parked in a separate section, and a decent classic motorcycle turnout on the tarmac. The VWs included several Beetles and a camper van. We especially liked the bright purple paint job on a souped-up Beetle.

The Mini class consisted of Wendy Birchmire’s 1993 Rover JDM model, Iain and Nuala Barker’s 1967 Morris Cooper S, and Steve Aoyama’s Honda VTEC Mini Van. To quote the movie Casablanca, “Round up the usual suspects!”

My Morris Minor Tourer was placed in the Other British class, along with Larry Brenner’s pristine 1993 Land Rover Defender and a nicely restored Sunbeam Alpine. Stiff competition, indeed. The Tourer designation is due to the lack of windows in the back seat. Instead, there are removable canvas and plastic side curtains.

The lawn was very sunny so it was good we brought a pop-up tent canopy. We shared our shade with other car owners, as well as several dogs. (One dog abandoned its owners twice to hang out with us in the shade.)

Many of the British cars were owned by members of BMCNE or the Boston Area MG Club. Of course, some people belong to both clubs. Many of the cars were also present at this year’s British Motorcars in Bristol.

There were four cars in the Spridget (Sprite and Midget) class, including Terry Levasseur’s very original 1960 Bugeye Sprite. There was a beautiful MG TF that was also at Bristol.

My Morris Minor attracted a lot of attention, and I invited people to have a seat. A group of four children took turns “driving.” People were especially curious about the “trafficators,” semaphore arms that protrude horizontally from the side of a car to indicate the driver’s intention to make a right or left turn. Morris Minor trafficators are eight inches long, are finished in chrome, are located in the B pillars, and illuminate when activated. Many people saw the recessed chrome arms and tried to guess their purpose. Nobody guessed correctly, so I gave many demos.

Betty was the Director of the Creative Arts Camp at the Newton JCC for the last 15 years. Coincidently, one of her camp counselors rode down to the show on the back of her father’s motorcycle. Lacking the usual context, it took a few minutes before Betty and her staff member recognized each other. The staff member’s dad grew up in South Africa and was quite taken with the Morris Minor and the MOYSHE vanity plate. He said that when he was growing up, “every mom drove one.”

Mansfield Airport features the Hangar 12 Restaurant, which has outdoor seating adjacent to the runway. Hangar 12 serves breakfast all day and offers a variety of salads and sandwiches for lunch. We had a nice, though unremarkable lunch at an outdoor table.

The awards ceremony started around 2 p.m. The motorcycle awards were presented first, and it took quite a while to get to the cars. The Barkers’ Mini Cooper won Best in Class for the second time since 2018. Iain posted 2018 and 2023 photos of Nuala holding the trophy in front of “Mini KK.” Wow, she grew up fast!

Betty was wilting from the heat, so we packed up the tent just before the awards reached the Other British class. I was pleasantly surprised when they announced my car was the winner (though in a field of three that didn’t feel like a big accomplishment).

I was starting to walk away after picking up the trophy when the presenter told me to wait around. My Morris Minor was also awarded People’s Choice for Best in Show! I really appreciated the recognition, especially given all the really nice cars present. Personally, I think it was the trafficator demos and letting people sit in the car.

The Mansfield Rotary show is well worth attending. Just be sure to bring your own shade. Vehicle owners and the public were extremely friendly and appreciative. Next year I will be sure to publicize the event in the NEMO calendar.

The NEMO Holiday Party will once again be held at Black Dog Bar & Grille in Putnam, Conn. The date is Saturday, December 9th, at 12 noon.

For you folks with a GPS, the address is Black Dog Bar & Grille, 146 Park Rd., Putnam, CT 06260. Their phone is (860) 928-0501, website https://www.blackdogbarandgrille.com.

Take Exit 45 (Kennedy Drive) off I-395. Kennedy Drive becomes Park Road. Black Dog is about a mile from the exit. This restaurant was formerly called J. D. Cooper’s and we have gone there a number of times for our Holiday Party in past years.

We need a head count, so RSVP by e-mailing faithlamprey@gmail.com or calling me at (401) 766-6519. Let me know how many are attending (and ages of any kids). We will be ordering off the menu.

To the delight of many, we will be holding the Yankee Swap once again, so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $25). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is their turn to pick. (Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens!) You get to pick a gift for every gift you bring (so please, no more than one per person or the party will never end).

Our Holiday Party is one of our more popular events every year and this central location in Connecticut is convenient for the majority of our members. Hope to see you there! —Faith Lamprey

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mini Meet East 2023 was held in Rochester from July 1st to July 3rd. It was organized by Dan and Deanne Viola, their family and members of ROC MINI Club, sponsored by MINI of Rochester. They had to contend with rain showers on and off at random times of the day, but they did a great job fitting in everything planned except a Poker Run.

The Rochester DoubleTree by Hilton was a fantastic event hotel — a good description, as most of the event was held there, including the banquet. There was plenty of trailer parking and for the outdoor events they had a giant parking lot surrounding the hotel.

A hundred and ten people attended and 57 cars were entered in the event. Not as many as some previous Mini Meet Easts perhaps, but respectable, and all of us had a great time, especially the dozen or so people who made this their first Mini Meet.

My wife Barbara and I started off from eastern Mass onto Rt. 90 Friday morning, June 30th, towing our 1992 British Open Classic Mini that we had loaded the night before. We figured a seven-to-eight-hour drive, with breaks and lunch.

About noontime, we stopped in a New York rest area, and while Barb went in to buy lunch, I checked the trailer straps. Then I noticed the GPS said we were in Florida, N.Y. I found that funny and took a picture and texted it to Lorine Karabec, who I knew was with Derick, towing their trailer. She received it and said they were also in a rest area, but miles ahead of us.

Turned out that Barbara found them on the gas pumps side of the same rest area, and we were on the auto side. We hooked up with them, and with Tim and Sherry Bossie, who had been tow-dollying their Mini to the Meet after a visit with Lorine and Derick. The Karabecs’ friends Brandon Cordero and Jamie Matias were also there, towing their 1978 Mini on a borrowed tow-dolly. We joined their caravan and headed towards Rochester.

A few hours into the trip, we were “tail-end Charlie” and saw Tim and Sherry parked on the shoulder behind Brandon, who had experienced a tread separation, blown-out tire at about 60mph on the dolly.

The exploding rubber had taken out the left taillight assembly, so duct tape was applied. The tires and the spare for the borrowed tow-dolly were old and on their last legs. The spare was fitted, and we all made it to the hotel just as the sun was going down.

The next day, during the a.m. “car wash” time, Brandon and Jamie took two rims and purchased new tires for the tow-dolly, keeping the “best” of the old for a spare. They also purchased a new taillight assembly and hooked that up. All would be ready for the trip home on July 4th.

On Saturday, July 1st, between the rainstorms — the organizers moving the times around — the Car Show was in the morning until a bit after noontime. NEMO members collecting awards were Brandon and Jamie, 2nd, Mini MkIII and IV, 1969-1984, Barbara, 2nd, MkV and newer Mini, 1984-2001, Derick and Lorine, 1st, Wolseley Hornet/Riley Elf, and Bruce Vild and Faith Lamprey, 3rd, MINI 2007-2013.

As the sun was turning to clouds, the announcement went out to leave “Now!” and meet at the boathouse site for the Panoramic Photo, which would be taken by Jay Best. While Jay lined up the cars just right for the photo it started to pour. Some took shelter inside the boathouse or their cars and waited for a break. The sun finally showed up after an hour and Jay had time to take the picture, always the highlight of any Mini Meet.

Upon returning to the hotel, and again waiting for the rain to stop, the Funkhana was held in the hotel lot. NEMO’s Lorine and Derick took 1st in the “Slide Windows” class.

Sunday began with rain, but just before the Scavenger Hunt/Rallye began the rain stopped. The route took us all over the Rochester area, back and forth over bridges over the Erie Canal and into little quaint villages. The “scavenger” part was to answer questions along the route. There was no NEMO winner, but I am glad to report that unlike previous MME Rallyes, Barb and I did well, completed the Rallye, and there was zero stress after the run. The secret this time was Barbara drove and I navigated. I think this is a good thing for future runs. Everyone I spoke to enjoyed the Rallye.

There were other “runs” after the Rallye. Long-time NEMO members Bruce and Faith and new members Bob and Marie Rector did the Lake Run. They reported back that it was enjoyable. (Bob works with Barbara at South Shore MINI and they drove Marie’s new MINI. The couple have been doing many MINI events this year and say they loved the Mini Meet East.)

There were other “runs” after the Rallye. Long-time NEMO members Bruce and Faith and new members Bob and Marie Rector did the Lake Run. They reported back that it was enjoyable. (Bob works with Barbara at South Shore MINI and they drove Marie’s new MINI. The couple have been doing many MINI events this year and say they loved the Mini Meet East.)

That night, six of us dined at an Indian restaurant. It was small, sort of needed updating, had a huge menu, and appeared to be mostly take-out or door dashy. But the food was excellent, even though their phone was disconnected when we called and it appeared to be a real estate office during daytime hours.

The last day of the Meet saw rain to start, and the poor staff that had to set up the Driving Skills event, which was sort of like an autocross but was not — the fastest time would not be the winner, rather a target time that had been set (with no cones knocked over). The rain washed away the chalk-line “boxes” for the cones, but onward it went, just as the rain stopped. In the “Slide Windows” category, Derick and Lorine took 3rd. Each team had many runs on the course until it started to rain in the afternoon.

At 3 p.m. the Banquet started. The Hilton put on an excellent buffet and the service was super also — one of the best meals I’ve experienced at an MME.

Dan and Deanne Viola kept the event lively while announcing the winners in each category and presenting the awards. There was a raffle ticket for each person and more than enough prizes on the table for the raffle, including model cars, Mini books, Mini wine, and Mini accessories.

Brandon and Jamie received the “Diamond in the Rough” award for their 1978 red Mini 1000, now fitted with a 1275. This car was the very Mini that Barb and I brought to Mini Meet East 1998 in Seekonk, Mass., the first ever put on by NEMO. Now 25 years later it is being slowly restored by a loving new owner.

A great Mini Meet East, hosted by dedicated Mini people! Thanks to Dan and Deanne and their team.

HUDSON, N.H. — This can’t be possible! There is a car show on a weekend day and it isn’t raining! In fact, it was a rather nice day to attend the British Cars of New Hampshire (BCNH) Show of Dreams, with temperatures in the lower 80s.

This event has taken place every year since 1996 with the exception of a one-year COVID-19 hiatus. Proceeds from the show are donated to the New Hampshire Food Bank.

The Show of Dreams is usually held on the spacious fields of the Alvirne Hills House. Due to the recent rainy weather, there was a last-minute switch to the parking lot of Alvirne High School on opposite side of the road.

The change of venue did not detract from either the number or quality of cars attending. The show regularly pulls in 200 or more classic cars and this year was no exception. There were 222 cars registered across 26 classes. Spectators were admitted for free.

The show organizers planned for a warm day and set up a “cooling station” tent to provide shade and a free bottle of water. There were vendors selling car-related goods, as well as numerous food vendors. Ice cream was very popular, given the warm weather. Many people chose to eat at tables under the two large tents.

Six classic Minis were present at the show: Wendy and Tom Birchmire in “May,” a rare 1993 Rover Japanese-market automatic Iain and Nuala Barker (and Muffin the dog) in “KK,” their 1967 Morris Cooper S Ken Lemoine in his pristine 1965 Morris Mini Minor Traveller replete with the “ITSOQT” (it’s so cute, get it?) license plate Roger and Crystal Treadwell in “Geraldine,” a 1980 New Zealand Leyland Mini 1000 LE MaeLynn Hill in “Baby Lou,” her 1962 Morris Mini Minor and a very original looking 1964 Austin Cooper S with unknown owners (no show placard posted). NEMO members John and Laurie Gallagher brought their 1964 Winchester London Taxi.

In addition to the usual mix of Jaguars, MGs and Triumphs, there were some truly esoteric offerings, including a 1958 Allard, an AC 3000ME, a genuine Ford GT40, and even a Lola Formula Ford race car.

Unlike many other shows, there are no separate categories for classic Minis. Instead, they are covered in two general classes of British cars: Class 22 for pre-1980, and Class 23 for 1980-1999.

Class 22 was hotly contested, as there is a lot of British car history in those 80 years! In addition to most of the Minis, it included a very eclectic mix — the previously mentioned Allard, Ford GT40 and Lola race car, plus a pristine Hillman Super Imp, a shining Sunbeam Alpine, an ex-London taxi, an Austin A40 Farina, a Jaguar XK120/140, etc. The Minis competed with many high end, rare, or unusual vehicles.

The New Hampshire Food Bank Award went to Michael Gaetano’s 1947 Bentley MkII. Steve and Nancy Banner’s gorgeous 1966 MGB won Best of Show and 1st place in Class 6, MGB and MGC 1962-1974. Two NEMO members took home prizes. Wendy Birchmire’s Mini Mayfair won 1st in Class 23, and John and Laurie Gallagher’s London Taxi won 2nd in Class 22.

British Car Day was held June 25th at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Mass. To avoid forecasted rain, the start time was moved to 8 a.m. I got there in my ’63 Mini about 8:10 and there was a good crowd of cars in place already.

I always look forward to this show with its diversity of British cars, many of which are rarely seen. I was not disappointed this year. In addition to five great (my bias) classic Minis and six modern MINIs, there were the much-loved, higher-production MGs, Triumphs, Austin-Healeys, and Jaguars as well as lower-volume Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Lotus.

As a bonus our host, the Museum (recognized as “America’s oldest car collection”), has an unmatched, unique collection of early-1900s gas, steam and electric automobiles that is fascinating, plus a rotating exhibit that this year features rally cars.

All of the cars and owners were great to see, but for this article, I chose to focus on new to me or less familiar cars.

Parked under the trees was a 1954 Dellow MkII, an aluminum-bodied sports car targeted to rally/hillclimb/time trials that was in production from 1949 to 1957. It used a side-valve 1172cc Ford engine and many mechanicals from the Ford 100E Anglia/Prefect. This example was a beautiful car, one of 95 produced, and the first Dellow imported to the USA. It had 26,000 original miles.

There was also a 1935 AC 16/60 Saloon Greyhound. The manufacturer, founded in 1901, exists to the present day (though with many, many name and ownership changes). They produced everything from the late ’40s, air-cooled, three-wheel fiberglass-bodied Invacar to the ’60s Cobra muscle car.

The Greyhound was a very rare prewar AC model that used an AC-designed 2-liter OHC inline-six aluminum-block engine produced from 1920 to 1963. It was luxurious and powerful for a 1930s car. This Greyhound was an older restoration in excellent condition and was purchased from a prestigious AC collection in 2021.

I also spotted a 1957 AC Ace Bristol. This car’s aluminum body had a classic, flowing design that attracted Carroll Shelby to work with AC to create the Ford-based Cobra a few years later. This car was one of 466 Aces supplied with a Bristol 100 2-liter OHC D2 engine good for 120hp — a very capable derivative of the BMW 328 engine to which Bristol gained the rights after World War II. I love the lines of this car. —BB

Another perspective

Bob’s comments notwithstanding, the 2023 British Car Day at Larz was poorly run, in my opinion, and I don’t have much positive to say about a show that started at 8 a.m. and ended at noon, even if it was to avoid the anticipated rain. It didn’t rain, and it was advertised as a rain-or-shine show anyway.

The voting was done by phone with a QR code but most people didn’t know that or how to do it. An hour into the show I had to tell the staff running the show that their voting URL did not work. They disagreed with me at first but then found they couldn’t access it either. It took them another hour to get it fixed. The QR code on the envelope that they told people to use went to German Car Day. No one really knew what was going on.

When the awards were announced, they went to 1st place only and were read off rapidly, not waiting for the person to come forward.

I know that voting for one popular-choice car in each class is not that important to most people. Personally, I like shows where the cars are judged so that people with authentic cars should win the class. Unfortunately, people usually vote for the pretty car, the unique car, or the nice paint job. I, too, am often guilty of that.

All that being said, I must mention the positives of the show also. The check-in and parking crew were very welcoming and helpful. The awards were unique and admission to the show gave you access to the Museum and a well-curated and interesting exhibit. —PW

What? It is only 7 a.m. and I like to sleep in on Sundays. Why is Wendy waking me at this hour? I do, however, get a kick out of her opening my left-hand door to get in. She must be so sleepy that she has forgotten that I am a right-hand drive.

In fact, I am a very cute and shiny 1973 Mini Mayfair automatic with air conditioning. I was born in Britain for the Japanese market so I am pretty rare in the U.S. today. Most people enjoy looking at me because I am very small and I have a bright red paint job.

Where are we going at this early hour? Look at those rain droplets on my windscreen. Does Wendy really think it is a good day to go out? Oh, I remember now, we are off to the Bay State Antique Auto Club Show. Being 30, my memory isn’t always that keen, but I do remember that the show is in Dedham, Mass., and that is a short drive. This day may turn out to better than I thought. I will get a chance to show off my shapely body in Class J with all the other foreign cars. I wonder if I will be the only Mini there and whether I will be parked by a Bentley or other elegant foreign car.

Who do you think I saw at the show? Steve and Joyce Aoyama had their 1972 Morris Mini, parked just spaces away from me. That car is special because it has a DOHC Honda VTEC engine. Show attendees always flock around that vehicle and ask lots of question because of its uniqueness. It, like me, is a crowd pleaser.

This, however, is not a show judged by peers. Upon arrival, car owners who wanted their cars judged, were asked to fill out a form and were given a number to put on their dash. Then a group of knowledgeable judges inspected each of the cars completely. They were looking for quality, original cars.

How did I do? Not so well. The two judges inspected my interior and even climbed under my belly to look at my undercarriage. I rarely bathe there, so I hope it looked clean. At least I know that I am not rusted underneath.

The judges chatted with Wendy, having a few questions for her. Mainly they appeared to be curious about who had done my restoration. They were looking for original parts and remarked that my USB port and modern radio did not look authentic. I saw them note the locking gas cap and other parts that didn’t make me “original.” I was pleased that they did this, however. This kind of judging should occur at some car shows.

When other exhibitors choose the “People’s Choice” awards at shows, they often look at just the shiny cars and pick the one that looks best. At this show, judges knew the cars they were evaluating, and they had a checklist of items they were looking for.

These two judging methods have a place at car shows and I hope Wendy will take me to both kinds of shows. I like it when people admire me and winning an award is not the reason for being there.

Who did win my class? The three prizes went to (not in order) Marc Moreau from Lincoln, R.I., with his 1972 Datsun 240Z, Mark Adams from North Stonington, Conn., and his 1972 Citroën SM with its 5-speed Maserati engine, and Steve Gilbert, from Wayland, Mass., who brought his 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS that had once been shown at the prestigious Misselwood Concours d’Elegance.

Wendy talked to Marc Moreau and thoroughly understood why his car was chosen in the top 3. It wasn’t the shiniest, nor did it really stand out from the crowd, but it was original and deserved the recognition that comes when cars are evaluated by someone who isn’t looking for the “pretty” car. Marc worked on his vehicle for 10 years and did all the restoration except for the paint job. He used over 400 NOS (new old stock) Nissan parts to keep the look authentic. He even kept a record of every piece he added to his vehicle.

Marc uses this numbers-matching Datsun as a daily driver and the mileage was over 269,000 miles today. This is the kind of car that deserves to be recognized at a judged show.

How did the day turn out? It was hot and humid, and my body got very hot, but I didn’t care. At least I was parked on the grass and not on asphalt.

The music blared and the many food vendors fed the hungry crowd. There were many sellers offering their auto related items. There was even a chance to tour the elegant Endicott House, but Wendy chose to stay by me. She appears to get nervous when she can’t see that I am safe. She leaves the doors open so spectators can see my interior, but that also invites small children to climb in. While she did change the “Do Not Touch” sign that each car was given, to “Do Touch,” that didn’t include children with their dripping ice cream cones!

Several spectators asked to sit on my comfortable seats and have their picture taken. Wendy always agrees to that. After all, I am her daily driver and she wants others to appreciate me as much as she does. I hope she brings me back to the picturesque Endicott grounds for next year’s show.

WATERFORD, Conn., June 4 — Will it rain or won’t it rain? That appeared to be on the minds of many exhibitors at this year’s BBTS. It looked like many potential show participants decided to take the chance and tackle the predicted rainfall, since over 300 cars were in attendance! An excellent turnout on a not-so-excellent day.

Twelve classic Minis graced the field along with four modern ones (MINIs). A wonderful showing of the cutest cars on the field! As a Mini owner, I am, of course, a bit prejudiced.

As the day wore on, a little sun peeked through from time to time and then the weather deteriorated and turned darker and colder. I bet the vendors sold a bunch of sweatshirts. The vendors were obviously not scared away as there were plenty of them displaying British-related items — and food vendors, one of which sold the highly-desired hot coffee.

In spite of all the weather concerns, the show was a great success. Exhibitors walked the field evaluating cars competing in classes and stopped to chat with their owners. It takes more than weather concerns to dampen their enthusiasm!

To answer the lingering question, “Did it rain?” — well, yes, it did. Luckily it was only a shower and not a downpour, and most owners of convertibles didn’t even put the tops up. People were gracious and stayed to the end of the rewards segment of the show instead of leaving after their class was called. Since the MINIs and Minis were at the end of the class list, this was appreciated.

Winners of the Mini classes were:

Mini Classic — 1st, Wendy Birchmire, 1973 Mini 1000 2nd, Allan Warner, 1998 Cooper S 3rd, Ray Lewis, 1963 Mini 850.

Mini New — 1st, Chris Vetters, 2013 JCW Roadster 2nd, Scott Blaylock, 2021 Cooper 3rd, Edward Oseda, 2024 JCW Clubman.

BRISTOL, R.I., June 10 — I was looking forward to attending the British Motorcars in Bristol car show. It would be my first time since 2016.

I spent a fair amount of time getting my 1968 Mini Traveller ready for the 120-mile round trip drive from Framingham. It is not very water-tight (and the wood trim is in rough shape), so I constantly checked the extended weather forecast in the days leading up to the event.

Initially Saturday was supposed to be mostly sunny, but as the date neared, intermittent rain was forecast for both my drive and Bristol. By Friday night the hourly forecast improved slightly, so I committed to caravanning down from Metro West with Rudy Koehle.

Several people on the BMCNE Facebook page provided route recommendations that avoided driving on 95 through downtown Providence (a miserable stretch of road even in a modern car). Highways are not my preferred roads by any means, but I don’t mind driving my Mini at 60mph on 495 when traffic is light. Much above 60 and the engine screams for a non-existent 5th gear.

We got off 495 at the Rt. 1 South exit, and followed 152 South to 118 South to 136 South, and finally 114 South to Colt State Park in Bristol. I set Google Maps to avoid highways, so we were also routed onto some scenic local roads that cut out a mile or two.

BMCNE was very well organized, so registration and parking went smoothly. They configured large spaces with a blue dot for lining up the middle of your bonnet. There was no chance of dinging the doors of neighboring cars.

Minis owned by NEMO members Adam Blake and Wendy Birchmire were on the field when I arrived. Steve Aoyama’s Honda VTEC Mini Van was also present, as was a white 1972 Mini saloon belonging to Mike and Mallory Walsh. Iain and Nuala Barker arrived a short time later. Late in the day a classic Mini convertible owned by the Borges family joined the line. Minis were parked in the second to last row but at least we were close to the Guatemalan coffee truck.

There were 225 registered show cars. The variety was great with some true rarities on the field.

Jay Miller’s 1930 Bentley 4-1/2 Litre Van den Plas Le Mans Tourer deservedly won the Best in Show award. Jay drives the car regularly and just completed two rallies totaling 1,500 miles. The Bentley was covered in dust and had plenty of patina. The car has a 44-gallon gas tank and the largest brake drums I have ever seen.

Another rarity was a 1957 Daimler Conquest Drophead Coupé. The Conquest included wind-up windows, a four-speed preselector transmission, three individual front seats, and tail fins. According to my research, only 54 cars were built with this configuration. Iain Barker parked next to the Daimler at his hotel in Seekonk Friday night, so the owner really drives it.

Michael Crawford’s 1937 MG VA Tickford was parked near the center of the MG section. The car won a Best of Show award at British by the Sea the previous Sunday and was certainly a contender in Bristol.

Other cars that caught my eye included rarities, oddballs, and more austere models: a 1961 MGA Twin-Cam, a 1965 Turner MkIII, a 1974 Lotus Europa Special, a 1951 Allard K-2, a 1969 Land Rover 88 Series 11A with three front seats, a 1957 MG Magnette, a 1968 Morris Minor Traveller, a very original 1960 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite, a 1969 Hillman Imp (used as a daily driver), and a 1954 Ford Popular with an engine upgrade.

The awards ceremony was scheduled for 2 p.m. and I planned to leave by then in hope of beating the rain. Unfortunately, dark storm clouds moved in over the bay and the weather radar showed storms moving into Bristol and along my route home. There was no point in leaving, so I stayed for the awards.

Iain Barker received honorable mention for the “Uncommon Man,” award which goes to owners who have done all the work on their cars. First place for the early Mini class was awarded to Adam Blake’s very original 1967 Austin Cooper. Second place was awarded to Wendy Birchmire’s 1973 Union Jack Mini 1000, and 3rd place went to Steve Aoyama’s Honda VTEC-powered 1973 Morris Mini Van.

The skies opened up at 3 p.m. as the award ceremony was winding down. Everyone still on the show field quickly packed up their cars and raised their hoods (though not all the convertibles had hoods to raise). I waited a few minutes for traffic at the exit to clear a bit, then started for home.

There was a 15-minute period of very heavy rain that caused some local roads to flood. I followed my route down in reverse and encountered mixed periods of rain and sun for the entire trip. The Mini didn’t miss a beat, and it was a good thing I had cleaned the windscreen and wiper blades Friday night.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — From May through October the Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM) holds a free monthly “Cars & Coffee.” The May 13th season opener was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures ranging from the mid-50s to mid-70s.

The official event hours were 8:30 to 11:30, though attendees started arriving by 7:30. Many people only stayed for an hour or two and left early, so there was a constant turnover of vehicles.

Betty and I planned to connect with a small group of British car owners at 8:30 so we could drive in and park together. We received a text at 8:10 that the show field was open and already quite crowded, so we dispensed with meeting and headed directly to the main entrance. We attempted to drive in behind a vintage Ferrari, but were told by a policeman that the grounds were full (or at least too full for a classic Mini). Betty said we were Museum members and a volunteer waved us in and told us to park “up top.”

The Ferrari parked next to a line of high-end supercars near the Museum entrance. Since “up top” was rather vague, I started to back in next to the Ferrari. A volunteer told us we couldn’t park there and had to move to the upper lot. A classic Mini Traveller usually draws more interest than most modern supercars, but we still had to join the more “plebian” vehicles angle-parked on the Museum road across from the first parking lot.

We were a few cars down from three MGs owned by members of the Boston Area MG Club — Rudy Koehle and Susie McGee in an MGB, Billy and Deb Hoyt in an MGA, and Gerry Lodge and Kelly Moynihan in an MGB — and we were happy to connect with them all.

Waiting in line at the free espresso bar gave us time to catch up with our BAMGC friends. Also in line was BAMGC member Gary Hampton, who arrived early with his TR3A and was able to park on the main lawn.

Armed with iced Americanos we walked the show fields. Both the upper and lower lawns were full, though the cars were not tightly packed. This made it easier for cars to leave and other cars to take their places.

The variety of vehicles was excellent, though, as expected, heavy on performance-oriented cars (Porsches, BMWs, Ferraris, muscle cars, exotic supercars). My eyes automatically seek out classics and unusual vehicles, and the performance cars barely register.

There are some regulars at these events, including an Austin-Healey 3000, a 1970 Lotus Elan, and Roger Fuller’s 1989 Trabant station wagon. There were at least three modern MINIs present, and Adam Blake drove his beautiful 1967 Austin Cooper S. A green classic Mini arrived late but I never located the owner.

A Caterham 7 arrived mid-morning and parked next to a modern Lotus on the main lawn. The car had side curtains attached, which must have made the tiny cockpit very claustrophobic. The owner removed the steering wheel, reached over the windshield and placed the steering wheel on the bonnet so he could exit the car. His adult passenger needed help getting out.

Volvos were well represented, including a pristine Volvo 122 two-door sedan and three “Swedish Brick” station wagons. One of the wagons had magnetic flames on the front fenders, and Volvo “Prancing Moose” decals below the A-pillars.

(The Prancing Moose was a parody of Ferrari’s “Prancing Horse” logo. Volvo corporate was not amused, and about five years ago sent a cease-and-desist letter to the creator of the Prancing Moose over his use of the company’s name.)

I had a long chat with the five-year owner of a 1957 Chevy Belair sedan. The car sported a two-tone paint job, in white over blue. The owner uses it as his daily driver in good weather. He enjoys taking people for rides and told me he likes to pull over and offer his passenger a chance to drive. That is my kind of classic car owner!

(My grandfather owned a similar-looking Belair in the early 1960s and I have fond memories of weekend outings in his car. In the mid-’60s my grandfather sold his Belair to a neighbor for $50. Years later he was annoyed to see his old Belair still on the road.)

My favorite unusual car was a bright red, 1990 Fiat 126P. From a distance I thought the car was a Yugo. On closer inspection I realized it is smaller than the Yugo, and had a “Polski Fiat” badge mounted near the left headlight.

The Fiat 126 was created to replace the Fiat 500. After Polish production started, Fiat added the letter P to the name for Polski. The couple that owns it were born in Poland and remember these cars from when they were very young. The car is all original with very low mileage. It has a two-cylinder 650cc rear-mounted engine and even has a Polish AM radio installed.

In Poland the car became a cultural icon and earned the nickname “Maluch,” meaning “The Little One” or “Toddler.” The name became official in 1997 when Fiat affixed a Maluch badge to the rear of the car — which explains the MALUCH vanity plates. You never know what will turn up at these events.

Museum admission is free during Cars & Coffee and the latest exhibit showcases road rally cars. The oldest car is a 1901 Winton Bullet, the first production race car offered for sale to the public. It was purchased by Larz and Isabel Anderson and is owned by the Museum. The Winton has a 40hp two-cylinder engine and was capable of reaching 70mph — not a speed I would want to achieve in what is little more than a horseless carriage.

Other rally cars include a 1949 Cadillac 62 Series Coupe, and a pair of French-built 1972 A110 Alpines. This is an interesting exhibit even if you are not a racing fan.

In all, it was a great day for a car show, and the number and variety of cars were outstanding. I plan to arrive by 8 a.m. for future Cars & Coffee events and recommend other NEMO members do the same.

The always-incredibly-fun Mini Meet East will be held June 30th through July 3rd in Rochester, N.Y. — well within striking distance of NEMO members. The host hotel is the DoubleTree Rochester, 1111 Jefferson Rd., Rochester, reachable at (585) 475-1510.

For Meet information, including a link to register, go to https://minimeeteast.regfox.com/mme2023.

Meet schedule

Friday, June 30 — Registration open, 4 to 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 1 — Car wash available, 7 to 10 a.m. club executive meeting, 8:15 a.m. MME 2023 Car Show, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Funkhana, starts 3 p.m. Kidkhana, starts 3 p.m.

Sunday, July 2 — Scavenger Hunt, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Group Photo, 1 to 2 p.m. Mystery Event, 2 to 4 p.m.

Monday, July 3 — 11:00 a.m., Driving Skills Event (regular and R/C cars), 11 a.m. Banquet at the hotel, 3 p.m.

Important info

Meet pre-registration ends at 12:01 a.m. (ET) on June 24th. After this date, it must be done on-site in Rochester.

The last day to order T-shirts is June 8th.

There will be a swap meet (boot sale) in the hotel parking lot for any registered participant whenever the group is at the hotel.

Registration amounts are in U.S. dollars and will be converted to your home currency (if needed) by the bank. Please remember if you need to cancel, don’t forget to cancel your hotel room, too.

Please send any questions to danviola@gmail.com and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible (usually within a few hours).

Note: Saturday and Sunday’s schedule may change due to the weather and the group photo.

“Woodies in the Cove” is an annual car show for woodies of all sorts — station wagons, sedans, convertibles — hosted by the Historical Society of Wells and Ogunquit, Maine. The “Cove” refers to Perkins Cove, a popular tourist spot with restaurants, shops, boat tours, and great ocean views. The car show takes place on a large field in Wells, and the event culminates in a police-escorted five-mile parade south on Route 1 to Shore Road in Ogunquit, which leads to Perkins Cove Road.

In August 2019 the National Woodie Meet was held at Woodies in the Cove. The National Woodie Club is made up of regional chapters, with the Yankee Wood Chapter covering New England. I publicized the national meet in the NEMO newsletter after attending a Massachusetts event run by the Yankee Wood Chapter. Chapter members had no idea Mini produced woodies, though they were familiar with the Morris Minor Traveller.

Several NEMO members expressed interest in attending Woodies in the Cove in 2019, but most had conflicts with the date. My 1968 Mini Traveller was the sole classic Mini in attendance. Barbara and David Newman represented modern MINIs with their unique 2013 ClubVan, “Woody Cooper.” A heavily modified 1967 Morris Minor Traveller sporting a Chevy 4.6-liter V6 engine was the only other British car.

Cars from all over the U.S. and at least one from Canada attended the multi-day national event, which featured several driving tours. Most owners drove their cars, and a few even towed trailers.

At least 100 woodies were present for the car show and parade. Only one owner I spoke with had mechanical trouble, and other attendees were able to source the necessary parts to get him back on the road.

The variety and condition of woodies was impressive. Vehicles ranged from Ford Model T and Model A Depot Hacks, to massive convertibles, classic woodie wagons, and a few vinyl wood grain station wagons (which have become collectible). Surprises included a 1941 Cadillac sedan, a 1947 Dodge Passenger Bus, a 1940 Packard, and a 1947 Nash Ambassador Suburban.

The British cars attracted a lot of attention. A steady flow of people stopped by my Mini Traveller, the Newmans’ MINI ClubVan, and the hot rod Morris Minor Traveller.

Initially, I was parked between the Morris Minor and a 1950s-vintage Crosley station wagon that was slightly larger than my car. The rear quarter panels and tailgate of the Crosley were painted with faux wood grain. The car doors advertised “Kettle Cove Fish Market,” and “Friday is Fish Day” adorned the tailgate. A large wooden fish served as a hood ornament, and wooden roof racks carried a surfboard. The Crosley departed early, and a truly massive Chrysler Town & Country convertible took its place (see photo).

The Morris Minor Traveller hot rod was a high-end conversion, with few original parts aside from the body shell. The Chevy V6 engine had many performance tweaks. A 3.73 Positraction rear end was fitted, as was an air ride suspension and tilt steering column. The interior was fitted with custom embossed leather seats and wool carpets. The sides and rear doors were given the American woodie wagon treatment and fitted with mahogany panels. I hope the owner started with an unrestorable Morris Minor.

The oldest car at the show was a 1913 Ford Model T. With so many years represented, it was interesting to see the progression from the boxy Model T and Model A, continuing to the slab-sided cars of the late 1930s through the mid-1940s, and finally transitioning to the streamlined 1950s Ford Country Squire and Chrysler Town & Country.

It was difficult to choose a favorite from so many amazing cars. After careful consideration, the 1947 Nash Ambassador Suburban gets my vote. The four-door sedan was in pristine condition and was shown with factory accessories, including a period roof rack with a cylindrical container for storing a twin bed mattress. The car has a fold-down rear seat, and the twin mattress was stretched from the trunk into the passenger compartment.

To my surprise, the Nash was not the People’s Choice winner. The award went to a 1947 Dodge Passenger Bus, which has a custom woodie body fitted to a truck chassis.

After the awards ceremony, it was time for the parade to Perkins Cove. Route 1 traffic on a nice summer weekend is brutal. However, police closed the southbound lane to all but the show cars, and police cars led the parade of woodies.

Attendees slowly exited the show field and were met with cheers and waves (though not from the drivers stuck in traffic on side streets and parking lots). Crowds of spectators were heavy once we turned onto Shore Road. My driver-quality Mini Traveller received more cheers, waves, and applause than the pristine full-size woodies that surrounded me. When the parade slowed to a crawl in the loop at the end of Perkins Cove Road, someone ran up to my car and told me it was his favorite!

You can view a video of the parade start at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=479235149319035.

The 2023 edition of Woodies in the Cove is scheduled for August 12th. The turnout is likely to be 40 or 50 cars since this year’s event is not combined with the National Woodie Meet. It is still well worth attending, with or without a Mini Traveller or Countryman.

Imagine, if you will, a small village in Rosemont, Scotland. With a beautiful little rose garden created for Queen Elizabeth to enjoy while on her travels to and from Balmoral Castle. Accompanied by her bodyguard and her Corgis, she would time this trip for the spring bloom of the roses. They could stretch their legs, have a delightful respite from official duties, and enjoy a spot of tea and a jam sandwich in the gazebo, all while enjoying the many colors and fragrances in her Rosemont Garden.

Now, imagine our delight at having our 1969 Austin Mini Countryman, chauffeured by James Bond, a/k/a Daniel Craig, chosen to transport Her Majesty on this delightful imaginary trip!

The Connecticut Flower and Garden Show took place on February 23rd through 26th in Hartford, Conn. This display was designed by Marci Martin, a Connecticut resident active in the Connecticut Rose Society. She had her theme and was in search of a Little British Car to use in the display.

A friend put us in touch with Marci, and our Mini fit her vision for this display. It was a fun experience for David and me.

P.S.: Daniel came home with me, as well as Her Majesty, and the Corgi cutouts not seen in the photos!

[Contrib. Ed. note: You may wonder, why is James Bond in the Rose Garden? “James Bond” escorted “Queen Elizabeth” to the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony in London. You can watch that on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AS-dCdYZbo. — DS]

We always need newsletter articles covering both classic and modern Minis. I can’t possibly make it to all the events attended by other members, so how about some new reporters covering new venues?

Owner stories are always of interest too, so write about what got you into the classic or modern Minis. Other topics might include winter car repair projects, events you attended last year that were not already covered, event previews for 2023, additions to the calendar, local cruise nights, etc.

An article can be as simple as a paragraph and some pictures. You don’t need to channel Shakespeare.

The editorial deadline for the NEMO newsletter is usually the second Monday of the month. Please send articles and photos to dschwartz1957@gmail.com by the previous Friday. Photos should be 1 MB or higher. Extra photos are welcome. If they don’t fit in the newsletter, we can always post them on the website.

There is a prize for the best article. The author gets to be newsletter editor (British Marque Contributing Editor) next year.

HOLLISTON, Mass., Oct. 16, 2022 — The annual Holliston Historical Society Car Show & Pancake Breakfast was postponed again last year, due to bad weather on its original date, Father’s Day. Fortunately, the October rain date was sunny with comfortable fall temperatures.

(I would be happy if all the major events were moved to early or late in the season to avoid the extreme heat and humidity of summer!)

One of the show organizers is former NEMO member Paul Saulnier. Paul sold all his Minis but owns other British cars. The Holliston event always attracts a good variety of British and other marques spanning Brass Era cars to current models.

I listed the show in this newspaper and on several different British car club Facebook pages. NEMO members Iain Barker and Bob Brownell attended with their classic Minis, as did many members of British Motorcars of New England (BMCNE) with MGs and Triumphs. It was a perfect top-down day, so I drove my 1950 Morris Minor Tourer.

Cars were parked on the Holliston Historical Society front and side lawns, along the driveway, and in the parking lot. Although the turnout was high, cars were not packed in too tightly. In addition to the Minis and my Morris Minor, British cars included MGs, Triumphs, Jaguars, Austin-Healeys, and Land Rovers. Iain, Bob and I invited kids to sit in our cars.

A 1969 Jaguar XKE had a large placard out front that told an amazing story. On April 8, 1969, the car was stolen from Corcoran Motors on Rt. 9 in Wellesley, Mass. It was recovered in New York in March 2015 and returned to the dealer’s heirs. I imagine there is much more to the story than would fit on the placard, but I was unable to locate the owner.

Several years ago, Paul Saulnier sold “Mini Mouse,” his classic 1964 Mini van hot rod that was powered by a rear-mounted 427hp Chevy V8 engine. Perhaps to cure seller’s remorse, Paul bought a new hot rod and brought it to this year’s show. From a distance, it looked like a slightly oversized classic Model A hot rod. On closer inspection, a Jaguar V12 engine jumped out at you, as there is no bonnet to hide the engine. This was a purpose-built car with no Model A DNA to be found. And I thought big Healey “Nasty Boys” were unusual!

My favorite American car was a 1958 Cadillac with tail fins and huge chrome bumpers, known as “Dagmars.” There was also a beautiful 1930 Chrysler Model 99. It sported enormous headlights, suicide doors, and wheels with wooden spokes.

The rarest car at the show was an impeccably restored 1950 Ferrari 195 Inter Ghia Coupé. This car was shown at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and is not a vehicle one normally sees at a breakfast cruise. The owners live in Sherborn, so maybe they figured, why not drive it locally? Cars at this show were judged by people who work in the automotive industry, and it was no surprise that the Ferrari won Best in Show.

The Holliston show runs from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. There is no admission fee for cars or spectators. Historical Society members serve a full breakfast in the barn, including pancakes, eggs, cake and coffee. Proceeds from the breakfast are used to support the programs of the Society.

The 2023 show is back on the schedule for Father’s Day, and that will be June 18th. I hope to see you there.

PUTNAM, Conn. — The NEMO Holiday Party was held at Black Dog Bar & Grille in Putnam on Saturday, December 3rd. If the place looked familiar, it’s because the restaurant was formerly called J. D. Cooper’s and we had gone there a number of times for our Holiday Party in past years.

Eighteen people gathered together in a private room and big smiles were everywhere as we greeted each other. Attending the event were Dave Black, Greg Mazza, Dave and Barbara Newman, Bob and Kathy Brownell, Lorine and Derick Karabec, Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild, Nuala and Iain Barker, Chris Izzo, Thom Pickett, Dave and Jean Icaza, Phil Darrell, and new member John Disano.

The Holiday Party is one of the club’s favorite events and usually a raucous time ensues during the customary Yankee Swap. Last year we got together in a restaurant in December, but no private room and no Yankee Swap — so, while it was wonderful to see everyone, the Party was a bit more subdued. This year the Yankee Swap was back!

After a few cocktails we managed to get everyone to sit down for lunch before the start of the Swap. Lively conversations were overheard as many had not seen each other in a while. Once the Swap started everyone enjoyed seeing the gifts being opened, especially when one was “taken” from someone. Many gifts changed hands, some multiple times.

Everyone had a fun time and enjoyed seeing each other. We carried our gifts to the cars and continued our conversations in the parking lot. We really are a convivial group!

BROOKLINE, Mass. — The Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM) held six free “Cars & Coffee” lawn events from May through October. I attended the May, August and September events, and wrote about the May event in the June newsletter. All were well attended, with cars filling both lawns and the parking area near the Museum entrance. I wish I had been able to attend all six.

The official C&C hours are 8:30 to 11:30, though many people show up early and leave before the end. Additional cars arrive throughout the morning, so the variety keeps changing. British cars were well represented at each event, as were unusual vehicles of various marques. The LAAM staff does not hand out windshield tags, so it is not always possible to identify a car’s year and model. I have been known to stake out cars until the owner shows up.

I promoted all the C&C events in the calendar, but NEMO member attendance was low. In September, Wendy Birchmire drove her 1993 Mini Mayfair and Adam Blake drove his 1967 Austin Cooper S. I brought my 1968 Mini Traveller in August and September. September was a full Blake family affair. Annica drove their 1999 Lotus Elise with the three children split between the Mini and Lotus.

My wife, Betty Lehrman, attended the September event and even wore a flowered Hawaiian shirt to match mine. Gary Hampton wore one of his car-themed Hawaiian shirts, so the three of us had to stage a picture.

Other British cars included Robert Fish’s 1968 MGB, Gary Hampton’s 1960 Triumph TR3A, a Lotus Elan, a Lotus Elise Series 2, a “Locost” Lotus 7 kit car, a 1933 Rolls-Royce, a 2016 Rolls-Royce Wraith, a Jaguar E-type, a 1974 Jensen Interceptor, a 1960 Morgan Plus 4, a TR6, and a 1980 Triumph TR8.

Robert’s MGB sported a “Skiers Make Better Lovers” license plate frame that dates to around 1970. He bought several of these frames, and the other ones were appropriated by his adult children. The Lotus Elan’s bonnet was removed, affording a view of the very clean engine. Betty agreed that the early generation Miata has a similar look to the Elan.

The 1933 Rolls-Royce was my season favorite. The car is right-hand-drive, has a single sidemount on the driver’s side, black wire wheels, trafficators on the C-pillar, a sunroof, wooden dash and interior trim, and a six-cylinder engine. There were no modern license plates attached to the car, nor any year or model information.

I used a photo editor to enlarge the Massachusetts inspection sticker visible in one of my photos and was able read the license plate number backwards. The car is registered with the vanity plate ALBERT. A plate look-up on the RMV website showed 1933 as the year and “Sport” as the model. According to automotive author Dave LaChance, all Rolls-Royces were coachbuilt until the Silver Dawn of 1949.

I posted some photos and questions about the Rolls-Royce on the Arlington Classic Car Club (ACCC) Facebook page. This is a very knowledgeable group with over 300 members. Mark Diamond immediately responded that this very car attended a LAAM Cars & Coffee back in August, 2021.

To quote Mark, “It completely blew me away. I ended up having a conversation with the owner. This car was the pièce de resistance. I couldn’t stay away from it: a 1933 Rolls-Royce 20/25 with body by Connaught. Restored by its English expat owner and in superb shape. The engine started right up, ran like a clock and was surprisingly quiet for 1933.” Mark owns a Peugeot 504 and is an equal opportunity fan of any great car.

Noteworthy non-British cars included a 1932 Auburn 8-100A custom that has appeared at the Misselwood Concours d’Elegance, a 1937 Oldsmobile F44 sporting an external windshield visor, a massive 1941 Buick Roadmaster four-door convertible, a 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta, a 1989 Trabant station wagon, a 1976 Volkswagen Camper Van, a 1972 Citroën SM, a 1985 Merkur XR4Ti (when was the last time you saw one of these?). A Tesla owner with a sense of humor had two Duracell “Z” size batteries mounted under the bonnet.

There was a well-preserved mid-’50s Chevy Corvette. I had never noticed the Space Age styling of the early Corvettes, especially the rocket fins on top of the rear fenders and small chrome bullets on the front and rear bumpers.

A Mexican-market, Volkswagen Van-based Work Truck was parked near the Museum entrance. The owner was very friendly and spent a while chatting and taking pictures of his companions pretending to clean the windshield of my Mini Traveller.

The September event featured a red 1991 Honda Beat, and a yellow 1993 Honda Beat. The Beat is a kei car manufactured from 1991 through 1996. Kei is short for “light automobile” and must meet Japanese regulations limiting their physical size and engine size. I had never seen a Beat before and don’t believe the owners knew each other. Quite a coincidence to see two of them.

Betty really admired a Citroën 2CV Charleston in a red-and-black paint scheme. I told her this model is on my “short list.” Buying one is fine with her, as long as I sell another car first. She hasn’t driven her Miata much in the last two years, so perhaps a swap is in order.

The Stig put in an appearance at the September C&C. For those not familiar with the British television show Top Gear, the Stig is an anonymous race car driver hiding behind a full-face helmet. The joke is that nobody knows who or what is inside the Stig’s racing suit. The Stig at LAAM never broke character and wouldn’t engage in conversation. I did convince him (her, they, it?) to strike a pose in front of Wendy’s Mini.

Prior to the COVID pandemic I frequently invited people to sit in my Mini Traveller. This was often a challenge to tall people to prove they would fit, and so kids could enjoy a car that was just their size. There were so many enthusiastic Mini fans that I reinstated photo ops (being outdoors and quadruple vaccinated also helped). Some of the kids were so cute that I couldn’t resist taking my own photos, and I have a great picture of two young kids in “the wayback” sitting on my British flag carpet and waving a British flag.

LAAM Cars & Coffee is a free event, including free espresso drinks and Museum admission. I hope to see more NEMO members next season.

WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 25 — Gore Place, the former corporate office of the Waltham Manufacturing Company, which built Metz automobiles, is the site of a classic car show organized by the Motorheads Car Club, in conjunction with the Waltham Museum and owners of Waltham-built vehicles.

I thought it would be fun to stage a mini-British Invasion at a show that is heavy on muscle cars and reached out to the organizers about reserving an area to park all the British cars together. Motorheads representatives were very receptive to the idea. They requested a car count the day before the show and asked us to stage at the Waltham BJ’s Wholesale Club so we could drive in as a group. I reserved a place on the main lawn, wanting to be in the middle of the action.

We didn’t have enough Minis for a full-scale British Invasion, so I reached out to other car clubs and friends to recruit additional British cars. Sixteen people responded, and several more were tentative. I requested 18 spots, figuring a few people would drop out at the last minute or have car trouble, and we would pick up a couple of extras. Parking spaces are sized for ’60s American land yachts, more than enough to squeeze in some extra LBCs.

Fall is my favorite season for attending classic car events. My wife Betty and I had a comfortable drive on back roads from Framingham to Waltham, and we didn’t need the heat or faux A/C (my dash-mounted fan).

Most participants were able to meet at the staging area by 8 a.m. We departed BJ’s at 8:10 for the short drive to Gore Place. Classic Minis led the parade so we could park together. A variety of other British car marques followed. At least four clubs were represented — NEMO, the Boston Area MG Club (BAMG), the Bay State MGA Club (BSMGAC), and the Austin-Healey Club of New England.

NEMO Minis in the parade included my 1968 Morris Mini Traveller, Bob Brownell’s 1963 Austin Mini 850, Iain and Nuala Barker’s 1967 Morris Mini Cooper S, Shahin Kia’s 1966 Austin Cooper S, and Adam Blake’s 1967 Austin Mk1 Cooper S. It was great to see the Kia car in person.

The BAMG cars featured a variety of British marques. Gary Hampton drove his 1960 Triumph TR3A and Nels Anderson his 1963 Land Rover Station Wagon, complete with safari accoutrements. (The large stuffed lion on the roof is always a hit, especially when it roars via remote control!) Gerry Lodge drove his 1972 MGB, and Robert Fish brought a 1968 MGB.

BSMGAC members Dana and Kathy Booth drove their “Nasty Boy” 1955 Austin-Healey BN1. The car was tastefully upgraded with a Mustang V8 engine and 5-speed manual transmission. It looks like a stock Healey until you peek under the bonnet.

Dana wore an aviator cap and goggles as protection from the morning chill. The car was a milestone birthday present from Kathy. Betty and Kathy Booth bonded over their common interest in musical theater and costumes. (It was a nice diversion from all the car talk.)

An unexpected attendee was Don Blais in his 1959 MGA roadster. The car is white with a red interior, and is so nice we let him park with the Minis.

David Mailly met us at the staging area in a really sharp 1958 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. David heard about the show from Dana Booth.

Dile Holton brought his 1972 Triumph TR6, and Tim and Sharon Russell arrived in a 1976 TR6. They are friends of other attendees.

We knew Ed Alderman planned to join the group at the show with his 1970 Morris Minor Traveller. Although we reserved space, we did need to ask a classic Saab 900 to move over to make room for the Morris.

Wendy Birchmire planned to meet us at the staging area in her 1993 Mini Mayfair. Unfortunately the car broke down after a short distance and had to be towed home. Wendy opted for a “do-over” and drove her 1973 Union Jack Mini 1000. “Jack” made it to the show but suffered a brake failure en route. Wendy described the pedal going to the floor, and how she downshifted and drove very slowly. Jack’s master cylinder was empty. Iain Barker diagnosed a leak in one of the rubber brake lines. He topped off the master from the large bottle of brake fluid he carries.

Our official group had 16 cars, but BAMG membership director Gerry Lodge directed traffic and recruited a Jaguar E-type and modern XK to park at the end of the line next to the Morris Minor. So, we had 18 cars in the British Invasion line, plus another Jaguar a few cars down. An MG Midget and Austin-Healey BJ8 were elsewhere on the field.

Gary Hampton and I have a running joke about the prevalence of Hawaiian shirts at car shows. We both own Woodie Wagon Hawaiian shirts and decided to wear them to the show. I found my shirt in the Owls Head Transportation Museum gift shop. Betty said she would not be seen in public with me if I bought the shirt. She left me no choice.

There were far too many interesting cars and trucks to cover them all in this article. Personal favorites included the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office 1954 Ford F250 Paddy Wagon accompanied by two special officers. Kids had a good time climbing into the back.

There was a replica of the Ghostbusters movie car, a Cadillac ambulance complete with roof top accessories. A black early ’50s chopped Mercury had beautiful yellow and orange flames on the hood and doors. Ironically, there was a period child’s car seat mounted on the back seat. A 1939 Ford Pickup hot rod had little ground clearance, a huge V8 engine and a number of humorous details.

The show also featured plenty of original cars, including a nicely restored 1962 Volvo 544, a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with loads of chrome and moderate-sized tail fins, and a fully-optioned 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. That was the first year for the front-wheel-drive Toronado, and the lack of the transmission tunnel allowed for loads of leg room.

A Ford Model A club parked together in the shade on the upper lawn.

Four Metz automobiles built between 1911 and 1915 were showcased in front of the Gore mansion. They were joined by a restored 1901 Orient, which was also built in Waltham. The Orient used a single-cylinder 4.5hp French-built Aster engine, which was water-cooled. It had a top speed of 23mph and was a true horseless carriage. I love seeing Brass Era cars at a muscle car show!

The awards ceremony was delayed and many cars departed before the announcements were made. The plan was to notify the winners ahead of time, but this didn’t happen. Bob Brownell’s Mini 850 won a trophy, but he left before the awards ceremony, so they gave it to the next in line.

Our British cars were well received by other car owners and the general public. The British car owners I spoke with had a good time and agreed we should do it again next year.

I am happy to report that Jack and Wendy made it home safely with the brakes intact.

The NEMO Holiday Party will be held at Black Dog Bar & Grille in Putnam, Conn., on Saturday, December 3rd, at 12 noon.

For you folks with a GPS, the address is 146 Park Rd., Putnam, CT 06260. Their phone is (860) 928-0501, their website https://www.blackdogbarandgrille.com.

Take Exit 45 (Kennedy Drive) off I-395. Kennedy Drive becomes Park Road. Black Dog is about a mile from the exit. This restaurant was formerly called J. D. Coopers and we have gone there a number of times for our Holiday Party in past years.

We need a head count, so RSVP by e-mailing me at faithlamprey@gmail.com or calling (401) 766-6519. Leave a message if necessary. Let me know how many are attending (and ages of any kids). As of now, we will be ordering off the menu, but may look at buffet options if sufficient numbers will be attending.

To the delight of many, we will be holding a Yankee Swap, so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $25). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is their turn to pick. (Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens!) And please, no more than one gift per person.

Our Holiday Party is one of our more popular events every year and this central location in Connecticut is convenient for the majority of our members. Hope to see you there!

As COVID is still with us, we ask that for the protection of all who attend (especially us older folks) that you be vaccinated and boosted.

STOWE, Vt. — Mini was one of the three featured marques at the 2022 British Invasion in Stowe, along with Triumph and Lotus — though I didn’t expect to see 25 Minis across four classes plus one in the Concours d’Elegance! They were joined by about 550 other cars registered in 67 classes.

Out of respect for Queen Elizabeth, who passed away on the eve of this year’s British Invasion, the event did not feature a Queen impersonator. Michelle Dickson, who has played that role at Stowe for many years, instead conducted the Ladies’ Hat Competition as herself.

There were four cars in Class #12, Mini Saloons 1959-1969 eight cars in Class #13, Mini Saloons 1970-2000 five cars in Class #14, Mini Variants 1959-2000 (including Estates, Vans, Mokes, Pickups and Cabrios, plus the Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet) and eight cars in Class #15, MINIs 2001-present.

I was pleased to see Adam Blake’s Austin Cooper S in the Concours d’Elegance.

I brought “Jack,” my Union Jack Mini “show car” to the Invasion twice before, so this year I decided to bring “May,” my “daily driver.” May is a Japanese domestic-market 1993 Mini Mayfair, and I trailered her to Stowe. There were so many unusual cars in Class #13 that I did not expect May to be competitive — even though it was the only Mini with an automatic transmission and air conditioning! I was shocked, but pleased, that my car took home 2nd place.

One of the more unusual cars on the field was a Rolls-Royce tribute to John Lennon, supplied by Ernie Boch. The car sides, roof, and bumpers were yellow, with flower decorations on the sides and stylized flames. You never know what will show up.

The 1st-place car in Class #13 was a 1978 Austin Mini 1000 owned by Paul Galipeau from Magog, Canada. It was wonderful that the pandemic was at a level where Canadians could cross the border and attend this year’s show. Paul’s car was painted yellow, red and blue, had a giant wind-up key attached to the bonnet, and a hot-rod Radio Flyer wagon on the roof. Iain Barker identified it as a Canadian-specification Mini based on the high-mounted front bumpers and pyramid reflectors on the wheel arches. Paul placed a small child in the Radio Flyer wagon so the parents could take a picture.

The Class #12 winner was a 1967 Cooper S owned by Michael Lamire. Michael’s car was red with a black and white checkerboard roof and Minilite wheels.

Once again, the Class #14 winner was David Icaza’s 1969 Austin Mini Countryman. Green with wood trim, it still sports its iconic surfboard on the roof rack. Dave, how many years in a row has your car won?

The Class #15 1st-place car was a 2015 MINI Cooper S Convertible owned by Cheryl and Tom Patty. The car sported a British flag decorations on the bonnet, side view mirrors and seats. Other cars in the class included an electric 2023 MINI Cooper that gets 120 miles per charge and a 2005 MINI Cooper S owned by long-time NEMO members Paul and Judy Nevin.

The Concours Touring Class was won by Adam’s 1967 Austin Cooper S. This was Adam’s first year attending the British Invasion. He made it a family affair and was accompanied by his wife Annica and their three children, Filippa, Elina, and Magnus. They opted for the full British Invasion experience, with a six-hour drive on back roads, including food and gas stops. Annica followed the Mini in a chase car, and one child rode in the Mini each way.

The girls won the “Queen in Training” award in the Hat Competition. Magnus really deserved an award for his very British costume as well. The kids had a great time and Adam’s Mini performed flawlessly!

SUDBURY, Mass., July 15-17 — After a two-year hiatus due to COVID, the Goulds’ 25th Annual Microcar & Minicar Classic took place at their new home in Sudbury. Charles sent out a “Save the Date” feeler at the end of June, and by July 2nd decided the event was a go. They had two weeks’ notice and lots of help from family and friends to pull it off.

Their new house is in the woods at the end of a cul-de-sac with plenty of parking along the road and in the large driveway. Discounted lodging was available for out-of-town guests at the nearby Fairfield Inn. The original plan was to limit attendance, and there were about 60 people at any given time with some turnover each day. The event format was a slight variation on the time-tested formula due to the Goulds’ move from Newton to Sudbury.

I arrived at about 6:45 p.m. for the Friday evening reception and pulled in at the bottom of the driveway near Wendy Birchmire’s 1993 Mini Mayfair. Wendy’s car had overheated and volunteer mechanic extraordinaire Jon Chomitz was already on the job. Wendy made it home safely in the Mayfair and wisely decided to drive her air-conditioned MINI on the Saturday tour.

The reception happy hour provided an opportunity to reunite with old friends and make new ones. There was a good selection of wines, microbrews, soda and water. Nancy, Charles, Tiana, Monique and Jonathan were wonderful hosts. The event flyer said cheese and hors d’oeuvres would be served, but there was actually a catered dinner buffet.

Saturday morning began with pastries, bagels and coffee at Chez Gould. The weekend weather forecast called for temperatures in the 90s. Extreme heat is brutal for old cars and their (old) drivers on the round-trip drive to Mount Wachusett. I clip an oscillating fan on the dash rail of my 1968 Mini Traveller that helps circulate the air. Linda Abrams opted for A/C and drove a first-generation MINI Cooper on the tour instead of her Citroen 2CV. A couple from N.Y. attending for the first time also drove a MINI.

For classics, we had my Mini, plus the Goulds’ Mini and Mini Moke, making a Mini/MINI total of six cars. Three other British cars participated in the tour: a Daimler SP250, an Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite and an early 1960s Hillman Minx convertible.

William Ellis mapped out a new driving route that first sent us east on twisty back roads through Sudbury, Wayland, and Lincoln before looping west to Hudson Road and our traditional regrouping stop at the Lake Boone Convenience Store in Hudson. This gave the cars and people a chance to cool down, and time to adjust the clutch in the Goulds’ Isetta.

We continued following the new driving directions to a group photo-op at a scenic overlook in Harvard, Mass. Three cars got “lost,” or got ahead of the main group and missed out on the photo. Then it was on to the lunch stop at Barber’s Crossing in Sterling.

There were several false starts after lunch due to the Fiat Jardiniere’s “failure to proceed.” The mechanics eventually resolved the problem and the group followed a new route to the Wachusett Mountain auto road. Most cars made it to the summit, though Charles, who was driving the Jardiniere, and a guest who was driving the Isetta decided not to chance it. This was the first time in years my Mini didn’t relieve itself of coolant upon my switching off the engine in the summit parking lot. I attribute this to not following a slow car and dropping below second gear. All the cars made it to the top without overheating, though some were air cooled so who would know?

After leaving the mountain, the final regrouping stop was at the Sterling Ice Cream Bar for some well-deserved cold treats. At this point we were running a tad late and headed directly to the Goulds’ for an excellent catered dinner. This was followed by Charles’ famous frozen margaritas. Faith Lamprey joined us for dinner, despite a looming British Marque press deadline.

Sunday there were more pastries, coffee and bagels at the Goulds’ house, followed by a relatively short drive to Alpha Cars in Boxborough. Dmitry Bykhovsky and his crew at Alpha Cars have been bringing interesting Russian (and Ukrainian) cars to the Microcar event for several years. Dmitry invited us to tour their restoration shop and showrooms, which thankfully were air conditioned. Alpha Cars deals in low-mileage luxury and sports cars as well as motorcycles. Their facility and vehicles were very impressive.

After the Alpha Cars tour, I headed home to pick up Betty and spent the afternoon avoiding the heat at Lake Cochituate. Many other attendees participated in another drive in the country, a lunch stop, and a tour of the American Heritage Museum in Hudson.

The weekend was certainly jam-packed, and the Goulds pulled it off with only two weeks of planning! The tours and activities are great, but my favorite part of the weekend was catching up with people I hadn’t seen in three years.

Famous Mini rally driver Paddy Hopkirk, MBE, passed away on July 21, 2022, at the age of 89 due to cancer.

Paddy first became famous in Mini circles, and is best remembered for his 1964 Monte Carlo Rally win driving the BMC factory entry Mini, car #37, registration #33EJB, with co-driver Henry Liddon. If you see old and new Minis sporting a white square on the door with 37 on it, that is the reason why.

The Internet and many books about Paddy Hopkirk go into great detail about his many other races, rallies and even the Le Mans 24-hour races, along with his Life Membership in the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), and his various businesses, which carry on after his passing. Read them and be amazed at what a life he had.

I had the good fortune to interview Paddy for the Marque in 1999 at the “Mini in the Park” show in the U.K. Always a low-key guy, he gave me an hour of his busy time in the Press Tent. And during the interview, a face appeared through the flap door to the tent, and Paddy jumped up and said, “Hrach! Come in, my friend!”

Hrach came in and Paddy asked if I knew Hrach. I replied, “Yes! Hrach is our Club President!”

After the interview, I saw Paddy once again, as he was parked in the Press Area. He met my wife Barbara and daughter Christa. They had a great conversation, with Barbara talking about her love for the Mini, and both she and Christa got a hug from Paddy. Then he was off to be interviewed on the outdoor stage by the show announcer.

We saw Paddy again in 2018, at the Watkins Glen Mini Festival. This was an event that Barbara and I could not miss! Paddy was the Guest of Honor, and spent many hours each day doing interviews, talking with Mini owners, posing for hundreds of pictures, signing the dashboards and bonnets of dozens of Minis, and walking around the paddock and pits for the classic Mini races. Never rushed, he took the time to speak to anyone who wished to talk, and told us about his past races and his involvement with the BRDC, two years as President.

Paddy was charming and entertaining, giving his honest but reserved opinions on things. He attended many events around the world and I am sure anyone who met him thought him a genuine gentleman. Never one to “toot his own horn,” he nevertheless was the legend of Mini fame all over the world. Both Barbara and I will miss him dearly, as will millions of others.

BRISTOL, R.I.— A midweek weather report called for showers on June 11th, the day of the British Motorcars in Bristol car show. Fortunately, the precipitation never materialized. Instead, a partially sunny sky and a cool breeze greeted over 200 exhibitors to the well-manicured field.

There were friendly faces greeting car owners at the gate and many volunteers to help park cars in their correct class. The Café Modesto coffee truck arrived early to ensure anyone needing a morning caffeine boost could get one. Food trucks arrived later in the day, and there were vendors selling British car parts and memorabilia.

The featured marque was MG, and they were present in a wide variety of colors and models that competed in ten classes. Jaguars made a large showing and competed in four classes, and Triumphs competed in nine. Other marques on the field included Allard, Nash, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lotus, and Land Rover. Plus, there were several British motorcycles.

The father-son team from Borges Collision Center was in attendance and they brought a newly restored Riley Elf and a Mini Cooper primed and ready for a paint job.

Class #35 was for early Minis, of which there were six: John Biagioni’s 1973 Austin Mini, Jean and Brian Landry’s 1964 Austin Mini Countryman, Corey Plummer and Jeff Westgate’s 1973 Innocenti Mini Cooper, Joe Prazeres’ 1972 Morris Mini Cooper, Joyce and Steve Aoyama’s Honda VTEC-powered 1973 Morris Mini Van, and my 1993 Mini Mayfair. It was interesting to see how alike these cars were, and yet so different.

The awards ceremony started at 2 p.m. with “The Uncommon Man Award” (a recognition of someone who did all the work on their car). It would be more politically correct if it was called the “Uncommon Person Award”! This was followed by A Very British Hat Competition, The Storyboard Award, People’s Choice Award, and Best in Show.

People’s choice awarded 1st prize to the Aoyamas’ VTEC Mini Van. Second place went to John Biagioni’s Mini, and 3rd was awarded to the Landrys’ Mini Countryman. (As an aside, many NEMO members feel that highly modified cars such as VTEC or similar conversions belong in a separate Modified class.)

The show organizer, British Motorcars of New England (BMCNE), has been supporting local charities in Southern New England for over 35 years. This year BMCNE is donating show proceeds to the Alzheimer’s Association-Rhode Island Chapter.

[See the BMCNE website for the complete list of winners. —Contrib. Ed.]

BROOKLINE, Mass. — June 26th started off sunny and cool, perfect weather for driving my 1968 Mini Traveller from Framingham to Brookline on Route 9.

I often encounter other British cars on my drive to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM), so it was no surprise to see Bob Brownell in his 1963 Austin Mini 850 in the right lane. I tried several times to pull up next to Bob at a light and ask him to “pass the Grey Poupon.” Unfortunately, other cars always got in the way.

I have followed classic Minis on scenic drives, but not on a limited access road or highway. It is amazing how small they look, with loads of space in the lane on both sides of the car. Now I now understand why my Mini Traveller (a full 9” longer than the saloon) attracts so much attention on the highway.

I arrived at LAAM about 8:30 a.m. and the upper lawn was at least half full. The parkir (as they say in Indonesia for parking attendant) directed me to a sunny spot in the center of the lawn. Several NEMO members were already parked in the shade along the road, so I opted to squeeze in next to a tree. Between my pop-up tent canopy and shade from the tree it was reasonably comfortable even after the temperature broke 90°. The tent became a gathering spot for NEMO members and friends.

Six members of the Boston Area MG Club arranged to rendezvous near the Museum at 7:30 a.m. They arrived early and claimed the best spot at the foot of the upper lawn under the trees. (I imagine the Jaguar owners were not pleased as this is their preferred spot!)

There were six classic Minis present, all owned by NEMO members: Bruce Vild and Faith Lamprey’s 1967 Austin Mini, Bob Brownell’s 1963 Austin Mini 850, Ken Lemoine’s 1965 Morris Mini Traveller, Wendy Birchmire’s 1973 Morris Mini 1000, Iain and Nuala Barker’s 1967 Morris Mini Cooper S, and my 1968 Morris Mini Traveller. Three modern MINIs were also present, though I didn’t recognize any owner names on the windshield cards.

People always stop to ask questions about my Mini Traveller, and they were happy to linger in the shade and chat since the tent canopy also covered the back half of the car. We signed up new NEMO member Rachel Stewart on the spot. She had recently purchased a 2019 MINI Cooper Countryman JCW and was amazed how huge her car was compared to my classic Mini Traveller. Welcome to NEMO, Rachel!

Hot, humid weather reduced the show turnout, and cars began leaving around 11 a.m. The upper and lower lawns were relatively full, though not packed as in previous years. Bentleys and Rolls-Royces parked near the Museum entrance, with a Jaguar or two sneaking in.

There was no costume competition, but a couple driving a 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 arrived in proper British period attire. They stayed until the show ended, and looked very warm as they walked the field staying in character, including the driver’s wool cap and pipe.

There was a good variety of marques including MG, Lotus, Austin-Healey, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Morgan, Morris, Land Rover, Caterham, Triumph and Sunbeam. There were three very nice MGA 1600s, two beautifully restored MG TFs, and a pristine unrestored 1955 MG TF 1500. Lotus was well represented with many modern cars, and one classic, a 1970 Lotus Elan. (The Elan’s bonnet unclips for easy access to the engine.) My favorite cars included a 1962 Morgan Plus 4, a Morris Minor Traveller 1000, and a bright red Jaguar XK150.

A 1929 Rolls-Royce Coupe with a dickey seat gets my vote for the most unusual car at the show. The doors, sides, and back were covered in wicker, and elaborate lanterns were mounted on both A-pillars. The Rolls was right-hand drive, the fenders sported dual side-mount wheels, and the open bonnet provided a good view of the straight six-cylinder engine. There was no windscreen card, and I was not able to speak to the owner as he was always surrounded by a crowd. I would love to learn the history of the car.

The gas pedal in Bruce and Faith’s Mini had been sticking on the drive up from Rhode Island. I carry a spare throttle cable, loads of tools, and other useful bits. After the show ended, I asked Iain to lead an on-field repair clinic. The diagnosis was the inner throttle cable was binding on the choke cable. I had a good supply of short zip ties and we put many of them to use separating the cables. [Thanks again, guys! —BV]

With all the event cancellations of the last two years, it was great to see fellow NEMO members and other friends in person.

WATERFORD, Conn., June 5 — Glorious! That is the only way to describe the weather for this year’s British by the Sea gathering.

That certainly influenced the over 350 car owners who showed up to participate. In addition, 15 vendors offered a variety of automotive-related items, and five food vendors were present to satisfy the hunger of all attendees.

The featured marque this year was Jaguar, specializing in the E-type, and there were some fantastic early models including a nice XK120 and some concours-level E-types.

In addition to the cars, there were around a dozen British motorcycles on display — including the ever-popular Norton Commandos, and a pair of particularly well restored prewar Royal Enfields.

There were eight classic Minis and four modern MINIs present on the show field. A nice silver classic we had not seen before arrived late and left early.

Winners in the Classic division were: 1st, David Icaza’s surfer dude 1969 Mini Countryman 2nd, Iain and Nuala Barker’s 1967 Mini Cooper S and 3rd, my 1973 Union Jack Mini 1000.

Winners in the MINI class were: 1st, Savino Casarella’s 2018 JCW 2nd, Cheryl and Tom Patty’s 2015 Convertible and 3rd, Frank Amara’s 2004 MINI with 201,845 miles on the clock.

This was the first car show for the latest member of the Barker family, “Muffin,” a four-month-old Cavachon puppy. She loved running between the rows of cars (leashed, of course) and playing “chase the kites” on the expansive Harkness Memorial State Park grounds. She was surprisingly unfazed by the drive in a rather noisy (at least by modern standards) 1967 vintage Mini.

Kudos to the show organizers for the rapid counting of the ballots. After some congratulatory comments, the Awards Ceremony moved along nicely. All winners were presented with an elegant, engraved glass mug.

Thank you, Connecticut MG Club, for hosting a wonderful show in a beautiful, breezy location.

Braking Woes
by Iain Barker

May 1st, and spring was finally here in New England. With a weekend forecast above 60°F it was at last time to get my 1967 Mini Cooper S out of winter storage and attend to the usual servicing regime, which this year also included fixing an annoying problem with the brakes.

The Cooper S 1275 was unique amongst 1960s Minis in that it had an early-design Lockheed vacuum-assisted brake servo booster fitted for its 7.5” disc brakes. These servos use a cast-iron body with a rubber diaphragm and it is common for the seals to degrade over time, due to abrasion caused by rusting of the cast-iron bore.

Regular readers of my trials and tribulations will know that I had the original 1960s vintage brake servo professionally refurbished in 2020, and the bore sleeved with stainless steel. Although the servo now works well, the functioning booster highlighted a pre-existing problem — the brakes bind occasionally and do not release.

My short-term solution for the 2021 driving season was simple — disconnect and plug the vacuum hose between the inlet manifold and the servo, so that it provides no booster assistance and therefore pedal pressure is directly applied to the wheels. That calls for strong leg muscles and isn’t a fun driving experience. This was the reason I flat-towed my Mini to the British Motorcars in Bristol show last summer. The brakes are fine for driving around the neighborhood, but not on the highway, so a fix is definitely required.

Although the original AP/Lockheed boosters are long out of production, the 1965-69 Alfa Romeo 105 Giulia uses a Bendix servo of the same design, but with an aluminum cast body. The other main difference is that the British Lockheed unit has imperial threads, but Italian cars generally use metric 10mm threads for the brake lines.

So, I bought a brand-new Bendix brake servo from “Alfaholics UK” back in November, and also a bunch of 10mm-male-to-3/8”-female brake line adaptors from Amazon to convert the metric servo body to match the imperial threads of the Mini brake pipes. When I took the servo out of the box and tried the adaptors, the 10mm male adaptor would not thread into the body — but a 3/8-24 UNF tap ran down the threads — no problem using finger pressure. Very strange.

It turns out that even though it is an Italian car, the Alfa used a Girling brake system so it already has British imperial threads. In fact, they are the exact same size as the Lockheed brake servo used on the Mini. All I needed to do was chase the vacuum port threads to fit the new 5/8” non-return valve I purchased from a Canadian specialist, and it all bolted straight up to the existing lines. Even the mounting bolt pattern and orientation matched up exactly!

I did replace one of the two brake line fittings as that was deformed from being over-tightened by a previous owner. Evidently I am not the first person to have tried fixing the brakes on this car. It was no big deal to cut a small section off the pipe, re-form the bend, and create a new end using a hand flaring tool.

Anyway, after the usual hassles of bleeding air out of the hydraulic lines through a servo, it seemed to work just fine. At least the brakes would no longer bind on, which was the problem after the original servo was fully rebuilt. I’ll keep the genuine servo, of course — along with the growing pile of worn-out original parts — in case I or a future owner want to reinstate its originality. But for right now, I’d rather know I have a safe braking system even if it’s not 100% factory original (it is at least very close!).

With the brakes finally fixed and engine oil changed, I parked the Mini in its garage knowing it was all ready for the big trip down to British by the Sea car show in Connecticut at the start of June. Or so I thought…

When I drove the Mini out of the garage the day before BBTS, my intention was to just wipe the dust off, polish the chrome, and check the oil level and tyre pressures. But what greeted me — no brakes, again!

I managed to drive the half mile very slowly from the rented garage to my house using just the hand parking/emergency brake. I jacked up the car and looked below the engine bay. It was clear that there was a leak at the new flare I had made on the older pipe.

Looking very closely, I saw there was a small burr on the end of the pipe, no wider than a human hair but just enough to prevent it from sealing fully. Of course, I didn’t spot the problem right away — I spent two hours trying fruitlessly to bleed the brakes again.

Over the space of a week, that tiny gap was enough to drain out half a teaspoon of fluid — the resulting bubble of air found its way to the highest point in the servo and was enough to spoil the non-compressibility of the hydraulic fluid, so the brake pedal went straight to the floor. The solution was simple: file the burr off so that the flare could lap itself properly when tightened to fully seal the circuit, and bleed the whole system one more time.

With the panic over, I still had time to give the car a quick wipe-over with a polishing rag before locking up for the night, ready for the big drive the next day. Our Mini made it to the show with no problems and was even voted into 2nd place. Most importantly, the brakes behaved themselves for the 250-mile round trip — the furthest the car has been driven in the five years I have owned it.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — The Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM) holds a free monthly Cars & Coffee, and the season opener was held on May 14th.

I hadn’t attended Cars & Coffee in at least three years, but LAAM typically gets a large turnout with a wide variety of cars. The event listing said the gate opened at 8:30 a.m., and Betty and I arrived at 8 a.m. in my 1950 Morris Minor. We were directed to join a long line of cars that went down the main road and up a side street. Clearly there was a lot of pent-up demand for a car event on a beautiful spring day.

There were several British cars already waiting in line, and we waved to Wendy Birchmire as she drove past us in her latest acquisition, a 1993 Rover Mini Mayfair Special Edition.

At 8:20 the line started to move. The upper lawn was already half full when we parked. Ultimately, cars filled both lawns and the parking lot near the main Museum entrance.

Wendy parked in the first row on the lower lawn and benefitted from the morning shade. We saw two other classic Minis, both with NEMO stickers on their windows. One was a beautiful Austin Cooper S that I had never seen before.

Other classic British cars included a Sunbeam Alpine, a 1974 Jensen Interceptor, a Jaguar XK120, a Morgan Plus Four, a Triumph TR3A, an MGB and an MGB GT. Modern British cars included countless Lotus (that is the correct plural, though “Lotuses” or “Loti” seem more appropriate), a Caterham, a Morgan 3 Wheeler, an Aston Martin, and a Rolls-Royce.

Non-British cars were heavy on muscle and loud exhausts. BMWs were well represented, from 2002s to roadsters and SUVs. There were a few supercars, and the owners insisted on revving the engines to ear-splitting volume, though the appeal is lost on me.

My favorites among the non-British cars were a 1957 Alfa-Romeo Giulietta and a late production Trabant station wagon in pristine condition. The Trabant was built in East Germany and the body is made of Duroplast, a combination of recycled cotton waste and plastic resin.

Wendy’s new car is a Japanese domestic-market Mini with right-hand drive, air conditioning, a radio, and an automatic transmission. With all those luxury features, she says it still rides like a classic Mini! The car is painted red with a white roof, and has white bonnet stripes, lower door stripes and mirrors. White Minilite wheels just fit under the black wheel arches.

I visited the mystery Austin Cooper S several times, but the owner was nowhere to be found. Near the end of the event, I decided to wait by the car until the owner showed up. When he — Adam Blake — eventually appeared, I introduced myself and we had a long chat.

His car is a 1967 and he already knew about NEMO. Adam “met” Iain Barker through the Mini Mk1 forum, and later in person when he realized they lived nearby. Adam’s Mini wears a boot badge that reads “The Austin Motor Company, 737 Church St., Toronto,” which he believes is the dealer who originally sold the car. Adam told some great stories about the history of the car, which are detailed in the accompanying article.

The coffee has been upgraded considerably from the “Box of Joe” that was served several years ago. Now there is a barista making free expresso-based drinks to order. Tipping was encouraged and well deserved, as there was a neverending line.

Admission to the museum’s current exhibit “Masterpiece: Art and Design of Italian Automobiles” was also free. The main hall was filled with concours-level cars, including a 1936 Lancia Astura Pininfarina Cabriolet Bocca and a 1956 Ferrari 410 Superamerica Coupe. As the title of the exhibit suggests, all the cars on display are rolling artwork.

The LAAM Cars & Coffee events for June and July have been added to the NEMO calendar. Additional dates can be found at https://larzanderson.org/carscoffee/. The event was well worth the trip.

In the fall of 2021, after a search that took over a year, I was thrilled to finally close on the purchase of a 1967 Austin Cooper S. While no stranger to modern MINIs, I had never owned a classic Mini and immediately dug into learning as much as possible — both about Minis in general and my car specifically.

One of the first steps was a visit from fellow NEMO member Iain Barker, who has been tremendously helpful. In addition to learning about the mechanical aspects, I was especially interested in the story of my car, and spent hours trying to unearth as much history as possible. As a result of more than six months of work, I now have a pretty clear picture of my car’s history, including a previously unknown celebrity owner.

The car had low mileage when I bought it, but the precise mileage was unknown and there were some holes in the documentation. Trying to shed light on the mileage was an early focus of my research.

According to the British Heritage Certificate that came with the car it was originally delivered to Canada. I have some records from three previous owners who all lived in the Toronto area. After many on-line records requests and follow-up calls to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, I learned a special records request was necessary in order to access older records from microfiche. However, they warned me that the records only went back as far as 1985 so I didn’t expect to learn about the early owners.

Due to COVID disruptions, the request ended up taking over five months, but when the paperwork finally arrived there were several key breakthroughs.

The first was that I now had a record showing the car had been taken off the road as a daily driver with only 30,000 miles on it. A subsequent owner (a car collector with four Minis) got the car back on the road years later and reset the odometer. Since then, fewer than 24,000 miles have been added, so the vehicle really did travel less than 54,000 miles in the last 55 years. Unfortunately, I still didn’t know why this occurred.

The next breakthrough from the Ontario records came in the form of a 1985 transfer-of-ownership document, which was likely to be the furthest the records went back. Ontario didn’t have titles back then the registration was proof of ownership. On the back side of the transfer of ownership form was the previous owner’s last registration document from 1971. The name was fairly unique and I was able to find a phone number on the Internet.

Five minutes later I was on the phone with the second owner, who bought the car in 1970 for $1,500 CDN. He said that a family friend had gotten him excited about Minis by taking him for a very spirited drive in a Cooper. Upon turning 16, he bought a Cooper S as his first car.

Between excessive noise from a muffler upgrade and a lot of speeding, he was constantly being pulled over by the police. A minor accident that left a small dent in the rear quarter panel was enough to trigger an insurance rate increase, and he could no longer afford to keep the car on the road. He parked it in his mother’s garage, where it sat with just 30,000 miles on the odometer until 1985.

When the Mini was sold, the front end was locked up and the buyer had to drag the car out of the garage. It wasn’t until 1990 that the car was back on the road.

Inspired by these breakthroughs, I decided to take another crack at tracking down an elusive previous owner.

Despite hours and hours of Internet sleuthing, I hadn’t been able to contact the woman who bought the car in Canada and imported it to the United States in 2001. With some renewed focus I was finally able to reach her by text message and an interesting conversation ensued. She explained that she had not in fact been the true owner of the car, but instead it had been owned by her boss who bought the car not knowing how to drive a stick shift. She couldn’t reveal who her boss was.

Naturally that got me pretty curious so I dug back into my records and noticed a strange holding company mentioned on one of the importation documents. I looked up the owner, matched on-line housing records, and was able to determine the actual owner was actor Mike Myers!

He bought the car in his hometown of Toronto and brought it to New York, where he was living while making the Austin Powers movies. I shared my new knowledge with the faux owner and she happily confirmed I was correct. She was his personal assistant for over a decade and the car had been put in her name for secrecy. She also told me hilarious stories of trying to teach Mike how to drive stick on the car, which explained why the subsequent owner had to replace the clutch!

When I bought the Mini, I had no idea how much fun it would be to dig into the history of the car and the added enjoyment it would bring to the ownership experience. Although I plan to spend more time driving than researching now that driving season has arrived, I still find myself doing bits of research whenever I think of a new angle to pursue.

You never know what you might find!

WALTHAM, Mass. — The 4th Annual Gore Place Classic Car Show was sponsored by the Motorheads Car Club in conjunction with the Waltham Museum, and took place last September. Cars were parked on the lawn in the order they arrived and there was enough space for hundreds of vehicles. The weather was sunny and warm, resulting in a high turnout. The show was listed on the Arlington Classic Car Club (ACCC) Facebook page, and I looked forward to meeting a few members in person.

I drove my 1968 Mini Traveller and was accompanied by my wife Betty. We arrived at 8:30 a.m. as steam rose from the wet grass. There were already a large number of vehicles on the field. As the morning wore on, more and more kept arriving, well after the official public opening at 9 a.m.

Motorheads members favor classic muscle cars, hot rods and trucks. As expected, there were loads of muscle cars from the ’50s through the ’70s, plus some contemporary muscle cars and even a few supercars. Prewar and postwar classics were also present, as were a handful of foreign cars. The Motorheads website says, “We’ve never met a car we didn’t like,” and judging from the variety at the show that was definitely the case.

Two of the foreign cars were driven by regulars at the Goulds’ Microcar Event. Linda Abrams and Bill Turville arrived in Linda’s 1973 Citroën 2CV. Rob Robicheau brought a classic VW Beetle complete with period roof rack. The Microcar Event was cancelled for the past two years, so it was nice to catch up in person with these folks.

My favorite German car was a 1955 Mercedes 190SL. Grey with a red interior, it appeared to be original except for the modern car stereo mounted under the dash. The original radio was preserved and the owner of 40 years happily answered questions.

There were numerous unusual vehicles at the show, including several models I had never seen before. One of my favorites was a 1957 Willys Jeep FC-150 Forward Control. The FC-150 was built on the Jeep CJ wheelbase, but because of the cab-over-engine design, the truck could be much shorter. It looks like a larger version of a child’s toy truck. (I learned that CJ stands for Civilian Jeep.)

The 1973 Imperial LeBaron four-door sedan owned by ACCC member Alan Petrillo was truly impressive. The car was built by Chrysler, but in 1973 Imperial was still a separate brand. The Imperial is 253” long, weighs 5,000 lbs. and has a 440 cu. in. V8 engine. Alan told me the car barely fits in his one-car garage. No doubt the Imperial, with a 0-60 time of 11.8 seconds, cruises effortlessly and silently on the highway.

For the sake of comparison, a 1973 Mini 850 is 120” long, weighs 1360 lbs., has a 52 cu. in. engine (848cc), cruises with effort on a modern highway, is quite noisy, and has a 0-60 time of “eventually”!

Gore Place was the former corporate office of the Waltham Manufacturing Company, which built Metz automobiles. The first floor of the Gore Estate was used as a car showroom and car assembly was completed in two nearby buildings. There was a Metz vehicle reunion at the show featuring three Metz autos built between 1911 and 1915. The cars had acetylene headlights, wheels with wooden spokes, and were in various states of preservation. It was quite a surprise to see Brass Era cars at a muscle car show.

In addition to my Mini, there were only two other British cars in attendance: a 1962 Ford Anglia “Harry Potter car” owned by ACCC member John Soares, and a “Nasty Boy” Austin-Healey 3000 with a Chevy V8 under the bonnet. The Healey had huge fender flares, large wheels, and other embellishments which gave it a muscle car look.

Our friend Ellen Davidson met us a little before noon. Never having attended a car show before, she was amazed at the variety and sheer number of vehicles —hundreds lined up in long rows stretching the length of the huge field. We wandered the rows, remarking on the different vintages, modifications, and of course the size of the tailfins. At the end of the afternoon, Ellen told us she was happy to have experienced a cultural event so outside her normal activities.

The show was very family friendly, people were happy and interested in each other, the cars really told historical stories, and owners expressed a real sense of passion for their cars.

The 2022 Gore Place Classic Car Show will be held on September 25th. I am promoting the show to NEMO members as well as other British car clubs. It would be fun to have a “Mini” British invasion. Registration opens at 7 a.m. and the public is admitted at 9 a.m. I recommend arriving by 8 a.m. to avoid the line at the gate.

MAYNARD, Mass., Sept. 19 — Three NEMO members and two other British car owners attended a free multi-marque car show held at Maynard Motors, located on Rt. 117 just west of Rt. 27. The event was one mile from Erikson’s Ice Cream, one of the best homemade ice cream shops in this part of the state.

I always enjoy multi-marque events, and this show had quite a variety. Due to the abbreviated season this year, I was happy to attend any car event.

Of course, there were lots of American muscle cars from the ’50s through the ’70s. For fans of huge chrome bumpers and tailfins, there were plenty of both, including a variety of Chevy Bel Air body styles.

Prewar cars included a Ford Model A, Ford Deluxe Coupe, and a mid-1930s Plymouth coupe, all of which were in beautiful condition. A Korean War-era U.S. Army Jeep and ambulance were parked together.

Bob Brownell’s 1963 Austin Mini was dwarfed by a bright green Ford Model A rumble seat convertible. The Ford’s “giant” 21-inch yellow-spoked wire wheels appeared even larger next to the Mini’s 10-inch wheels. The Model A has a 3286cc 4-cylinder engine producing 40hp, and the car weighs in at about 2,300 lbs. In comparison, the Mini has an 848cc engine producing 34hp and weighs 1290 lbs.

Iain and Nuala Barker’s 1967 Morris Mini Cooper S was parked diagonally across from Bob’s car, next to a prewar purple hot rod pickup truck. I arrived later and parked my 1968 Mini Traveller up front between two American muscle cars.

A modern Morgan 3-Wheeler was parked next to a beautiful late ’50s Chevy Delray Coupe. A really clean Austin-Healey I had not seen before was parked at the rear of the lot.

As regular readers of NEMO Newsbeat know, I am drawn to unusual cars, and every show has at least one rarity. There was a 1964 Studebaker Daytona Wagonaire (station wagon) parked two cars over from the Barkers’ Mini. The Wagonaire has a retractable sliding rear roof section over the “wayback,” allowing the vehicle to carry items that would otherwise be too tall for a conventional station wagon. There is a tie-down bar in back and no third-row seat. The owner told me his car was marketed as a contractor vehicle.

The Studebaker’s roof design was the invention of industrial designer Brooks Stevens. He also designed the original Jeep Wagoneer, which when introduced in 1963 was described as a station wagon body style. There is definitely a family resemblance between the two vehicles.

When the show started winding down, the three Minis paraded to Erikson’s Ice Cream and parked in a line. Erikson’s season was almost over, but there was still a decent selection of flavors.

For future reference, a small dish is two good-sized scoops. I am partial to the Black Raspberry.

The next Maynard Motors Car Show is June 18, 2022. I have a family wedding to attend that weekend, but hopefully others can make it.

HOLLISTON, Mass. — The Holliston Historical Society Father’s Day Car Show & Pancake Breakfast took place on October 3, 2021. The show was postponed from June (Father’s Day) and was cancelled in 2020, so it was great to attend the event at last.

There is no admission charge, with income from the Breakfast serving as a fundraiser for the Historical Society. We had good weather, the Breakfast was tasty, the turnout was great, and there was a nice mix of cars and trucks. I drove my 1963 Austin Mini Super Deluxe, which has its original 850cc engine.

My pick of the show was a rare 1962 MGA MkII 1600 Deluxe. This car had a gorgeous restoration with a perfect paint job and interior. It was one of 290 roadsters built using leftover parts from when the MGA Twin Cam was discontinued: close ratio gearbox, four-wheel disk brakes, quick ratio steering, and knock-off solid disk wheels. With a 90hp, 1622 cc pushrod engine, the Deluxe was much more reliable than the Twin Cam model.

Other British cars included a unique Devin-bodied 1958 MGA with a performance-built MGB engine (I later saw that it sold on “Bring a Trailer” in November), a 1971 MG Midget in excellent condition, a Triumph TR3, an Austin-Healey 100-6, and a Lotus with a Mazda twin cam engine.

My favorite non-British cars included a rare 1937 Mack Junior 1/2-ton pickup (Mack Truck’s last attempt to get into the small truck market), a nicely restored 1934 Ford stake body 1.5-ton truck, a 1955 Chevy Cameo slab-side luxury pickup (unusual for its time), and a 1960 Dodge Polara powered by a big, original V8 with cross ram dual quad intake.

From a fun perspective, there was a Bellingham, Mass., liveried 1957 Dodge Custom Royal Police Car. It was complete with antenna, lights, working siren and “Car 54” license plates.

See all the photos from the show in the Gallery.

The show was a friendly, low-key get-together for a good cause. I plan to attend again in 2022.

[Contrib. Ed. note: The Dodge Polara attended the Wheels of Wellesley show immediately following the Holliston event. The Wellesley show was covered in the December 2021 newsletter. —DS]

CHEPACHET, R.I. — Thirteen folks gathered at Mr. Z’s in Chepachet at 12 noon on Sunday, December 5th, for a Holiday lunch — our “December Dine.”

Thanks to Dave Black, the restaurant had set up a long table for us in the lounge. In attendance were Dave Black, Jean and Dave Icaza, Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild, Jon Gardner, Lorine and Derick Karabec, Barbara and Dave Newman, Anne Wellington, Dianne Izzo and Chris Izzo.

Anne brought along some Mini models from Paul Gingris’ estate that she wanted to give to the group. To distribute them fairly, everyone put their names in a box. Then we drew names and folks choose what they wanted. (No “Yankee Swap” was allowed!) Almost everyone went home with something. Thanks, Anne!

Our waitress was friendly and efficient and we actually stopped chatting long enough to give her our lunch orders. The food was good and the portions were large. And it was so wonderful to see everyone and get a chance to catch up! But at mid-afternoon it was time to say goodbye.

Depending on what the COVID situation is in a few months, we will look into scheduling our Planning Meeting in the spring.

The website for Mini Meet East 2022 is now live. Either www.minimeeteast2022.com or https://mini meeteast.regfox.com/2022 will get you to the right place. The event dates takes place July 1-4 in Dayton/Fairborn, Ohio, and the MME 2002 Committee has a full calendar of events planned.

Information on how to book your hotel room is in the Hotel Section and our group rate is available if you want to arrive a few days early or stay a few days after. Some events are limited in capacity, so don’t wait too long to register as you may be closed out of them.

MME 2022 is open to classic and new Minis, so please be sure you pass this information along to friends and fellow club members. If you have questions, please send an email to info@minimeeteast2022.com and they’ll get back to you — usually within a few hours.

WELLESLEY, Mass., Oct. 3 — Six British cars joined muscle cars, classic cars, hot rods, antique trucks and other vehicles at the eighth annual “Wheels of Wellesley” car show.

The event was sponsored by the Modifiers Car Club in conjunction with the Wellesley Celebrations Committee. At 10:45 a.m. the Wellesley Police closed Central Street (Rt. 135) between Weston Road and Crest Road. Vehicles angle-parked along the westbound side of Central Street and parallel-parked along the eastbound side.

The car show hours were from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., which overlapped the 53rd Wellesley Veterans Parade. The Parade ran west on Rt. 135 and ended when it reached the car show.

When I arrived, Iain and Nuala Barker’s 1967 Mini Cooper S was parallel-parked behind Rudy Koehle’s 1980 MGB. A space was available in front of the MGB, so I parked my 1968 Mini Traveller without waiting to be directed by the show organizers.

A few minutes later, Gary and Meryl Hampton, along with Monroe the dog, arrived in their 1960 TR3A. They were stranded on the opposite side of the street amongst American muscle cars. Since four LBCs easily fit in three parking spaces, we each rolled back a few feet so the TR3A could join us. People were quite amused when I put my car in neutral and simply pushed it. Nuala was in dog heaven with Monroe in our little group, and she asked to pet the many dogs that walked by.

The other British cars were mixed in with American cars. Nels Anderson arrived early and angle-parked his 1953 MG TD near the beginning of the show cars. The sixth British car I counted was a 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 owned by Jerry Payton that I had seen before.

Many parade spectators and participants came down to see the car show. The British cars were a big hit even with muscle car fans and owners. We fielded lots of questions and the usual jokes about how small the Minis are.

It was nice to meet NEMO member Wendy McGoldrick in person. Wendy joined NEMO after seeing four classic Minis on the fall 2020 Mass Modifiers Kimball’s Ice Cream Drive. She attended the virtual NEMO annual meeting in May and said she wanted to buy a classic Mini. Wendy’s husband had his GTO at the Wellesley show and they both stopped by to say hello and talk Minis.

I always enjoy multi-marque shows due to the variety of vehicles. COVID and the demise of the Weston Center Car Show led me to explore several different multi-marque events this year. I would have attended more but had some conflicts.

While I appreciate muscle cars and hot rods, I generally focus on unique antique cars and trucks. The Wellesley show did not disappoint. My favorite car was Dave Larsen’s 1960 Dodge Polara D-500. This car was present at other 2021 multi-marque shows, and I previously reported on it in the October 2019 newsletter. The Polara is a standout in the realm of late 1950s space-age styling, and it’s a muscle car to boot.

My second favorite car was a white 1957 Ford T-Bird. Except for the wire wheels, this car was a ringer for the white T-Bird driven by Suzanne Somers in the movie American Graffiti. This is the vintage T-Bird I have always coveted, and the car was for sale at a “reasonable” price. Sadly, my wife would not have been happy (though if I said it was her birthday present...?).

Other notable cars included a 1936 Ford Phaeton with a racing greyhound hood ornament, a 1975 VW Kombi Van with a split flip-open front windshield, a DeSoto Fireflite, a 1929 Cadillac convertible, and a VW Beetle rat rod with a “swamp cooler” mounted on the passenger side window.

Trucks were also well represented. An antique fire engine collector from Framingham brought three fire engines and invited people to sit in one them, a 1930 Maxim. He has a small firehouse in his backyard.

A 1945 Dodge tank truck outfitted with a sound system played oldies music all day. This truck is a regular at local parades. Of course, there were numerous classic pickup trucks, too, some of which had received the hot rod treatment.

Restaurants and stores along Central Street were open, and a food truck selling seafood was parked in the middle of the car show. This was an event well worth attending. I will be sure to list it in the NEMO calendar next year.

Perfect! That is the only way to describe the weather at the British Invasion in Stowe, Vt., on Saturday, September 11th. The sky was bright with hardly a cloud, the temperature hovered around 70° and a light breeze allowed the myriad of British flags to flutter.

This was the 30th anniversary weekend of the largest British lifestyle event in the eastern USA. This year’s show had 450 entries and 67 People’s Choice competition classes. In prior years, there were 550 to 650 cars, but the pandemic prevented Canadians and others from attending.

There was a vast array of vendors of all things British on one side of the field. The other side of the field was filled with food vendors with a variety of offerings from a raw bar to Mediterranean cuisine. There was also a Queen’s Court with beverages, food, and a tent to sit under. All this and lively British music playing through speakers throughout the field made for a great day!

The event coordinator worked with the town of Stowe to tap into a fire hydrant for a water supply. This enabled them to bring a bathroom trailer and flush toilets to the show field — a nice touch that I know people appreciated.

After registration packet pickup on Friday, a variety of activities were available: a Vermont self-guided driving tour (complete with a one-hour suggested route), a registrants’ reception, and a Stowe Village street party. Saturday included the Concours d’Elegance, the Ladies Hat Competition, British Costume Competition (winner chosen by an incognito, roving judge), the British Classic Motorcar Show and the awards ceremony. Sunday also had a variety of activities: the Smuggler’s Notch Driving Tour, the Competition of Colors (cars are grouped by their color, not by their marque), tailgate picnic presentations, and a rolling review of the 1st-place winners from the day before.

On Saturday, when I drove our little Union Jack Mini onto the field, I was pleased to see there were eight other classics: Dave Icaza’s 1969 Austin Mini Countryman, Neil and Kate Wright’s 1967 Austin Mini Cooper S, Gregg and Rhonda Betcher’s 1993 Rover Mini, Chris Parry’s 1972 Austin Mini saloon, Steve and Bill Rule’s “Rover Mini Rolls-Royce,” Corey Plummer’s Innocenti Mini Cooper 1300, Jason Witter’s 1977 Mini 850, and Jean Landry’s 1964 Austin Mini Countryman. In the next class there were eight shining, modern MINIs.

The Rover Mini Rolls definitely fits into the unusual category, though it was not registered as a variant. According to the owners, the car started life as a Rover Mini and was exported to Japan. Subsequently it was imported to New Zealand where it was “Rollerized.” From there the car made its way to Los Angeles, then South Carolina, and eventually New Hampshire. In 2009, the Mini Rolls appeared in the Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival.

It wasn’t until later in the day when I wandered over to the Concours and saw Gary Daniels’ stunning 1967 Mini Cooper S Rallye Monte Carlo replica. Hopefully, the drone that was flying overhead will provide some pictures to share on-line.

[Note: Check out the NEMO Gallery. It has several photos of the cars mentioned in this article.]

The Mini awards were near the end of the presentation, and it was nice to see that plenty of people stuck around to cheer and applaud. Michael Gaetano, the British Invasion organizer, had requested that attendees stay after their class had been awarded to add to the “celebration of the other winners with some well-deserved encouragement and applause.” People took this to heart and I felt supported when my car earned 1st in class.

Along with my attractive winner’s plaque was a letter congratulating me on my 1st-place win and inviting me, along with the other class winners, to a showing on Sunday when the winners would have a chance to show off their cars again and share some of the history of their vehicle.

I was sorry that I was unable to stay for that. Maybe next year my schedule will allow it. After all, Minis will be one of the featured marques in 2022.

The club has recently been given a number of items from Paul Gingras’ estate. Paul was an early supporter and contributor to the NEMO Hrach Fund, so we thought it would be appropriate to auction them off with the proceeds going to the Fund.

Randy Koehler also sent us a stack of Mini Magazines that we have added to the list as well.

The items can be seen in the photos and are listed here: two Falken tires, 165/70R10 two chrome bumpers, new one Moto-Lita steering wheel, used one stained glass MINI created by Ken Lemoine one front panel marked ALA7619 and 24 issues of Mini Magazine from 2001 and 2002.

If you are interested in any of these items, e-mail Faith at faithlamprey@gmail.com with the item and your bid. There will be a link to the item list on the Home page of the club website, nemomini.org, noting the highest bid received for each item.

If you have an interest or send in a bid, check the website often. You can submit another bid if someone has outbid you.

Bidding will close on November 30th at midnight. The names of the winners will be posted on the item list on the website and you can contact Dave Black to arrange pickup.

In lieu of a Holiday Party this year, a number of members suggested simply meeting at a restaurant for dinner. No pre-ordered meal (you can order what you want from the menu) or planned activities (Yankee Swap, Costume Contest, etc.) — just a casual social gathering to help us stay in touch.

The restaurant that was suggested was Mr. Z’s by the Lake at 2400 Putnam Pike (Rt. 44) in Chepachet, R.I. Plans are to meet there at noon on Sunday, December 5th, at noon. Please e-mail me at faithlamprey@gmail.com so we have some idea of how many to expect.

In January 2020, Alan Roseman, President of British Motorcars of New England (BMCNE), volunteered to host the British Motorcar Festival in Bristol, R.I., after organizer Michael Gaetano decided not to hold it again. Little did they know that the COVID-19 pandemic was about to scupper those plans. The show was inevitably postponed until 2021.

This year’s show was therefore eagerly anticipated by all in the local British classic car community. Sadly, the sudden death of Alan in May 2021 left a huge void for BMCNE to fill, with no guidance for how to host a show of this scale. Despite those setbacks I’m glad to say that the 2021 show, renamed “British Motorcars in Bristol,” was a huge success, and was a credit to all those who worked tirelessly to plan and run the event.

The Bristol show is actually a two-day event, with Friday consisting of a driving tour, a parade through the town, and a street party open to the public. Saturday is car show day, and for us was the main focus of the weekend’s festivities.

Regional car shows such as this are the life-blood of the New England classic car community, and my 9-year-old daughter Nuala and I make it a point to overnight in a hotel so that we can make the most of the weekend away. We submitted our show registration and booked a hotel for Saturday night months in advance. Fate caused us to change our plans with the forecast arrival of Hurricane Henri.

A further problem surfaced in the week prior to the show, when the recently rebuilt brake servo on our 1967 Mk1 Morris Mini Cooper S decided to misbehave. The brakes worked fine during the annual Massachusetts safety inspection but would refuse to release. Driving the 160-mile round-trip to Bristol was not guaranteed to be smooth motoring.

As the hurricane was not due to make landfall in Rhode Island until Sunday afternoon, we were determined to make it to the show ground “come hell or high water,” so we decided instead to make it a day trip, driving there and back on Saturday, and to flat tow the 1967 Mini behind my 2015 MINI. With the classic Mini pretty much un-drivable we would have a guaranteed means to get home ahead of the coming storm.

We arrived at Colt State Park around 9 a.m. to a gloriously clear Saturday morning. The forecast was to remain clear all day, providing ideal conditions for owners to show off their prized classic British cars in all their splendor. It was somewhat humid due to the incoming low pressure weather front.

Bristol is an all-marques show, open to any car of British manufacture. MGs were by far predominant, then Triumph — with a handful of Spitfires, TRs from 3 through 8. There were prestige classes for Astons, Rolls, Bentleys, etc. Throw in a mix of classic Minis, Land Rovers, Lotus, Jaguars, and others, and there were 126 cars and two motorcycles on the show field.

I’m happy to report that the event was very well run. Check in at the main entrance was very smooth, and we were soon parked up in the class of what would become a total of 11 Minis.

With sunscreen applied and awnings erected for shade from the midsummer sun, everything was set for the event. In fact, the only complaint I heard during the whole day was when my daughter chastised me for not bringing her swimsuit! Colt State Park has a public beach area, ideal for cooling off in the sultry conditions. In the end, she went swimming fully clothed. At least it didn’t take too long to dry out afterwards in the scorching sunshine.

The 11 Mini models in attendance represented a good cross-section of the variants and 60-year heritage of our Little British Cars. It was good to see some new faces amongst familiar attendees this year. Notable Minis included David Baker’s two cars, a Willow Green 1989 Mini 1000 café racer-styled in Austin Mk1 trim and a red/black 1991 Mini 1000 works-styled in Morris Mk1 S trim with a 1293cc tuned engine.

Matt Jennison brought a red 1960 flat-roof Mk1 Austin Countryman with a 997 Cooper engine, Marion Condon an Island Blue 1987 Mk5 Mini 1000, Kahl Alrassi an orange 1971 Mk3 Morris Mini 1000 in Mk1 trim, and Derek Klegraefe a green 1967 with a fiberglass Clubman front and Yamaha R1 motorcycle engine.

Rounding out the field were Steve and Joyce Aoyama with their Union Jack 1972 customized Morris Traveller with Honda VTEC engine, Roger and Crystal Treadwell with their orange 1976 New Zealand Mini LE, Wendy Birchmire with her Union Jack 1973 Austin Mini 1000, and Tony Borges with his blue 1966 Mk1 Riley Elf.

My personal favorites were the 1960 Countryman and the two later-model retro-styled cars, these being the excellent handiwork of Matt and Dave of “Misfit Mutts Garage.” The duo recently displayed other Minis at Larz Anderson’s British Car Day.

The level of work in Steve’s VTEC conversion displays well and always attracts a crowd. Derek’s fitting of a motorcycle engine into a Mini is some next-level engineering. Steve and Derek are both talented fabricators, with many of the custom parts on their cars first 3D printed as a plastic base, then laid up in carbon fiber.

The official results for Class 35, Mini Early: Honorable mention, David Baker’s Willow Green car, 3rd place, Khal Alrassi, 2nd place, Matt Jennison, 1st place, Iain and Nuala Barker.

In non-Mini classes, the two Allard racecars of Axel and Hanko Rosenblad stood out, and are well beyond our budget. The spotless engine of Anthony Amato’s 1953 Jaguar XK120C, and Andrew Comparetto’s 1951 Jaguar XK120 carrying 1953 Monte Carlo rally plates, presented very well.

All said, it was an excellent first event for BMCNE, and everyone really enjoyed the break after so many long months of COVID isolation. The only minor glitch came during the award ceremony while calling out the results by car number instead of owner. It was a very minor problem in the grander scale of things.

Well done, BMCNE, and thank you!

The club has recently been given a number of items from Paul Gingras’ estate. Paul was an early supporter and contributor to the NEMO Hrach Fund, so we thought it would be appropriate to auction them off with the proceeds going to the Fund.

Randy Koehler also sent us a stack of Mini Magazines that we have added to the list as well.

The items can be seen in the photos and are listed here: two Falken tires, 165/70R10 two chrome bumpers, new one Moto-Lita steering wheel, used one stained glass MINI created by Ken Lemoine one front panel marked ALA7619 and 24 issues of Mini Magazine from 2001 and 2002.

If you are interested in any of these items, e-mail Faith at faithlamprey@gmail.com with the item and your bid. There will be a link to the item list on the Home page of the club website, nemomini.org, noting the highest bid received for each item.

If you have an interest or send in a bid, check the website often. You can submit another bid if someone has outbid you.

Bidding will close on November 30th at midnight. The names of the winners will be posted on the item list on the website and you can contact Dave Black to arrange pickup.

In lieu of a Holiday Party this year, a number of members suggested simply meeting at a restaurant for dinner. No pre-ordered meal (you can order what you want from the menu) or planned activities (Yankee Swap, Costume Contest, etc.) — just a casual social gathering to help us stay in touch.

The restaurant that was suggested was Mr. Z’s by the Lake at 2400 Putnam Pike (Rt. 44) in Chepachet, R.I. Plans are to meet there at noon on Sunday, December 5th, at noon. Please e-mail me at faithlamprey@gmail.com so we have some idea of how many to expect.

BROOKLINE, MASS., July 11 — The weather was partially sunny with comfortable temperatures for the 2021 edition of British Car Day at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM). Participant turnout was excellent, with cars filling the upper lawn and about two-thirds of the lower lawn.

Pre-registration on the Museum website closed two days before the event, but additional cars were admitted at the gate. As a COVID precaution, owners were asked not to arrive prior to 9 a.m., and cars were not parked as tightly as usual. It was clear that attendees were happy to return to some sense of normalcy.

I counted 11 classic Minis in attendance, with five I had never seen before. There were two modern MINIs, including a convertible in a factory shade of purple/blue that was a special color for that model.

NEMO members Iain and Nuala Barker, Wendy and Tom Birchmire, Dave and Barbara Newman, Alex Daly and Bob Brownell brought their classic Minis. Ken Lemoine drove his 1961 Jaguar XK150 and I drove my 1950 Morris Minor Tourer (the original weather forecast was for a hot day, and top down was a cooler option). We all parked on the upper lawn, with most Minis in the center.

I am happy to report the Jaguars were scattered this year, rather than claiming the only shady spot on the field. Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild brought their original-owner 1980 MGB and parked on the lower lawn. Bruce sported a Hawaiian shirt with B movie posters on it, a present from Faith. They are both big B movie fans!

We hadn’t seen the Newmans since the 2019 Holiday Party, but they were there at LAAM. Dave is a big fan of Jeremy Clarkson, whose TV shows include Top Gear, The Grand Tour, and the new Clarkson’s Farm (Diddly Squat Farm). Iain took the opportunity to deliver Dave’s retirement gift, a “This Smells Like My Bollocks” candle from Jeremy’s Diddly Squat Farm shop.

The Farm website describes the item as follows: “The unique and leathery scent of my car seat, blended with hints of oakmoss and earthy spices. A totally unique and bespoke scent, created for Jeremy. There is no other smell like this in the world.” Happy retirement, Dave! We expect a review of the candle.

Welcome to new members Tony Borges, Steve Borges, and Antonio Sapata. Tony brought a very nice 1966 Riley Elf, Steve a “hot rod” ERA turbo Mini, and Antonio a metallic red Mini saloon. They were parked directly behind Faith and Bruce and joined NEMO on the spot.

Two Minis on the upper lawn belonged to Matt and Dave of “Misfit Mutts Garage.” They own nine classics between them, and brought a 1968 Austin Mini pickup truck, and a beautiful light green 1989 saloon with significant upgrades. The truck’s passenger side inner fender was cut away to make room for a Honda engine and still retain a regular-style bonnet.

There were several rare cars at the show. My personal favorite was Bruce Male’s 1955 Bentley R-type Continental Fastback. The car has smooth flowing lines more reminiscent of Jaguar than Bentley. Only 208 were produced. Also present was an enormous 1928 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Tourer, which was quite a contrast to the Fastback.

The current Museum exhibit is entitled “Hidden Treasures” and features seldom-seen cars and trucks from New England collections.

There were several early pickup trucks in the exhibit, including a 1922 Ford Model T snowmobile. The snowmobile components were sold as a kit by Ford dealers through the late 1920s.

This was the first car show I attended since the 2019 season and it was great to see so many old friends. Let us hope that the Delta variant doesn’t force cancellation of late 2021 events.

Mini Countryman Wedding Car
by David Schwartz

In early May, a call went out on the NEMO Google group from bride-to-be Elizabeth Elliott:

“This might be a long shot, but do any NEMO members in or around Connecticut own a Union Jack Mini? My fiancé just moved to the U.S. from London, England, and I’m looking to track down a Union Jack Mini to use as our “getaway car” at our wedding this summer. Will pay to borrow it for a few hours and take a few photos with it! Please let me know if you have any leads, and thank you in advance.”

Jean and Brian Landry answered the call, offering the use of Jean’s 1964 Austin Mini Countryman with a Union Jack on the roof.

Elizabeth Elliott and Daniel Smith were married on July 4th in Manchester, Conn. Many thanks to the Landrys for loaning their car, and congratulations to the bride and groom.

There is a cottage industry in the U.K. for Morris Minor wedding cars, but this is the first I have heard of using a Mini. The back seat of a Mini has plenty of room for a wedding dress. Okay, perhaps with the front seat folded over...

HOLLISTON, Mass. — On June 27th, NEMO teamed up with the Boston Area MG Club (BAMG) for our first in-person event since the December 2019 Holiday Party — a visit to the Waushakum Live Steamers facility in Holliston. Ken Lemoine knows Jim Abrams, President of the Steamers, and arranged for a meet-up of British cars and miniature ride-on trains.

“Live steam” locomotives are scale models that operate the same way as full-size steam locomotives — a fire fueled by coal is used to boil water and make steam, which is then used to power the engine. Members of the Steamers also own models of diesel and electric locomotives.

The locomotives are capable of hauling cars carrying several people, with the engineer riding on the coal tender or a freight car. The Steamers maintain three gauges of outdoor track (3.5”, 4.75” and 7.25”) that wind through the woods, as well as a large maintenance facility complete with hydraulic lifts and turntables.

NEMO and BAMG members met in the parking lot of the Doubletree Hotel in Milford, Mass., for socializing and an impromptu car show before the short, scenic drive to Holliston. NEMO was well represented with 10 cars, 18 adults and 3 kids, and we welcomed new members the Rivera family and Linda and Ian Kabat. There were at least seven MGs and 11 BAMG members, including the Crawfords’ 1933 J2.

The day started off overcast, but it was warm and muggy, so I chose to drive my 1950 Morris Minor Tourer instead of my Morris Mini. Alec Issigonis designed both cars, and MG stands for Morris Garages, so I felt free to park with either club.

Iain Barker’s daughter Nuala had never ridden in a convertible and hitched a ride in my car. She truly enjoyed the full wind-in-her-hair experience as there are no windows for the back seat. We had to remind her to stay seated, as there are no seatbelts either.

Naturally the Minor’s odometer doesn’t work so it was impossible to follow Ken’s detailed directions. We got separated from the group at a traffic light and finally switched to my phone’s GPS. As the last car to arrive at the Steamers’ facility, we were greeted by a round of applause. Minis, MINIs and MGs intermingled in the shaded parking area, with a spot of respect set aside for the oldest cars, my Morris Minor and the MG J2.

It takes a while to build a head of steam, even in miniature locomotives, so Jim Abrams started us off with a tour of the maintenance area. There are lifts available for unloading locomotives from vehicles and staging trains on the track, plus a transfer table for moving equipment from the engine house to the steaming bays, where engines are readied for service. Their “main line” consists of 3,599 ft. of 7.25” gauge track that meanders through the forest and passes through a tunnel.

We spent a while watching a British outline locomotive belching steam as the owner tinkered with it. Sadly there was a stuck valve so the locomotive was out of service for the day. We were directed to the boarding area where a long diesel locomotive pulling five freight cars awaited. The engineer then spent the morning giving passengers rides through the woods around the main line.

We observed smaller-scale steam locomotives running on elevated track with an engineer riding side-saddle on the coal tender or a flatcar. Owners of the smaller trains did not offer rides to our group, which was fine as they could only handle one or two people.

At around 12:30 Ken announced that pizza had been ordered and it was time to motor over to the Exhibit ‘A’ Brewing Company in Framingham for lunch. My Morris Minor ended up leading a group of cars when we departed, and once again I parted ways with the written directions. We looped around through neighborhoods and came to a main road where Mike Crawford went flying by in the J2, at which point I happily relinquished the lead. In Ashland, cars started veering off in different directions and it was time to fire up the GPS again. At least we were not the last to arrive at Exhibit ‘A’!

To my amusement, everyone was carded at the entrance. Seating was outdoors in the Beer Garden as Exhibit ‘A’ has yet to re-open their indoor Taproom.

We were joined at lunch by Ken’s wife Helen and son Brett and Bob Brownell’s wife Kathy.

The staff at Exhibit ‘A’ was terrific and the beer was quite good. They even treated us to the pizza, which was from a local New York-style pizzeria. They feature food trucks, guest food vendors and live music Thursdays through Sundays.

Waushakum hosts events that are open to the general public. Their 51st Annual Meet is scheduled for Saturday, August 28th. See their website for the latest information: https://www.waushakumlivesteamers.org/events/.

ARLINGTON, MASS., May 9 — The Arlington Classic Car Club (ACCC) holds an annual parade every spring. I learned about it last year when Iain Barker wrote about it in the NEMO newsletter.

The ACCC is a Facebook group it’s been around since 2012. Membership is by invitation only. The standards are pretty low (“Do you like cool cars?”), so they let me join. Being an Arlington resident is not a requirement. In fact, some members don’t even live in Massachusetts. There are no dues, and members post a lot of fun (usually car-related) content.

The club has held several group drives and outings in 2021. For this one, it was a beautiful, breezy spring day and there was no rain in the forecast. My wife Betty and I were excited to get out of the house for the drive.

We arrived at St. Camillus Church, the parade meeting point, at 2:45 p.m. for the 3 p.m. start. We saw Rudy Koehle’s bright yellow MGB in the parking lot but were surprised there were no other cars.

Then a green-and-white VW Bus filled with kids pulled up. It was Gustavo, the parade organizer, who enthusiastically directed us to the other side of the Church. There we found many other cars and drivers, including Iain, his daughter Nuala, and their Mini KK.

A line of other British cars was parked up front. Gary and Meryl Hampton, along with their dog Monroe, were present with their TR3A. Monroe has his own Facebook account and is the ACCC member of the family. (We sometimes wonder if he owns the car, too, and just lets the humans drive it.)

There were 38 classic cars all told, including 11 British ones — two classic Minis, two Triumphs, two MGBs, an MGB GT, an MGC, a Ford Anglia, and two Catterham Sevens. Throw in the five Lotus-inspired Miatas and a total of 16 British(ish) cars attended.

French, Italian, German, Swedish and American cars were also well represented. Jon and Ginny Chomitz, core attendees of Goulds’ Microcar Classic, parked their 1971 Citroën ID20F station wagon next to the British car line.

My favorite American cars were a Dodge woodie wagon and an early ’60s Buick convertible complete with a “Kennedy for President” bumper sticker. There was even a 1962 Honda Cub motorcycle.

After a brief drivers’ meeting, we split into three groups with a leader for each group. Iain and Nuala waved goodbye — Iain wisely decided to skip the parade and do more gentle drives to break in his new engine.

My ’68 Mini Traveller was in the first group, led by Gustavo in his ’77 VW Bus. We wound through the steep hills of Arlington Heights, never getting above second gear, with some of the hills requiring first. We wondered how any car could negotiate those steep roads in the winter, but the mighty Mini took it all in stride.

Traffic stopped to let us pass and large groups of families greeted us from front lawns and sidewalks. Even the dogs were fascinated — several of them turning their heads from side to side as each car drove by — clearly fans of classic cars! We felt like celebrities as children and adults smiled, waved, clapped and pointed at every corner. Gustavo reported that the Facebook route map had over 800 hits. Clearly, the people of Arlington appreciate the parade!

The crowds thinned after we reached Pleasant Street, though there were still some people seated in lawn chairs along Mass Avenue, and we pleasantly surprised many residents who were going about their business outside.

Unfortunately, the VW Bus had to drop out due to mechanical difficulties partway through the course. The driver of a bright green VW Karmann Ghia convertible took the lead of our line.

The parade ended at Arlington High School. Participants gradually peeled off to go their separate ways. We were all invited to Gustavo’s house for a beer after the drive, but we opted to head for a friend’s house for an outdoor dinner.

It was an exhilarating ride. We hope to go again next year!

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” —Winston Churchill

With the Arlington Classic Car Club (ACCC) Mother’s Day cruise scheduled for May 9th, I set a goal for the previous weekend to get my Mini back on the road and ready to ‘run in’.

Installation of the engine and gearbox is most easily accomplished with the radiator and exhaust manifold pre-installed to the engine. On an Mk1 car, it’s almost impossible to fit them with the engine in position due to their proximity to the front subframe.

Lining up the engine mountings is always a ‘fun’ task on a Mini, because they are buried below the clutch housing on one side and the radiator on the other. However, there is a custom tool available that makes the job much easier by capturing the bolt head under a spring clip, allowing the bolt to be inserted blind when working underneath the car. A ‘shade tree mechanic’ version of this tool can be made up by bending the two center tines of a dinner fork.

After several seemingly endless weekends tinkering in the garage, I’m pleased to say that I successfully installed the rebuilt power unit in ‘Mini KK’. Initial startup shouldn’t present a problem, with the oil galleries pre-lubed. I squirted high-zinc 50-weight oil backwards into the oil pump, and forwards into the filter outlet.

I set the ignition timing very roughly by visually lining up the distributor rotor with points opening at #1 cylinder, and then cranked the key with the spark plugs out to build up oil pressure. Once a healthy 65 lbs. was registered on the gauge, and with no oil leaking out from anywhere obvious, it was time to go for startup.

Three, 2, 1… bang, bang! Two bursts of flame shot up out of the carburetors, then nothing.

With the law of averages, one would think if there are two possible outcomes for an event they should occur at roughly even frequency. I have rebuilt four engines in the last few years, and each time despite carefully assuring myself that #1 is on the compression stroke when setting the distributor timing, I’ve ended up with it being 180° out of phase. The pyrotechnic display was, unfortunately, not a new experience for me.

The remedy, however, was simple. Swap plug wires 2 with 3 and 1 with 4, which changes the firing order from 1-3-4-2 to 4-2-1-3.

Second turn of the key and… we have ignition. The engine burst into life!

I let it idle for a minute or so to check the oil pressure and look for leaks. For first startup I generally do not put coolant in the radiator, preferring to let it run dry to provide time for the shellac on the composite head gasket to seal.

I shut the engine off and let it cool. Happy that everything was behaving itself, I filled the system with distilled water plus a little water-wetter. I do not use coolant until the head gasket is completely sealed after a few miles of normal running in.

I re-positioned the distributor drive and spark plug leads to the correct timing, then ran the engine for 10 minutes at 2000rpm to get the engine fully up to temperature and let the flat tappet camshaft bed in. No leaks and nothing unexpected.

Before a test drive I needed to bleed the brake system, as I had replaced all the corroded lines while the engine was out of the car. The vacuum-assisted brake servo is still away being rebuilt. After some judicious bleeding of the system, there was sufficient unassisted pressure to drive safely.

Ready to go, I jumped in the driver’s seat, pushed the clutch down, and… oh, no. The gearstick wouldn’t move. The transmission was stuck in neutral, and regardless how much I heaved on the remote gearstick, the selectors wouldn’t budge. With a horrible, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I called it a day.

A week later, and one day before the ACCC cruise, my rage had subsided and it was time to try and resolve the problem. I put a shout-out on the Mk1 Mini Forum asking for ideas. One suggestion came from a classic Mini race engineer in Canada, Dermott Young, who suggested that the problem may be with the reverse gear selector shaft.

To cut a long story short, it’s possible to assemble the selector mechanism with a ‘detent pin’ in the wrong orientation. The net result is that the shaft locks up and the gearchange lever is unable to move left or right.

Fortunately, the detent can easily be freed up by removing a large bolt from behind the oil filter, disconnecting the remote gear linkage, and moving the levers into their correct location with a pair of vise grips. Certainly, much easier than pulling the whole power unit out again and taking the entire gearbox apart.

After spending an hour or so reassembling the linkage correctly, I drove the Mini gingerly out of the garage under its own power… and then the engine died. A definite “failure to proceed,” as Rolls-Royce would say. Hmm.

I restarted it, and went for a drive around the block, about half a mile in total. The engine stalled out two more times, and then started to run on just two cylinders. Was it ignition, fuel, or had something gone horribly wrong? Maybe it was a blown head gasket between two cylinders.

By pulling live spark plug leads off while the engine was idling, it was clear the #1 and #2 cylinders had decided that involvement in vehicular locomotion was not something they felt to be any of their business.

This was actually good news. The chances of two adjacent cylinders both failing completely due to something mechanical was unlikely even a Mini with a blown head gasket will still run with some partial compression, and a dropped valve will only affect one cylinder. The mild electrocution running up my arm told me that there was nothing wrong with either spark plug lead, and the plugs were brand new. Therefore, it must be carburation. The Cooper S has dual carbs, with one carb feeding cylinders 1 and 2, and the other feeding 3 and 4. My diagnosis made perfect sense.

With just three hours to go before the cruise, I cleaned out the carburetor float from nearly a year’s buildup of evaporated E90 fuel and drove the car another half mile round the block. Success! No more stalling. Although the gears were very stiff, they seemed to be working well.

Aside from a small fluid leak from the front driver’s side wheel well (it didn’t taste like brake fluid, so I decided it probably wasn’t important), we were ready to be off. At 2:30 p.m., Mini KK, my daughter Nuala and I drove the few miles to Arlington — and made the start line for the ACCC Mother’s Day parade.

Save the date and join us for a group drive, a most unusual steam train ride, and lunch at an outdoor brewpub. Our visit to the Waushakum Live Steamers in Holliston, Mass., will be a combined event with the Boston Area MG Club.

NEMO previously visited the Waushakum Live Steamers’ facility in July 2007 as part of Charles and Nancy Gould’s Microcar Classic weekend.

“Live steam” locomotives are scale models that operate the same way as full-size steam locomotives: a fire fueled by coal is used to boil water and make steam, which is then used to power the engine.

The locomotives are capable of hauling cars carrying several people with the engineer riding on the coal tender. The club maintains several gauges of outdoor track that wind through the woods. See the Steamers’ website, https://www.waushakumlivesteamers.org/, for photos and additional information.

Minis and MGs will meet at a convenient exit off Route 495 (either the Milford Rt. 109 Exit 48 or Upton/Hopkinton Exit 54) between 9 and 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 27th, with departure to the Steamers’ facility at 9:45 a.m. After the train rides, we will motor up to Framingham and go to either Jack’s Abby or Exhibit A for cold brews, food and good conversation.

Both brewpubs have outdoor seating. The event details are being finalized and will be supplied via e-mail.

And folks think old car nuts have an unusual hobby. Be sure to wear grubby clothes, as we will get covered in soot and ash.

Waushakum Live Steamers is located at 25 Arthur St. in Holliston. Hope to see you there.

The Annual meeting, held April 25th on Zoom, was attended by 14 people, including several new members.

Welcome to new member Wendy McGoldrick who attended the fall Mass Modifiers Kimball’s Ice Cream Drive in her husband’s GTO. There were four classic Minis on the Drive. Wendy was inspired to join NEMO and would like to buy a classic Mini.

Dani Baliani joined the meeting right at the end. He bought a 1989 Mini Mayfair from Hrach 23 years ago. The car needs new floors and is not safe to drive unless you are Fred Flintstone. Ken Lemoine provided Dani with a body shop recommendation.

Several members performed winter repairs, or had others do so. Bob Brownell is now an expert at replacing Mini front rubber cones as he installed another set to replace the defective first set. Wendy Birchmire spent $500 having mouse damage repaired to the wiring in her MINI convertible. A new warning light came on this week, so there may be more damage to deal with. Dave Black performed an engine rebuild on the Newman’s Mini Moke.

Dave Black gave a Treasurer’s report. The main expense was member subscriptions to British Marque. Ken Lemoine made a $250 donation from the Hrach fund to support the Smith children after the untimely death of their parents, Sam and Rachael. Sam was the proprietor of Brit Bits in New Hampshire and was known by many in the New England British car community.

The main order of business was an events discussion: cancelled, postponed, rescheduled. Several people are planning on attending the British Invasion in Stowe. NEMO was invited to participate in the Cape Cod British Car Club’s “Rallye Cape Cod,” a new event scheduled for July 24th. See the event calendar below.

We tried to gauge interest in a group drive or outing in June. About half the attendees were interested. Ken and I will explore group drive options in Metro West and beyond. Dave Black invited Wendy McGoldrick to join us in the GTO, which got a good laugh.

Removing the engine from my 1967 Mk1 Morris Mini Cooper S cleared the way for the long and ever-increasing to-do list, which I hoped to attempt on some milder winter evenings and weekends. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The newly built engine has been sitting next to the old one in my unheated rental garage since November, and there are already a few small areas of surface rust to be touched up. But by far the worst part is the bare alloy of the NOS water pump, which has completely whitened from oxidation of the aluminium.

I was reconsidering my choice to use the NOS pump anyway, as I don’t know the condition of the internal rubber seal after it sat on the shelf for so many years. The first job of spring cleaning was to fit a modern Mini Spares Evo pump, and give it a coat of satin black paint to stave off future corrosion.

The next job was the exhaust manifold. I heard it “blowing” when the old engine ran, and more importantly, the amount of exhaust entering the cabin meant that driving with the windows closed was not a viable proposition. Something was definitely amiss.

My Mini was still running an original 1960s-vintage manifold that was well past its best, and definitely hadn’t benefited from lots of short runs over the last few years. There was no chance for the collected water vapor to boil off, hence it rusted through from the inside out. After removing the front half of the exhaust system from the car, a stress crack near the original 1960s gas weld was quite evident, along with several pinholes and a larger 1/2” gash in the down-pipe. ‘Roached’ would be an appropriate description.

Unlike the cast iron manifold used on all other classic Minis, the Cooper models were fitted with unique ‘extractor’ headers formed from roller welding of two pressed steel halves and then gas welding on a tubular mild steel down-pipe. Originality is king, and I really didn’t want to replace the original style with something that didn’t look to be factory authentic. Original pressed steel headers for the S are of course long since extinct as new parts.

However, there was an alternative. The ADO16 series of BMC cars used the same A Series engine as the Mini, and the MG 1100/MG 1300 used a very similar pressed steel manifold to that of the Mk1 Cooper S. The main difference is that the MG headers do not have a downpipe welded on. The larger ADO16 engine bay allows a traditional slip joint to be used.

The Mini downpipe has a rather complex curve due to having to follow the route designed for the original 850cc engine’s ‘pea shooter’ exhaust. The Cooper downpipe is formed from tubing of twice the diameter and must clear the larger differential output flanges used on the S — definitely not something that would be easy for me to reproduce myself.

My solution was to buy a cheap tubular steel manifold, saw the down-pipe off and weld it to a more readily available MG 1100 pressed steel header purchased off eBay U.K. My inspiration for this act of barbarity was a photo I found of the Rubery Owen production line back in the mid-1960s showing that was exactly how Cooper S manifolds were originally fabricated! Rubery Owen has been producing steel components for the British motor industry since the 1920s, including the innovative Mini subframe.

A previous owner of my Mini had fitted a 10-row oil cooler similar to the MG Midget type. It was leaking from a stone puncture, so in 2018 I changed it for a new MOCAL 13-row cooler. I was never happy with how it fit behind the grille as it was very close to fouling on the edge of the distributor cap when the engine rocked back and forth.

The bottom lip of the Cooper S front panel is supposed to be folded flat, with two L-shaped brackets to support the taller 13-row cooler lower down in the aperture behind the grille. A previous owner fitted a standard Mini replacement front panel without that flat, and instead of using the proper brackets, just MIG-welded two flat plates to the edge of the lower lip. With this modification, the oil cooler mounting is too high up and too far back for the correct 13-row cooler to be used. That must be why they fitted the shorter 10-row oil cooler. One bodge on top of another.

So, my next job was to install the new 13-row oil cooler kit — but this time, do it properly. First, I had to get the grinder out and slice off the incorrect plates, then carefully dolly the lip back so that it is flat enough for the length of the cooler, and finally add a lick of body-coloured paint to tidy it up. With a bit of adjustment to the new brackets, a full-size oil cooler fits snugly into the re-profiled front panel lip. Fortunately, my less than professional attempts at panel beating are not visible.

Next there is the matter of engine and gearbox compatibility. Most MOWOG engines have a casting code, and the B8J5 code on the old engine block indicates it was manufactured by the second shift on 8th October 1965 —whereas my car was built on 7th April 1967, so clearly the engine was not original to the car. The ‘new’ S engine I built for my car has casting code A1B7 for the first shift, 1st February 1967. That’s a lot closer to the build date of my car, so I am calling it period-correct.

The gearboxes on these two engines are very different and are not directly interchangeable due to production modifications to the driveshaft couplings. The old gearbox is a 4-synchro unit from the mid-1970s, and has Quinton Hazell driveshaft yokes, whereas the ‘new’ gearbox I built is a 3-synchro unit using all correct 1967 specification parts, including Hardy Spicer output flanges on the driveshafts.

Hardy Spicer universal joints were originally introduced for production homologation of the 1966 Monte Carlo rally cars, and are somewhat of a ‘signature’ for the Cooper S. They are far stronger than the standard part, but also cost a lot more to manufacture. Curiously, the only other Mini that ever used them was the Automatic.

Swapping over the driveshaft couplings is straight- forward, as both use the same number of driveshaft splines. The original rubber gaiters were still supple and given the poor quality of modern synthetic rubber the gaiters will stay in place. I performed a liberal re-greasing, and another job was checked off the list.

The final task this month was to fabricate a new brake line to go around the front subframe, as the old line was corroded, and the end sheared off when I undid the union. I will also replace the flex-hoses with original black reinforced rubber type since I’ll have to bleed the front brake circuit again anyway.

That’s it for now. Next month, the engine should finally be in the car and fingers crossed, dare I say, actually running.

November, 2020

With the dearth of summer car shows and cruises due to the COVID-19 lockdown, it looked like the season was at an end by late September, just as public event restrictions in Massachusetts were starting to lift.

We had optimistically booked our 1967 Mk1 Morris Mini Cooper S 1275 into one final “calling all cars” local car show. An early and unpredicted 4” Halloween snowfall together with salting of the roads put a swift end to those plans. With no other events on the schedule, it was time to plan removal of the old engine and gearbox to make way for the many odd jobs needed prior to installing the freshly rebuilt unit in the spring.

With the cold temperatures of late October, this looked like little more than wishful thinking. But then we had an Indian summer, four straight days forecast for high 60s to low 70s. Perfect for working in the unheated lockup garage that I rent.

However, with Daylight Savings Time no longer in effect, and no electricity for lighting the garage, time would be of the essence. So it was that I set myself a challenge on a Saturday morning: How quickly could I remove a Mini engine? I was already running late due to some pre-arranged chores and didn’t start working until 11 a.m. My chances of getting the job done before the 4.30 p.m. sunset were low. But nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I spent the first hour stripping off ancillaries such as the starter motor, twin carburetors, manifolds, the dynamo/generator, the oil cooler and the distributor. After a lunch break, Hour Two was spent disconnecting the drivetrain at the differential, draining and disconnecting the cooling system, and after a short protest (easily remedied with a medium-size hammer), releasing the engine mounts.

This being a Cooper S, the last thing to remove was the vacuum brake servo/booster which bolts to the inner wing and blocks egress of the clutch housing. With that done and at least some of the brake fluid still inside the system rather than on the garage floor, it was time to winch the engine up on the picker and out of the car.

One lesson hard learned is that the speedometer cable on a Mini cannot be changed with the engine in situ unless you have either double-jointed wrists or a friendly trained octopus on hand. So, it’s always the last thing to be disconnected when the engine is hanging from the hoist, and the first to be connected when reinstalling the engine.

Engine out, actual working time 2 hours 32 minutes — a new personal best, and well over an hour left before sunset!

March 2021

The weather here in Massachusetts is still too cold to work on the Mini in an unheated garage. Spring is hopefully just around the corner, so I figured I should get started on the long to-do list.

The first job is to rebuild the brake servo. Generally, it works okay, but makes a strange whooping noise when the engine gets warm. Also, the brakes have a tendency to bind due to the servo air filter being bunged up.

To clean the air filter, I took the vacuum control valve cover off the brake servo and found that it was full of brake fluid. Evidently the seals on the pistons are past their best, so it’s probable the bores aren’t in great condition either.

I decided that rather than trying to fix it myself, it would be better to send the whole servo off to be rebuilt properly by an Mk1 Mini specialist in the U.K., the same company from which I purchased the crankshaft and flywheel assembly last year.

In the meantime, I made up a brake line adaptor to bypass the servo temporarily, so the brakes will at least be usable (with a little more pedal effort) for the 2021 driving season.

Next job, dealing with a leaky exhaust manifold and down-pipe.

[To be continued.]

We usually hold the NEMO Annual Meeting in March. It is a good time for socializing, event planning and club business. Once again, COVID has thrown a spanner in the works, so instead we will hold a Zoom meeting on Sunday, April 25th, at 7:30 p.m., and hope that “normal” events can resume by late summer or early fall.

Many spring and early summer car events have been postponed or cancelled. Last year numerous NEMO members participated in socially distanced drives organized by other groups. I would like to schedule a NEMO group drive and picnic for May or early June. We can discuss the details during the Zoom meeting.

A Zoom invitation was sent out in late March. Watch for a reminder this month. —David Schwartz

My introduction to railroad track maintenance vehicles was the Lionel #50 Section Gang Car. This small motorized unit was manufactured from 1954 through 1964. My father bought the gang car to supplement the Lionel train set he gave me in 1959. I was only two years, old so the trains were really for him. My father used to play Gomez Addams: the locomotive chased the gang car and vice versa. Lionel also produced the #68 Executive Inspection Car (modelled after a 1958 DeSoto station wagon), a handcar, and several other maintenance vehicles.

Handcars were used for railroad maintenance starting in the 1860s. Two operators manually pumped up and down on handles for propulsion. They fell out of use around 1920, replaced by motorized track cars. Basic track inspection vehicles (known as speeders) are completely open and powered by small engines. The earliest speeder was built in the 1890s.

By 1915, the Ford Model T had been converted to an inspection vehicle. Luxurious executive track cars followed, built by Buick, Cadillac, Packard and other companies. Modern car or truck-based maintenance vehicles have retractable flanged wheels, the idea being you drive the vehicle to a railroad crossing, lower the flanged wheels onto the tracks and away you go.

There is a community of hobbyists that collects, restores and operates inspection vehicles, with clubs arranging for track time. My friend George Contrada owns several track maintenance vehicles and once took me for a ride on his speeder at the Connecticut Trolley Museum. George’s speeder has a 5hp two-cycle engine, is completely open and lacks a reverse gear. Retractable handles are extended to pivot it around or lever it onto the tracks (shades of the Peel P50!).

George recently sent me a link to the Railroad Motorcar/Speeder Operators Facebook page that featured a photo of a classic Mini with flanged wheels. The Mini did not have regular wheels or tires and was sitting on the tracks. The Canadian National Railway (CN) once owned ten classic Minis adapted for riding the rails.

While searching the web for Mini track car information I came across several websites documenting Australian Railway Mokes. Mokes too were used as track inspection and maintenance vehicles. Of course, there were Moke variations due to track gauge differences across the country. The rail Mokes featured retractable flanged wheels that were lowered onto the track.

Several other Australian railroads also owned rail Mokes. The Tasmanian Government Railways (TasRail) purchased 16 to 26 Mokes between the late 1960s and late 1970s. TasRail Mokes had special rail wheels with tires that ran on the track and were backed by steel flanges. To accommodate the rail wheels, the Moke front end was modified by moving the shock-absorber mounting points inboard by about 2”, and the rear subframe was narrowed by 3 1/4”.

The rail wheels could not be used on roads. All four wheels had to be changed out for rail use, then changed back for road use. A jack channel was added in the middle of the Moke to raise the entire side at once. An experienced operator could change out all four wheels in eight minutes. Radial tires were used for their improved durability on the steel rails.

Some TasRail Mokes were fitted with steel canopies. Their bodies were painted yellow. Before driving on the tracks, the steering wheel was locked in the forward position.

The last reported sighting of a rail Moke was at the 2009 MiniFest in Tasmania. Several of the CN Minis are in private hands and have been restored. Since NEMO is now the authority on Mini variants, we should be prepared to help with class assignment if a Mini track car or rail Moke registers for Stowe’s British Invasion!

[References: Railroad Motorcar/Speeder Operators Facebook page, Moke Werx, “Railway Mokes” from The B.M.C. Experience, and The Section Car Pages: Mini Mokes.]

We usually hold the NEMO Annual Meeting in March. It is a good time for socializing, event planning and club business. Once again, COVID has thrown a spanner in the works, so instead we will hold a Zoom meeting on Sunday, April 25th, at 7:30 p.m. And we hope that “normal” events can resume by late summer or early fall.

Many New England spring and early summer car events have been postponed or cancelled. Last year numerous NEMO members participated in socially distanced drives organized by other groups. I would like to schedule a NEMO group drive and picnic for May or early June. We can discuss the details during the Zoom meeting. I will send out a Zoom invitation in late March and a reminder in April. —David Schwartz

The website for Mini Meet East 2021 in Dayton, Ohio, is minimeeteast.com (or https://minimeeteast.regfox.com/2021) and you can fully register on the site.

This year’s event will mark the Ohio Mini Owners’ 50th anniversary, and is shaping up as follows.

Friday, July 2 — Registration will be open in the afternoon for pre-registered participants to pick up their materials if they want. Drive ’n Dine at 7 p.m., for small groups (10-20) at local restaurants.

Saturday, July 3 — Registration opens in the morning, Group Tour to the Packard Museum, then to the British Transportation Museum, lunch (included), “Mixed-up Car Show” and outdoor tech sessions. Drive ’n Dine at dinnertime, for small groups (10-20) at local restaurants, and Young’s Jersey Dairy Ice Cream Run.

Sunday, July 4 — Kids’ activities (USAF), Concours, swap meet, Funkhana, RC races, rocker cover races, tech sessions (hotel parking lot). Box lunch from Jason’s Deli (included).

Monday, July 5 — Panoramic photo, tour/rally, then parking lot party at the hotel in the afternoon. Dinner at 6 p.m. (banquet, included) and Hot Wheels competition.

Please note this year’s event includes three meals as part of your registration. Looking forward to seeing you all in early July in Dayton. —MME2021 Committee

The joint Victoria and Vancouver Mini Meet West 2021 team has been monitoring the prospects for the Canada/USA border opening to non-essential travel, as well as the restrictions on public gatherings and event sizes, and the vaccination roll-outs.

Consequently, the Victoria and Vancouver Mini Meet 2021 team has made the hard decision to cancel MMW2021 in Victoria, B.C. We do not feel that we will be in a position to hold the event, given the increases we are seeing in cases and variants, border closures, and the slow process of vaccinations.

We do not make this decision lightly, but we realize that protecting the health of our Mini friends and their families, as well as our sponsors and partners, is a higher priority than holding the Meet.

In B.C., we will not see the majority of the province vaccinated until late in the year. There is no target date from the Health Authorities on when we may increase numbers for events. Currently we are not allowed any large events, especially one that would have 250 people and the general public attending.

What happens next?

The MMW2021 team will be closing the registration page and issuing refunds to the attendees. The fees paid will be returned as paid in Canadian currency through PayPal (minus the PayPal fees, which PayPal keeps) in the next few weeks. Please note that with currency fluctuations between the Canadian and U.S. dollars, the USD refund amount may vary slightly from when you registered. It will take some time to process all refunds, so please be patient.

The block booking for the host hotel is cancelled and all reservations within the block will be cancelled at the same time. Attendees do not need to call in. However, if you had made extended reservations or other reservations for accommodations or ferry reservations, you will have to cancel these yourself.

The Vancouver Mini Club and the Victoria Minis Car Club hope to host a Mini Meet West in the future so you can come and enjoy what B.C. has to offer. Thank you to everyone for your support and for your understanding.

Any questions, please e-mail Mike Smith at MMW2021.vic@gmail.com.

Thank you to our sponsors, Seven Mini Parts and Cedar Valley Alignment, for their support of MMW2021. Please continue to support our sponsors as they help keep your car running or complete your rebuild for next year’s MMW! —MMW2021 Organizing Committee

Announced February 15th: Due to COVID-19 individual state restrictions that remain unknown and vaccine status nationwide, the 2021 “MINI Takes the States” has been postponed until 2022.

No new 2022 date is available. MINI says the route may be changed to be more “geographically inclusive” also. —Dave Newman

On December 6th a small but enthusiastic group of NEMO members gathered on Zoom for a virtual Holiday Party. Clearly all of us have spent too much time on Zoom, as technical glitches were few. We sent out a list of Party activities ahead of time, and there was plenty of unstructured time to catch up with each other.

Attendees voted on the most festive outfit. Bill Gaudreau won with a Yoda theme. Nuala Barker dressed as an elf (not the Riley variety) and was the runner-up.

Several members reported on socially-distanced drives and car projects. Ken Lemoine has been making steady progress on his 1924 Model One Bay State sedan, a rare automobile built in Framingham, Mass.

Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild created a NEMO trivia quiz, which Iain Barker won. I put together a slide show with photos from the past year. Many of the photos previously appeared in the newsletter, though it was fun to see them full screen-size and in color.

As a special treat I included go-kart racing photos from Mini Meet East 1998. (Bruce forgot he gave me copies a few years back.) This took place at the Seekonk Speedway’s “slick” track, which was oiled so the karts would slide, spin and, if you were good at it, drift. The object soon became bumping Faith’s kart as opposed to winning a race, as the slideshow photo album at https://photos.app.goo.gl/rKhByGy2LuywoPHc8 will reveal. Feel free to add comments.

We invited everyone to share Mini memorabilia. Iain displayed a rally plate from the 1992 London-to-Brighton Mini Run, the event for which he hastily rebuilt an Mk3 Austin Mini 998. Details are in the June 2017 newsletter, which you can view at http://www.nemomini.org/nemo/nemoweb_archives.cfm.

I shared a Morris Mini Traveller “Wizardry at Work Again!”’ advertising brochure from the early 1960s.

Since we can’t hold an in-person Annual Meeting, we hope to hold another Zoom get-together in April. We should have a better handle on the event season by then.

June 11-12 — BMCNE’s British Motorcars in Bristol, Colt State Park, Bristol, R.I., www.bmcne.org.

June 18-19 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H., https://www.minisontop.org/.

June 18-20 — Mini Meet North, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Bowmanville, Ont., Canada, minimeetnorth@gmail.com.

July 3-5 — Mini Meet East, Dayton, Ohio, https://minimeeteast.regfox.com/2021.

July 17-25 — MINI Takes the States, https://www.minitakesthestates.com/.

August 29 — CT MG’s British by the Sea, Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford, Conn., www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html. Rescheduled from June 6th.

September 2-6 — Lime Rock Historic Festival 39, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn.

September 5 — Sunday in the Park Concours & Gathering of the Marques (part of the Lime Rock Historic Festival), http://limerock.com/labor-day-historics.

September 10-12 — British Invasion, Stowe, Vt., http://www.britishinvasion.com/.

September 17-19 — New England British Reliability Run, https://www.nebritishreliability.org/.

See the NEMO website, http://www.nemomini.org/nemo/nemoweb_events.cfm, for the latest information.

On October 31st, Cesar Chekijian posted the following message on the NEMO Facebook page, which NEMO’s Iain Barker copied to our Google group:

“It is ten years ago today when my brother, Hrach Chekijian, passed away. The BBC in a documentary called him ‘Mini Enthusiast Extraordinaire.’ Between 1970 and 2010, he owned over 50 Minis, drove coast-to-coast with a Moke, was involved in re-introducing the MINI with BMW, and in his last decade, sold several hundred new ones at Peabody MINI in Massachusetts.

“Over 700 people came to his wake, funeral and memorial, with a long procession of Minis from all over New England, New York and as far away as Ohio and Virginia. No doubt he has replicated it all in Mini Heaven by now!

“Anyone remember Hrach Chekijian?”

Remember Hrach? Who can forget him? For some of us he was our first contact with the world of Minis, and for others already involved with Minis the man to see for parts, advice, and Mini-oriented fun.

There’s a rumor that when the film that became the Mark Wahlberg/Charlize Theron version of The Italian Job was first being considered, the cars pulling the heist would be VW’s New Beetles. Hrach, the story goes, would simply not have that, and he lobbied and pulled whatever strings he had to make sure those cars would be MINIs — and Paramount Pictures had no choice but to go along.

Whether that’s just a tall tale we suppose we’ll never know, but it certainly goes along with Hrach’s larger-than-life persona and reputation worldwide as “Mr. Mini.” It is true that he counted rally legend Paddy Hopkirk among his friends, and that at a Mini Meet in Charlestown, S.C., he had to work his way through a crowd, all delighted to see him and to shake hands, to get to where the Meet’s welcome reception was taking place. He made it, but it took a while.

It was Hrach who gave NEMO, at the time just a fledgling group, the courage to host our first Mini Meet. This was in the Boston area in 1998, and it included a police-escorted parade of Minis down Commonwealth Avenue that took everyone in the city by surprise. Ask anyone who was privileged enough to participate what a wild ride that was and how amazing it was that Hrach pulled it off.

Privileged? We all were privileged to have had Hrach as our “Big Guy,” the President of our club, from its very beginning. At MINI of Peabody, he was the man who sold us our first MINI — and was nationally recognized as one of the top, if not the top, MINI salesmen around. The parties at his home in Watertown, Mass., were legend, the Mini-styled jewelry he crafted was exquisite, and if he took you for a ride in one of his cars it was… well, exhilarating.

Hrach, Mr. Mini. Remember him? Of course we do.

[Contrib. Ed. note: You can find the documentary and other videos by searching youtube.com for “Hrach Chekijian — BBC Profile.” —DS]

Classic Mini brake lamps are only 22” off the ground, which is pretty low. Replacing the standard bulbs with bright LEDs improves safety, though a driver in a large SUV or pickup may still not see you brake. A high-mount third brake light is the way to go.

However, most third-brake-light solutions in Minis mount the light on the rear parcel shelf. This is still only 36” up, which is lower than a modern sedan’s brake lights (40” on my Ford Focus), and several feet lower than a full-size SUV or pickup.

After some Internet searching, I found the Morimoto “5Stop Brake Light,” a universal third brake light. They’re designed with five 5W LEDs with a rated lumen (lm) output at 12V of 400lm in dim mode (running light) and 800lm in bright mode (brake light), with a 4-amp draw. The LEDs are enclosed in a machined aluminum waterproof casing. I bought mine from The Retrofit Source for $40. I decided to mount the light near the top of the rear window, at 45” for maximum visibility.

I removed the rear window and edge of the headliner to aid in fishing wires along the roof. The Mini roof has a cavity between the inner “skin” and the outer roof, which is where I planned to attach a custom bracket for the light. I made a cardboard template for the mounting bracket to get the size, dimensions, and angle correct before cutting any metal.

The Morimoto light comes with a bracket, but because of the angle of the roof and window I couldn’t make it work. The light has two threaded 5mm x .8 holes in the back, perfect for mounting to flat sheet metal. For the bracket I used 1/16” 304 stainless sheet that I bent on a sheet metal brake. However, a vise and rubber mallet can be effective in shaping a piece this small, especially if you use mild steel.

After cutting the cardboard template and adjusting the shape and angle, I transferred the shape to the sheet metal. I used a 4 1/2” grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut the stainless, and finished the edges and final shape on a belt sander. For a bit of style, I drilled “racer” holes in the bracket. I thought about bead blasting the stainless and painting it satin black, but ultimately decided to polish it.

Once I was satisfied with the fit and location, I carefully cut holes in the edge of the headliner to expose the area where I planned to install two 5mm x .8 Rivnuts (rivet nuts.) The roof cavity lends itself to using Rivnuts. It is deep enough to drill into without getting near the outer roof skin. Rivnuts are blind installed and provide a machine thread hole in sheet metal. Installation requires a Rivnut tool with the correct mandrel. There are numerous videos and graphics on-line if you are curious. McMaster-Carr sells the tool and nuts.

A pet peeve of mine is people always saying, “Ah, English cars have Lucas electrics, the Prince of Darkness, blah blah blah.” My experience is the electrics aren’t the problem, it’s the mechanic(s) who previously worked on the car! The first question to ask when you have an electrical problem in an old car is, “Did you check the ground?” But I digress.

The wiring is pretty simple in a Mini and there are multiple sources for wiring diagrams. The Haynes manual has them, and the Mini Forum has excellent redrawn wiring diagrams. I’ve used both. The most difficult thing is knowing the correct year of the car. The color of the wires is laid out in the BS-AU7 standard (Google it or see the Mini Forum.) The brake lights use a green wire with a purple stripe and grounds are always black. For the sake of the next owner of my car, I used the correct color wire to connect the high-mount light.

You can spend most of a night reading about the “best” way to connect wires. Crimp, solder, a combination of both, or the evil Scotch Lock (don’t use them!). My preferred method for splices is solder and adhesive-lined heat shrink.

The Morimoto light has three wires coming from it, black (ground), red (dim), and yellow (bright). I decided to extend the Morimoto wires by 4 feet so they would reach the Mini’s right-side brake light. I used nine-strand green/purple wire (rated for 5.75 amps) purchased from British Wiring in Pennsylvania. I spliced green/purple wire to the red and yellow wires to provide the ability to change the brightness. Obviously, black was used for the ground.

I pulled the wires through a PVC sleeve (also from British Wiring) to protect them in the roof cavity and rear pillar. At the Mini’s rear brake light, I spliced a female connector to the green/purple wire to allow switching between the two brightness levels. I soldered an eye to the black wire, insulated it with heat shrink, and attached it to a clean ground on the light casing. I connected male connectors to the other wires (green/purple) and labeled them with regard to their brightness.

In hindsight, I could have saved some time and just done the low setting, which is really bright. The high setting is super bright and not necessary for this application.

When you’re working by yourself it is difficult to check your brake lights. My method was to jam a block of wood between the driver’s seat and brake pedal. Once I was satisfied that everything worked correctly, it was time to reinstall the rear window.

I don’t profess to be an expert on Mini window installation, but I’ve put in a few and have a preferred method. First off, the rubber seals sold by most of the Mini suppliers are stiff and don’t last. I happened upon a supplier of Japanese Mini parts called Classic Minis Japan. The gentleman who owns it is David Ainley. He sells an excellent window seal and locking strip, plus a bunch of other cool bits that are made in Japan. (You can find him on Facebook or classicminisjapan.com.) The seal is very pliable and easy to work with, and the locking strip is much brighter.

The only tools I use are a soft rubber mallet, a plastic bicycle tire lever made by Pedro’s Bike Tools (this brand only, the tip is flat and smooth), a Lisle 48600 offset locking strip tool (much better than the type most Mini suppliers sell), and a tube of “water soluble personal lubricant” such as K-Y. Some say to use soapy water — but dishwashing soaps can contain salt, which you don’t want trapped anywhere near the steel window opening. Others say to use a string. This Japanese window gasket doesn’t require the string method and running the risk of cutting the seal.

If you’re using a seal from the U.K., soak it in warm water to make it pliable. If you’re using the Japanese seal, warming is unnecessary unless it’s really cold in your garage. Place the seal into the opening and gently tap it home with the rubber mallet.

Use a little of the lube in the window slot. Place the window in the opening and use the Pedro’s tire lever to work the edge of the seal gently over the window. Patience is important. Work a little at a time, with the goal of getting the window in without breaking the glass.

Once the seal covers the entire window edge, manipulate the window and seal to make sure it’s fully seated and centered. Determine which opening in the Lisle tool is closest to the shape of the locking strip. Lube the groove for the locking strip, start at the top in the middle, and gently push the locking strip into the groove with the tool. About halfway around you’ll get the hang of the tool and things will go smoothly.

Trim the locking strip a little long as they always seem to shrink. Remove the tool, and push the last bit in. I generally wait a few days to install the half-round stainless seam cover over the locking strip. Cleaning fingerprints from the window will probably take as long as the installation!

[Contrib. Ed. note: George owns a 1992 Mini 1275 carbureted saloon, the last version before single point fuel injection. —DS]

[Exec. Ed. note: Mention of any product in this article reflects the opinion of the writer and should not be construed as an endorsement of that product by this publication. (Standard disclaimer language.) —BV]

NATICK, Mass., Oct. 11 — The sky was a robin’s egg blue, the wind gentle and cool as we drove up to the Cole Recreation Center in Natick on Sunday morning. The parking lot was full. At first it was hard to tell which cars were there for the soccer practice and which for the drive, but as we looked closer we counted at least 40 classic cars and trucks of all vintages.

And of course, Minis. There were four classics and two modern MINIs in attendance, all owned by NEMO members. (Thanks to Paul Salnier for putting out the word on the Google group.)

We pulled our ’68 Mini Traveller in across from Bob Brownell’s green ’63 Austin Mini. Iain and Nuala Barker drove their green ’67 Mini Cooper S. Joe and Brenda Darrise brought a sweet red ’77 Mini 1000 with a British flag roof.

Wendy Birchmere drove her latest toy, a converted 2008 Red Bull MINI with built-in cooler compartments (the better to take your lunch leftovers in). Red Bull had converted 500 MINIs into rolling ads, removing the back seat, rear roof and trunk, and adding a giant can of Red Bull Energy Drink. Wendy’s car no longer has the giant can and looks a bit like a stubby pickup truck.

Completing the picture was Susan Read, who drove a Tardis blue MINI decorated with Doctor Who decals and little plastic ducks.

The drive was organized by a loose collection of folks in the suburbs west of Boston, and publicized through e-mails and website postings. Clearly, folks wanted to get out and drive on this beautiful fall day.

We especially admired the creamy white ’63 Studebaker Hawk, a red ’53 Ford F-100 pickup truck, and a souped-up red VW Karmann Ghia complete with red door handles and a red steering wheel. There were several hot rods and classic American cars from the ’30s through the ’60s, as well as muscle cars and pickup trucks.

After the requisite drivers’ meeting led by Marlene Custodio, we drove east to Natick Center and then north on Rt. 27 through Natick, Wayland and Sudbury. From there we turned west onto Rt. 117, passing farms, fields, and quaint little town centers, trying not to disturb the apples at Bolton Orchard. (Their sign says, “Shh, the apples are sleeping.”) We rode into Lancaster, turned right onto Rt. 70, and headed for Kimball Farm.

Our Mini Traveller navigated the twists and turns well, and only smelled of burning oil on the uphills. As usual, we enjoyed the smiles and waves of pedestrians, bicyclists and shoppers as we drove past. It’s always fun to see young children do a double take as they spy a classic Mini — a car that seems to be made just for them.

There was plenty of parking at Kimball’s and lots of appreciative looks for all of the cars as we parked in the lot. The grill did a brisk seafood business with car owners, as did the ice cream windows. The many outdoor tables made it easy for everyone to stay comfortably apart while enjoying the scene. It was nice to support a local, seasonal business.

On the way home we stopped at Derby Ridge Farm in Stow to pick raspberries and buy local produce. Parked next to an SUV, our Mini looked impossibly small.

Then we drove to the Sudbury Valley Trustees Memorial Forest in Sudbury. We took a long walk through the woods, crossing streams and enjoying the red and gold leaves. As we emerged from the trees, a young girl and her father were on the path in front of us. The girl caught sight of our little car and was delighted.

All in all, it was a lovely day, despite the smell of burning oil!

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — In conjunction with the Framingham Cultural District, there is an exhibition of scarecrows on the Framingham Common through November 1st. I was asked to create one for the Framingham History Center.

“Otto” has MG intake eyes, trim mustache, U-bolt legs and bumper over-rider knees, Fiamm horn ears, Autolite spark plug earrings, Model T horn mouth, brake hardware necklace, and power antenna arms.

NEMO traditionally holds a holiday party the first weekend in December. Obviously, we won’t be able to have an in-person party this year — and we are long overdue for another on-line gathering, so I will e-mail a Zoom invitation for Sunday, December 6th, at 7:30 p.m.

If you have any ideas for on-line “party” activities, please send me an e-mail at dschwartz1957@gmail.com. Ideas we have received so far are for a Festive Outfit Contest, Weird Auto Parts Scavenger Hunt, Virtual Yankee Swap, and a Trivia Quiz (with NEMO and Mini questions).

Geoff (a/k/a Grampy) and I bought a go-kart back in the early 1960s before our children were born. Together with a friend from Winchester, Mass., who raced cars with SCCA for many years, we raced go-karts with a club that met at Hanscom Field in Bedford. The club laid out a temporary course on Sundays with cone markers on the pavement in front of an airplane hangar. The kart had a McCulloch MC20 engine and was capable of going 60mph. (Quite a thrill while traveling only 3” above the ground!)

Geoff raced in the “larger adult men’s” class (Geoff calls it the fat man’s class). However, the organizers took pity on me and allowed me to race with the “juniors.” Their karts were less powerful than ours so I had an advantage on the straight sides of the oval course. The ends of the oval had S-turns that required me to slow down in order to avoid spinning out. It worked as quite an equalizer!

The kart had no clutch and no starter, so starting the engine required lifting the rear wheels and running forward to drop the wheels while the kart was moving forward — not an easy task.

In the mid-1960s, our interests turned to our antique house, gardening, horseback riding, and eventually, children. The go-kart was stored away in the garage and didn’t see the light of day for at least 50 years. Finally, this summer, our son Geoff took it home for restoration. The “engineer in charge” writes about the restoration below.

The kart used to be quite a thrill to race. With our son’s modifications it will only go 25-30mph as all four of his children (ages 6, 9, 11 and 14) are allowed to drive it — even 6-year-old Brielle, who is very cautious and drives at approximately “idling” speed.

The MC20 engine has been replaced with a snowblower engine (with muffler) to make it suitable for the kids (and grandparents) to drive in a neighborhood. It doesn’t go 60mph anymore, but it’s still exciting going 30 mph only 3” above the ground.

Our son Geoff lives in Dunstable, Mass. (just south of Nashua, N.H.). He planned and supervised the restoration, and his two older kids, Geoffrey (age 11) and Allison (age 14), did a great deal of the work. Fortunately, he lives on a quiet dead-end street with very patient and sympathetic neighbors who do not object to the kart on the few occasions when it is driven. Our daughter, Liz, lives in Chelmsford and is an enthusiastic “Auntie Liz”!

The new yellow-and-black paint job just happens to match the 2002 MINI Cooper S that Grampy Geoff now drives, and the 1967 Mini Cooper S, for which Dave Black rebuilt the engine and completed the restoration work (left unfinished by a local body shop).

We joked last weekend about having a big MINI (2002), a little Mini (1967), and a Mini-mini (kart, early 1960s)! —BN

The restoration

When my sister Liz and I were kids, we enjoyed trips to the family friend’s house where Dad had a couple cars stored — and the go-kart. It was fun climbing in the old cars, but the highlight was always sitting in the go-kart.

For some reason, this one was the closest to being something we could actually use. Cries of, “Can we take the go-kart home, please?” were always met with, “No, it goes too fast... it needs work... it is not a toy.” Truth was, we had so many other hobbies and activities, there just wasn’t room for one more.

The years went by and the kart moved to a new barn that our parents built after Liz and I moved away. More time flowed through the hourglass. Visits to Grammy’s house with my kids emulated our childhood visits, climbing in the old cars and ogling the go-kart. When they were old enough to realize they might be able drive such a toy, their cries rekindled our own. “Please, Dad, can we take the go-kart home and fix it up? Pleeeease?”

How could I deny my kids the same dreams of the go-kart as I’d had? And as a side benefit... I’d finally get to drive it!

So, during one visit to Grammy’s house, when my patient wife, Jen, was not present, we put the go-kart in the back of the minivan and the adventure began.

The first challenge was the engine. I knew the two-cycle MC20 was a beast, and it needed a jump start. I didn’t want the kart bombing down the road at 60mph in the neighborhood, and I was surely not push-starting it for everyone, especially with no one big enough to push start it for me!

So I started looking for a more reasonable engine. A few searches on Facebook Marketplace and I found an old 8hp Tecumseh M80 four-cycle snowblower engine for sale for $25. It was only 20 minutes away. What a cheap adventure this would be!

The clean-up and disassembly began right away. Allison (14) and Geoffrey IV (11) were ready for the challenge. With wrenches in hand, we removed the MC20, the fuel tank, chain and sprocket. Everything was going according to plan.

We needed a clutch and a carburetor for the snowblower engine. The exhaust was junk, too, and I thought it would be cool to replace it with a pipe-style muffler. The M80 has a large shaft, so the clutch required a larger chain and larger sprocket. After some research and handy on-line calculators, I determined the drive sprocket size so we would not exceed 22mph. Perfect.

Soon, though, Murphy’s Law caught up with us. The M80 is quite a bit larger than the MC20 and we would need a new motor mount. To replace the motor mount, we needed to remove the rear axle. All the bearings and collets were seized on the aluminum shaft. Back on-line to get a new shaft and bearings.

With the old shaft Sawzalled out, we were free to restore the frame. The kids had narrowed the colors down to black-and-green or black-and-yellow. The deciding factor was that yellow would be a tribute to Grampy’s Minis. Allison and Geoffrey went into the restoration with abandon — steel wool, sandpaper, painter’s tape, dropcloths and spray paint. Once the motor cowlings were removed and wheels disassembled, painting and polishing took center stage.

Delivery trucks cycled through the driveway. The parts continued to arrive and the project marched on (and the budget continued to melt down).

One factor continually amazed me throughout the restoration. Most of the old parts and features had not changed in 60 years! The same three-point bearing housings still fit the frame the sprocket hole pattern matched the old sprocket mount the shaft location on the motor mount lined up with the frame dimensions the shaft ends fit the wheels. It was a testament to the efficient design established two or three generations earlier.

The biggest challenge we had was the throttle cable. The new motor’s carburetor was in a different location than on the MC20, so we went to work with a replacement lawn mower throttle cable from Home Depot, my new angle-grinder, some steel bar and a 3D printer! (For the record, we already had the 3D printer. I did not buy it for this project.)

Finally, as we were installing the chain, the kart up on saw horses, my intermittently-observant son said, “It looks like the chain is going to hit the ground.”

Ugh. He was right. My calculations neglected to compare the drive sprocket radius with the wheel radius. Placing the almost complete kart on the ground for the first time, we had a fulcrum teetering on the sprocket. Back to the Internet, then a wait for the delivery truck. Much to my chagrin, the new sprocket gave a new top speed of 32mph.

We were ready for the moment of truth: Would the engine start? Full choke, one pump, two on the primer bulb. A hearty pull of the pull-start and... she turned over. It looked promising. A couple more pulls and she roared to life, flames escaping from the new exhaust. Brilliant! We were ecstatic!

The pride and joy shining from my kids’ faces as they took their first turns in the go-kart were memories to last us all a lifetime. A project, an adventure, the work, the waiting — the cost! — all resulted in this achievement. Not only did they have a go-kart, but they truly felt pride in restoring a relic that once carried Grammy and Grampy, one that Dad and Auntie Liz had only dreamed about. They made it real for all three generations.

The expression on their faces was priceless as Grampy and then Grammy were gingerly lowered into the driver’s seat by their adult children. The wind and the joy in their grandparents’ faces as they sped past the family down Swallow Lane was magical.

What a joy. What an adventure. What an experience. What a life. —GN

I was inspired to run this article after watching driving videos posted on Barbara Neiley’s Facebook page. Daughter Liz shot the video and commented, “My brother Geoff fixed up the old racing go-kart that Grammy Barbara used to race before we were born. So, what’s the best thing about it? Watching Grammy race it up and down the street 50 years later. Being 83 doesn’t stop her!

“Not to be outdone by Grammy, here comes Grampy! Being 85 doesn’t stop him, either. He has the smile of a little kid!”

Watching the videos put a huge smile on my face as well. Four generations of Neiley men are named Geoffrey, with NEMO’s Geoff (Grampy) being “Junior.” Grammy and Grampy are long-time NEMO members.

Part 5 — Clutch and flywheel

Well, we’re still under the COVID lockdown, but at least it means I have enough spare time to finish up this project.

The last major pieces required to complete the Cooper S engine build were a flywheel and clutch assembly. The gearbox casing I bought nearly two years ago came as a bare casting, so all the mechanical clutch linkage parts were missing. Finding the correct parts and rebuilding that assembly is the topic this month. It was also a good opportunity for more hands-on home schooling for my 7-year-old daughter, Nuala.

As with the previous installments, my focus was to use genuine original 1960s parts wherever possible. That’s partly because I want the finished engine to be as authentic as possible, but also because modern reproduction parts vary wildly in quality whereas “New Old Stock” (NOS) parts were, by definition, made in-period to the correct specification.

A good example of this problem is the clutch release bearing. The original design for the Mini clutch uses a thrust bearing designed to take load at right angles to its rotation — i.e., it’s designed to push against the face of the clutch spring.

The modern replacement clutch release bearings are a repurposed heavy-duty version of a regular bearing, and are a common failure point on A Series engines as they are not intended to provide lateral thrust. I had exactly this failure on a Mini in the 1990s, where the center portion of the bearing separated from the outer race and pushed into the flywheel. Not wanting to repeat that debacle, (driving a car home with no clutch is not a fun experience), I preferred to use a genuine thrust bearing.

But 50-plus-year-old original BMC bearings are impossibly hard to source! However, after a month or so of trawling the web I managed to locate a 1970s British Leyland version of the bearing from the British Car Company in Houston, Tex., still complete in its original waxed sheet packaging.

I’ve also been wary of the low-quality rubber used in some modern reproduction Mini parts, such as engine mounts — either too hard, resulting in harsh vibration, or too soft, resulting in short service life. I decided to try the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) route, as unlike many of the generic parts that tend to degrade within a year or less, rubber parts from Japan have a good reputation for longevity. David Ainley at Classic Minis Japan, Tokyo, is an exporter for JDM parts and was able to provide a pair of heavy-duty engine mounts. In spite of the fact that Tokyo is half a planet away from Boston, the parts arrived within two days.

The next major components to locate were a suitable flywheel and clutch assembly. Two clutch designs were used on Minis: “Verto” for the later A+ engines, and the retronym “pre-Verto” for the original A Series type. Both were manufactured by Automotive Products (AP) in the U.K., but the pre-Verto clutch spring diaphragms have been out of manufacture for the last few years due to AP scrapping the obsolete tooling in 2018. For a while it was impossible to get new clutch springs for older Minis. Fortunately, pattern tooling from the U.S. manufacturer Borg & Beck is now being used to supply new stock.

As with many engine components, the flywheel specification used on the Cooper S is improved compared to mainstream production cars. Standard Mini engines use a one-part solid cast iron flywheel, but the Cooper uses a cast flywheel mass with a separate high-grade SG steel used for the hub. This helps avoid the problems experienced during racing and rallying whereby flywheels “weld” themselves onto the crankshaft at high rpms.

Of course, such exotica are no longer available new — there are solid billet “race-spec” flywheels available from the Mini tuning companies to address the same problem, but at several hundred dollars they are well outside my budget. Besides, I’m trying to build to the original 1960s specification.

After much searching, I found a suitable S flywheel assembly on eBay U.K., but unfortunately it was listed for in-person pickup only. Weeks passed until I managed to find another — ironically from the same vendor (Min-e-bitz U.K.) where I had purchased the crankshaft. Why didn’t I think of that in the first place? Duh!

After a week or so, the flywheel arrived and fit perfectly on the S crank tail. In fact, it could even have been taken off the same engine as the crank, given the low numbers of such engines which are parted out for spares!

The flywheel had some heavy surface corrosion and looked more like someone used it as a boat anchor. Fortunately, it was not cracked, and importantly, the clutch friction surfaces were unaffected by the rust. I cleaned off the worst of the crusty metal flakes using a wire brush and chisel, then soaked the bare metal in a solution of CLR to remove most of the remaining surface rust.

Before fitting the flywheel to the crank, a new primary oil seal must be fitted to the transfer gear housing. This is another common failure point on Mini engines. Oil leaking onto the clutch is usually caused by cuts in the seal due to the splines of the primary transfer gear over which the seal has to slide during installation. On previous engine builds I have pressed the oil seal into the housing before installing it on the engine, and then used painter’s tape to cover the splines. But there is a bespoke service tool for this job, and it has the advantage that it can insert the seal with the transfer gear housing already fitted onto the engine.

So, always up for something new, I decided to purchase the proper tool for this build. Happily, I can report that it makes what was previously a very tedious and nerve-wracking process into a trivial task. Just slide the thin protective metal sheath over the primary gear splines, then use the second larger-circumference part of the tool to drive the oil seal over the sheath and into the housing. Rather than having to dolly around the edge of the seal to seat it, the tool makes use of the crankshaft bolt to push the seal home, and ensures it is dead parallel to the crank. Then simply remove both parts of the tool — job done.

I wish I had bought this tool many years ago. It could have saved countless hours on the dozen or more Mini engines that I’ve rebuilt.

The clutch release arm on a Mini works at a ratio of over 5:1, so any minor wear on the linkage quickly adds up and results in a “low” clutch pedal. To avoid this, I found a good used original clutch arm on eBay U.K., plus the previously mentioned NOS release bearing. The final assembly of the linkage was to be done using all new premium parts — clutch slave cylinder push rod, EN24T hardened steel flywheel keyway and plunger, clevis pins, and throw-out adjuster double nut — all from Mini Spares U.K.

I mentioned home-schooling for Nuala. Finding new and interesting ways to keep her engaged during the school closure has been a challenge — but since these clutch parts are all shiny new and clean, what better project could there be for a bored kid to take on?

So it was that we cleared a space on the rug and I presented her with a pile of Mini Spares bags, and a printed page from the workshop manual showing the whole assembly. Good luck! Well, it turns out that she is a natural. With just a little guidance she was able to completely assemble the clutch arm and its linkage, with the only help from me being cutting and bending the split pin ends.

With the new Borg & Beck clutch plate and spring fitted to the flywheel, main flywheel bolt torqued and its lock-tab set, Nuala bolted on the clutch cover “wok” (common U.K. nickname) assembly and the new engine mounts. The rebuilt engine and gearbox are now complete, ready for installation into the car.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — The Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM) cancelled all lawn and Cars & Coffee events for the 2020 season, so they came up with another use for the Great Lawn. I received an e-mail that LAAM would hold a “Wheels & Reels” night on July 11th at 8:30 p.m. They were selling 50 tickets to owners of classic cars from the 1970s or older.

They asked if I would prefer to see Grease, Le Mans 1971, Fast and Furious, or The Italian Job. The obvious answer from a Mini owner was The Italian Job, with its thrilling car chase scenes. Others clearly agreed since that movie was selected.

The next e-mail asked whether I would prefer the original 1969 version or the 2003 remake, and why. The original, of course! The original received 57% of the votes and the remake 43%.

I sent in the $25 fee, which allowed me to bring up to four guests. Quite a bargain given the going rate of movies.

I arrived at the Museum and was greeted by a staff member who verified that I brought the registered car. I was shown to a parking space and told that masks had to be worn everywhere on the grounds. Classic Minis were placed in spaces close to the screen. Restrooms were open for one person or family at a time, and plenty of hand sanitizer dispensers were available. The LAAM staff got it right when they planned this event!

After parking my 1973 Union Jack Mini 1000 I looked around for familiar faces. There was Iain Barker and his daughter Nuala, along with their Mk1 Cooper S. How nice to be able to chat with them.

There were two other Minis present, a Mk3 Mini 1000 and another Mk1 Cooper S. I quickly went over to check out the other cars. Everyone milled around, admired the cars, and chatted with friends and newly-made friends for almost an hour.

I couldn’t figure out where they were going to show the movie since there was no screen. Then a generator started and inflated a 40-ft. screen. I’ve seen lawn ornaments inflated like this, but never a huge screen. Luckily, the screen was anchored to the ground because the wind was blowing. This kept the temperature in the 70s and made for a perfect night to view an outdoor movie.

Many people chose to watch from inside their cars and the people next to me even donned a blanket. I didn’t feel it was cold, so my friend and I set up lawn chairs and sat outside. Since my Mini lacks a radio, we brought a boom box to hear the movie soundtrack. Although the sky looked threatening for the entire event, no rain fell.

At the appointed hour we were told to turn our radios to 89.5 to receive audio for the movie. After announcements and a thank you to the event’s sponsors, it was on to the movie.

The Italian Job has been called “the quintessential British caper film of the 1960s, featuring Michael Caine, and an infamous chase scene.” It was quite a scene, too, with Minis jumping off ramps, driving down stairs, screeching through narrow streets, etc. I was sorry when the movie ended.

It was enjoyable to be so nicely entertained outside. I hope they hold another Wheels & Reels night.

MAYNARD, Mass. — The Boston Area MG Club held a drive in late spring that started and ended at Erikson’s Ice Cream in Maynard.

Gerry Lodge led the group on a 70-minute back-roads tour through Acton, Carlisle, Concord, Sudbury and Maynard. There were at least 15 participants, including NEMO members Ken Lemoine and John Gallagher. Ken drove his Jaguar XK150 and John drove his MINI.

There was rain in the forecast, and the wipers in my Mini are sticking, so I borrowed Betty’s Miata (yes, a number of people called me out on that). People wore masks, and Erikson’s employees directed traffic in the take- out line and at the windows.

It was a fun drive, and the black raspberry ice cream was terrific.

Part 4 — Rebuilding a Cooper S cylinder head

With the “short engine” completed, and the COVID lockdown well into its second month, I figured I would turn this project it into a full engine build.

Original cylinder heads used for the Mk1 Mini Cooper S were rather notorious. They were engineered in low quantities for the knife-edge of “works” race/rally performance as opposed to reliability. Even in period, the manufacturing quality was quite variable.

The main problem with the original design was the excessively over-sized exhaust valves, which at 31mm were so large that they did not fit into the combustion chamber without the valve seat physically overlapping into the area of the (also oversized) 35mm inlet valve. The area between the two was machined so thin during manufacture that it easily overheated and burned through the iron casting, cracking from one side to the other and rendering the head unusable.

In 1969, Daniel Richmond of Downton Engineering redesigned the whole head assembly to improve reliability, increasing the head thickness to aid cooling and reducing the exhaust valve size slightly to 29mm. It may not seem like much, but that extra 2mm radically improved reliability — with the result that starting very soon afterwards BMC Service would retro-fit the new head design onto Mk1 and Mk2 Cooper S cars when the original head failed. The new-spec Cooper S heads were stamped with “S” behind the thermostat housing and part number 12G1805, versus the early AEG613 and the generic 12G940 used on later 1275cc engines.

The passage of more than 50 years has made availability a challenge. Finding a good condition Cooper S head is especially difficult in the USA, where there were historically many fewer cars sold. Shipping is also a problem, as the head assembly weighs around 25 lbs. so it’s not the easiest thing to mail across from Europe. But I had a cunning plan…

Used S heads are occasionally available on eBay U.K., and we had already booked an Easter vacation to visit my family there. I would simply have the head delivered to Mum’s house and carry it back as hand luggage on my return flight.

You can see where this is going. Unfortunately the whole COVID-19 thing happened a few weeks before Easter, and it was obvious that our trip would be cancelled. Not wanting to burden Mum with breaking isolation, I engaged a local courier to do a “contactless” pickup-and-then-forward via DHL to me here in the U.S. All told, it was still cheaper than buying a modern performance head from one of the U.S. vendors, but not by very much. C’est la vie — at least I had the head and could start working out if it was going to be usable for this project.

I knew from the eBay advertisement that it had been extensively worked, polished and ported, then left unused for about 20 years. An ideal match for the cylinder block that I used for this build, which was also machined and left unused for a similar period!

With the head safely delivered, I set about stripping it down. The double valve springs, collets, caps and valves were soaked for a week in carburetor cleaner, and the head was given the same treatment as the cylinder block — a few hours soak in CLR (Calcium Limescale Rust remover), followed by internal and external wire brushing.

Amazingly, the head looked as good as new after cleaning, requiring just a light polish using 2500 grit wet and dry paper by hand on a sanding block to re-dress the flat cylinder face. I filled the water galleries with boiling water and let it stand for 20 minutes or so — no seepage into the valve chambers, so at least porosity would not be a problem. I also re-lapped the valves into their seats in the traditional way that Dad taught me years ago — coarse carborundum paste for the first hand lapping, followed by fine for the final pass, until no chafing could be heard when rotating the valve against its seat while being pushed firmly into its guide.

This head does not have hardened inserts fitted, so for unleaded use I’ll need to use a fuel additive — but considering the low mileage my Mini does each year, seat recession is not going to be much of a problem.

The springs all looked good after their cleansing soak, so reassembling the valve assembly was straightforward.

The “extensive work” listed in the eBay description was certainly evident. The inlet ports were massive, and the head thickness measured 40 thou below standard, so they had been skimmed, then the combustion chambers opened back up using a die grinder. Before I could use this head, I needed to know whether the combustion chamber volume was standard, or if someone had modified it for high compression during the skimming. This is usually done by fixing a flat piece of Perspex to the face, fitting a spark plug, and then measuring the volume of fluid needed to fill the chamber.

I didn’t have any Perspex handy, and with the isolation lockdown, going to a hardware store wasn’t an option. After some searching around the house for a substitute, I settled on the clear 6” square plastic of a CD jewel case. With a few holes bored through for bolts to be fixed and using axle grease as a sealant against the block face, I slowly filled the void. In total it took a little under 22cc of fluid I used WD40 to avoid promoting further rust. The standard combustion chamber volume of a Mini head is 21.4cc, so allowing for some seepage and my not-so-scientific method, the result is nominal.

To complement this original head, I purchased a set of used rocker gear — again, the Cooper S specification is different from the regular Mini engines and uses stronger forged rocker arms, rather than the pressed steel of a standard A Series engine or the sintered steel of the later A+ type.

One other job was to renew the bypass hose spigot. The rubber bypass hose is an Achilles heel for the Mini engine — difficult to replace once the engine is installed, and prone to leaking due to passing hot coolant from the head to the water pump, bypassing the thermostat.

In the case of this head, the original mild steel bypass hose spigot was intact but had clearly seen better days. Rather than risk failure down the road, I decided to replace it now. But of course it was rusted solid into the head, and all my efforts using vise grips, impact driver, etc., only succeeded in creating an increasingly shorter length of tube. Frustrated, I drilled out the hole and re-tapped it to fit a new spigot. This being a 1950s-designed engine, the required thread is an obscure Whitworth 5/8-16, but fortunately a UNS tap of the same thread pitch was available from Amazon.

With a fresh coat of etch primer, and MOWOG mid-bronze green paint to match the block, all that remained was to fit the new stainless steel studs for the heater take-off, thermostat housing, and manifolds, then fit the head onto the block — usually quite straightforward on a Mini. I chose a Payen BK450 composite head gasket. I had lightly sanded both faces to clean them up its additional compliance should seal any micro-scratches. The harder surface of a copper-faced gasket is more suited for use with freshly machined surfaces.

Well, I say usually quite straightforward. In this case, I encountered a problem with the set of used MG Midget standard pushrods I purchased off eBay (same spec as Cooper S, of course). The rod would not fit through the #4-cylinder inlet valve hole in the head. Fortunately, I had not yet torqued the head down, so I lifted it back off to investigate the problem. It seems that during the porting work, whoever did the grinding had broken through into the pushrod hole and a sleeve had been fitted to remedy the problem. All I had to do was drill the central hole of the sleeve a little larger, so that the pushrod could pass through cleanly. Another sign that the head had most likely not been used since the machining work was carried out.

With the head torqued to 45 lb.-ft. the top end assembly was complete. Next time, clutch and flywheel...

Nuala and I joined the Arlington Classic Car Club (ACCC) for our first run of the year. Our car, “Mini KK,” had zero preparation after the winter. All I had a chance to do was pump up the tires, top off the oil and water, and fill up with fresh gas. The ignition was rough and the points gap didn’t look correct, but I didn’t have a spare set on hand. I did have spare distributor and spark plug leads in the trunk, so I quickly fitted those and off we went with fingers and toes crossed.

In compliance with the ACCC’s “ad hoc, no rules, no structure” anti-charter, the event was organized without much in the way of prior coordination. We assembled on parade day in a church parking lot. I counted 35 cars in total, nearly all pre-’80s classics with a few modern muscle cars and other interesting vehicles.

Mini KK had a bad misfire, really struggling to get up the Route 2 hill to Arlington Heights, and I couldn’t get her to go over 30mph. Once we arrived at the parking lot, I opened the bonnet and pulled the spark plug leads one at a time with the engine running. Cylinders 2 and 3 were not doing anything so I swapped the plug leads over and she was back to life. Well, at least cylinder 2 was working. Number 3 has low compression, which is why I spent the winter building a replacement engine!

The projected driving route was around 30 miles in two hours, but it took over three hours as there was a fantastic spectator turnout. Every street in Arlington seemed to have at least one family having a picnic on their front lawn, with social distancing being respected between each property. We sounded our horns as we waved to everyone.

It was a nice showing of community spirit and a welcome morale boost in these strange times.

At one point I tapped out Morse code on the car horn for “ACCC” (dit-dah, dah-dit-dah-dit, dah-dit-dah-dit, dah-dit-dah-dit) and “MINI” (dah-dah, dit-dit, dah-dit, dit-dit), and thought I heard someone beep “MM” in response (dah-dah, dah-dah). Anyway, it was all good fun and a great afternoon out in the sunshine. —IB

Chasing Mini Classics Run redux, May 24th

MINIs of Boston held a repeat of their May 16th Lexington-to-Sudbury drive, again organized by Josh Amato, this time including both Minis and MINIs. There were five classic Minis scattered among 15 modern cars. We used two-way radios to communicate, which came in handy when part of the group didn’t make it through a few traffic lights.

The weather was perfect, so I drove my ’68 Mini Traveller. NEMO members Wendy and Tom Birchmire attended in Wendy’s MINI convertible.

Mauricio Zambrano Vergara’s 1992 British Open Classic carried two bulldogs, usually in the back seat. Beatriz the Bulldog enjoys taking an occasional turn at the wheel. How does she reach the pedals?

The drive ended at the Wayside Inn Grist Mill, where attendees enjoyed the mill and beautiful grounds. —DS

With the hard work of the engine internals completed, it’s time to turn my attention to the exterior of the block.

Usually this is just a case of cleaning up the old parts and bolting them back on. Since I am building this engine from scratch, I need to source all the correct parts first. In years gone by, this would entail schlepping around swap meets, and making many phone calls to used parts dealers to find just the correct piece of obscure metalwork. These days, it’s much easier — the main vendors have on-line indexes, and the eBay global shipping program takes care of the rest.

The Mini engine owes much to its predecessor, the Austin A30. Launched in 1951, the A Series engine has been steadily improved from a tiny 803cc (26bhp) up to a massive 1460cc (180bhp) on some turbocharged race engines. But despite this wide range of performance, the basic design is essentially identical, with a cast iron block and head, hardened steel crank, rods and camshaft, and alloy pistons.

Although exotic materials were used for the race-bred Cooper S engine, the external ancillary components are surprisingly mundane. Pressed steel ‘tin-ware’ is used for the front and side engine covers and relatively inexpensive castings such as the oil filter head, water pump, etc.

As with most things on the Mini, the design of these castings was improved (or, ahem, “cost-reduced”) over the years since the original Mk1. The oil filter is a good example. Later cars use a simple spin-on oil filter head with disposable cartridge filters, just like a modern car. But the original Mk1 uses a design that originated from the MG TA engine way back in 1936 and has a disposable paper filter within a reusable canister. This is much messier to change, but just as effective, and visually very different.

I chose to use original parts where possible. New parts are no longer available for the oil filter housing and canister, but similar 1960s era cars used almost identical components to the Mini, so it was relatively easy to find an equivalent part — in this case, a good used item taken from an MG Midget.

Used parts always need a close inspection for wear or abuse, and this one was no exception. The canister was dented, the filter head was clogged with 50 years of gunk, and it was missing the internal pressure plate. Fortunately, the pressure plate is the one part that is easily purchased new, since unknowing owners have a tendency to accidentally throw it in the garbage when changing the inner paper filter!

This filter housing needed a good clean before being fit for use, so it went for a weekend “spa break” in a bucket of carb cleaner, followed by some judicious wire brushing. It came up pretty well, and after hammering some dents out of the canister, and applying some etch primer and satin black paint, it was more than fit for the job.

Then I realized I didn’t have a gasket for the filter head to the block. Not wanting to wait another two weeks for USPS delivery from the West Coast, I cut one out of thick construction paper using an X-acto knife. I always use Permatex Aviation gasket sealant on all metal joints, so the gasket is really just there to carry the sealant.

I do have an original 1960s cast iron water pump, but after 50-plus years it needs new rubber water seals — not something I can do myself in the basement, as a fly-press is required. But I was able to locate a NOS alloy pump with the BL “plughole” logo cast into it, a sure sign that it’s a ’70s original part.

(British Leyland had commissioned an experimental alloy cylinder block to see if they could reduce the weight and improve performance of the engine. Although the engine worked well, it was not put into production due to projected development costs. The aluminum alloy water pump from the new design was re-worked to fit with the existing cast iron engine block, and A Series water pumps have been cast in aluminum ever since.)

Tin-ware on the Mini includes the front timing chain cover and two valve follower/tappet chest side covers — one of which contains an oil vapor condensing breather. Again, the 1960s version of these is different from the later Mini models but was used on similar cars of the era, including the Morris Minor and the MG Midget. I obtained and refurbished the correct “convex” type covers with MOWOG stamping. The cover with the breather was actually an original part that was supplied in its 1960s-style BMC waxed protective wrapping and with a dealer stock-control punch card!

The timing chain cover oil seal is notorious for leaking on a Mini. The usual cause is that the oil seal is not centered on the crankshaft fan belt pulley, resulting in deformation of the seal and consequential weeping of oil. The easiest way to avoid the problem is to fit the new seal to the timing chain cover first, then fit the pulley into the seal before attaching the whole cover-plus-pulley assembly to the front plate. This guarantees that the crankshaft pulley will be centered in the seal. Some prefer to use RTV paste on the timing cover, but I like to use the same Permatex sealant as for the rest of the paper gaskets.

Unique to the Cooper S engines is a two-part Metalastic damper, and a star-shaped locking tab. This is designed to cut down on crankshaft vibration at the high revs at which the S engines were designed to run. The special locking tab is used in place of the soft fold-over tabs on regular Mini engines, which can work loose over time.

Fitting new core/freeze plugs was straightforward. The Mini uses the pre-formed cup style, so they don’t need peening after installation — just a lick of gasket sealant and then drive them home with a suitably-sized parallel dolly or a socket wrench and hammer.

An original Cooper S large cast iron fan belt pulley was trivial to clean up. The larger size reduces the water pump speed at high revs and avoids caviation (formation of small vapor-filled cavities). I painted the pulley bright yellow, which is the original factory color for the pulley and fan of a 1967 Mini.

(Note: Austin cars used yellow pulleys and fans, early Morris cars used MG Maroon, but both changed to yellow after the first rationalization around 1962.)

The last parts to fit are the distributor housing, oil pressure gauge takeoff and bypass valve. The current engine in my car uses an adjustable bypass valve, with a ball bearing and stronger spring. I’m trying the plunger type this time around as it’s supposed to regulate the pressure better.

For the distributor housing, I initially couldn’t find the proper A Series type for a Mini. I tried the B Series from an MGB as it looked to be the same size, but unfortunately the nose tube was too long. I considered cutting it down with a grinder but managed to locate a used one on eBay, thus avoiding a bodge.

With the external assembly completed, the engine can finally be mated onto the gearbox (which I also built up from scratch last year). Working at waist height on a table, and doing this singlehandedly was a challenge, because the rubber half-moon/crescent seal for the front main cap needs to be held in position for the duration. The factory lowered the gearbox onto the inverted engine, rather than lowering the upright engine onto the gearbox. So, I did the same this time around. It’s certainly much easier than trying to manhandle the heavier engine block into position over the gearbox.

Incidentally, the crescent seal is the only place on a Mini where I use RTV. Just a thin bead on both sides of the rubber seal to hold it in position, then let it cure for 15 minutes before joining the gearbox to the engine. This seal is now available in a composite rigid neoprene/metal version that was developed as a warranty replacement. It is much higher quality and stays in place better than the original simple rubber type.

With all the studs and bolts replaced and torqued up correctly, the major assembly is done. Next month, rebuilding an original Cooper S cylinder head!

Mini Classics of Boston Sudbury Run, May 16th

The MINIs of Boston (MOB) Facebook group has a related group, “Mini Classics of Boston.” Josh Amato, one of the MOB organizers, invited classic Minis on a back roads drive from Lexington to Sudbury.

We met at the Paul Revere capture site on Rt. 2A near Hanscom airfield. There were three classic Minis (driven by me, Alex Daly and Michael Gonsalves, and Josh), plus another Mini owner (Mauricio) who came in a Jag F-type because his Mini had died the day before.

We drove in a convoy, stopped at a pop-up pizza van near Lincoln to pick up lunch, then continued on to the Wayside Inn Grist Mill in Sudbury. There is a nice open meadow next to the river where everyone sat in appropriately socially distanced groups to eat. —IB

Wedding postponed, but...

May 16th was also to have been Alex and Michael’s wedding day at the Larz Anderson Automobile Museum and Park, but with the pandemic it had to be postponed. It was disappointing they couldn’t host the event, but they made up for it with a classic Mini rally, a game of golf, and a surprise fancy dinner for Michael (special thanks to family and friends for stealthily making this happen). The quotes below are shared with permission from Alex’s Facebook page.

Alex: “Today is the day I was supposed to marry my best friend, my partner in crime, and sometimes my adult supervision... I can’t wait for the day when we can actually get married, but until then we have a fun day of adventure planned!”

Michael: “Well, Alex got me good. Coming home from an afternoon of golf to this table set-up, warm dinner in the oven, and dessert in the fridge was a complete surprise. In the face of a postponed wedding, I can’t think of a better way to conclude what ended up being a phenomenal day!”

We wish Alex and Michael many happy years together. —DS

At least 10 members participated in an on-line NEMO meeting hosted on Zoom on Saturday, May 2nd.

The technical aspects were mostly glitch-free. One person had audio problems and there were occasional video freezes, but it worked well overall. Zoom has become a de facto platform for simple video conferencing, despite some security concerns. You can download Zoom to your computer, phone or tablet.

Most people connected from home offices, family rooms, or in the case of Faith and Bruce, the super-secret British Marque headquarters. Bill Fralick broadcast from his garage and treated us to a view of his Cooper S restoration project. Amazingly, it is the very car that was the first Mini Dave Black ever rode in and the car that inspired him to become a lifelong Mini enthusiast!

Some experienced Zoom users had fun with custom screen backgrounds. Wendy Birchmire was one of them. She also posted a photo of her collection of 92 red Minis and MINIs, in a variety of scales.

Ken Lemoine gave us a tour of his diecast vehicle collection, as well as Mini and MG stained glass windows he created. The Mini windows were done some time ago and are sized to fit in the rear doors of Ken’s Mini Traveller. The MG logo was recently completed and is a birthday present for Ken’s son Brett. His latest project is a window hanging of the Jaguar logo.

Iain Barker displayed his green Lego Mini Cooper, and yours truly showed off a 3-foot-tall Lego model of the Apollo Saturn V moon rocket. This was a quarantine project assembled by me and my daughter Laura.

Please post photos of your 1:1 scale cars and diecast vehicles on the NEMO Facebook page (www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners). I will pin a photo link to the top of the page. Click “Comment” and the camera icon.

If you don’t want to post to Facebook, you can share them with the NEMO Google Group. Send an e-mail to business@britishmarque.com and ask to join the group. You can also e-mail dschwartz1957@gmail.com and I will post on your behalf.

It was great to catch up with people we hadn’t seen since the 2019 car show season, or the Holiday Party in December. Given that more events are being cancelled, we will definitely hold another on-line meeting. Next time I promise more advance notice.

Looking forward to “seeing” you soon!

This little project to build a 1960s Mk1 Cooper S engine started on 12th March. It’s mid-April as I write this, and we’ve just entered the second month of ‘social distancing’ (a.k.a. workshop lockdown!).

At the end of the previous installment, the pistons and rods, crankshaft, camshaft, oil pump and bearings had all been installed. Next up, the front of the engine – front plate, cam retainer and a shiny new AE ‘performance’ timing chain set, to tie it all together.

The engine front plate design has changed several times since the 1960s. On the mainstream ‘small bore’ Mini engines of 1098cc and below, a single row (simplex) timing chain was deemed sufficient for the Cooper S (970cc, 1071cc and 1275cc engines), however, an improved double-row (duplex) chain drive was introduced to cope with the higher demands of a racecar engine. For later 1980s cars the configuration was modified again with the A+ engine to incorporate revised engine breathing.

Original A Series front plates are getting harder to find, and a quick on-line check showed there were none available from the usual U.S. vendors. eBay to the rescue! I managed to locate a good used front plate in the U.K. It’s a 998 version, which means countersinking the two main bearing screw holes to fit the flush-mounted hex ‘Allen key’-style screws, so that they don’t interfere with the wider duplex chain. But it’s the correct style for A Series rather than A+, with an added bonus that the seller had already painted it with engine enamel, saving me the job.

The triangular cam retainer is fitted next. This holds the camshaft in position and needs to be aligned in no less than three different directions! While apparently symmetrical, it is important to get the cam retainer right way around — one side is coated with white-metal bearing material to provide the thrust surface for the cam, whereas the other side is just plain steel. The first alignment is with the camshaft sprocket fitted and the nut torqued. The end-float (in and out movement) needs to be very tightly controlled, the factory tolerance is 3 to 7 thousandths of an inch (‘thou’).

It may seem like a poor design to allow the camshaft to wander in and out of the block. But in fact, the lobes of the camshaft are machined at a slight angle, and a matching contour ground onto the base of the camshaft followers ensures that when rotating, the cam is always thrust toward the front of the engine against that white-metal bearing surface, and away from the oil pump. The tolerance is actually to allow sufficient slack so that the oil pump is free to rotate, since it is driven directly from the rear end of the camshaft.

The second alignment is to ensure the camshaft sprocket and the crankshaft sprocket are parallel to each other, with no offset that would cause the chain to drive against the sprocket teeth at an angle. The crankshaft sprocket is deliberately machined under-sized, and steel shims are fitted behind the sprocket in increments of 5 thou. The alignment is measured using nothing more than a straight-edge engineers’ ruler and feeler gauges. In all, I used three shims to bring the sprockets into alignment, for a 0.015” total offset.

The only snag during assembly was that I didn’t have the correct tool to lock the camshaft pulley when torqueing down the nut. Rather than break cover to visit Harbor Freight during the Covid-19 lockdown, I made my own crude approximation of a camshaft locking tool from a bit of old steel bed frame. Whatever works to get the job done!

With the timing gear fitted, next was the tricky third dimension — the dreaded camshaft timing. When the timing gear is manufactured, a ‘dot’ is stamped in each sprocket so that the teeth can be correctly aligned ‘dot to dot’. However, with 40 teeth on the camshaft sprocket, and 360/40 = 9° per tooth, and two rotations of the crankshaft for one rotation of the camshaft, each tooth on the camshaft is equivalent to 18° of crank rotation. The timing specification for each camshaft is given by the manufacturer based on the point of maximum opening of the inlet valve, in this case that figure is 107° after top-dead-center (ATDC).

Phew. What does all that mean? Way too much math and engineering.

To make it simple: the four cycles of the Mini engine are suck, squeeze, bang, and blow. The ’suck’ is the inlet stroke, where the pistons draw the fuel and air mixture into the cylinders via the valves in the head. The ‘blow’ is the exhaust of the burned gas through the head and out to the tailpipe. These inlet and exhaust valve openings need to be precisely timed so that they occur when the piston is at the correct point of its rotation via the crankshaft, i.e., when the piston is moving down the bore to suck in the inlet charge, or as it’s moving up the bore to blow the exhaust gas out. So 107º ATDC simply means that the inlet valve reaches its point of maximum opening after the crank has rotated 107° from when the piston was previously at the top of the bore.

O.K., engineering lesson over (for now) — back to the build.

The offset between the crank and camshaft is fixed by Woodruff keys. These are little tongues of steel that slot into a groove machined into the front of the crank and camshaft. To adjust the relative position of the two sprockets, offset keys are available in steps from 1° to 9° of crank rotation. So, fitting the key pointing to the left delays the camshaft and causes the timing to be retarded. Fitting it pointing to the right advances the timing, causing the valves to move earlier relative to the movement of the piston.

Basically, all that needs be done is to measure the point at which the inlet valve reaches its maximum opening and look to see where the crankshaft is pointed. Simple! Well, maybe for a modern electronically-managed engine with hydraulic or pneumatic valves. The engine management system on a Honda VTEC does this hundreds of times per second. But there are no such luxuries on the 1950s-design Mini engine. The camshaft is opening the valves mechanically, by pushing the followers using lobes that have a curved top. So, the point at which they reach their ‘peak’ is really more of a ‘flat’. To get an accurate reading, we have to measure the valve lift at the same point on the slope for the leading and the trailing edge of the curved lobe, and then average it.

Arrgh, more math. But I have a secret weapon! My daughter Nuala is 7 years old, and on ‘home school’ due to the Covid lockdown. This seems like an ideal time for an applied math lesson!

I have to say, she did a pretty good job. She read off the Dial Test Indicator (DTI) and timing degrees at the front of the engine, while I rotated the crank from the flywheel slot at the rear, and together we measured the lift using a DTI at 5 thou before peak on the leading and trailing edge of the inlet lobe. The values were 88° and 116° one adds these together, then divides by 2 for a median value. Ours was 102° after TDC for inlet valve peak. The target is 107°, so it needed a 5° offset Woodruff key to retard the cam pulley.

A week later the offset Woodruff key arrived in the mail. After I assembled and checked the timing again, it came in at 106º before top dead center (BTDC). There is always some slack in the chain after a few hours of running, so this should settle down to the target of 107º without further attention — it’s definitely close enough, the factory tolerance is within 2° — and much better than the ‘dot to dot’ initial setting.

That’s it for this month. Next time, we’ll take a look at the external engine assembly. Everyone, stay home and stay safe!

The engine in my 1967 Mini Cooper S is worn out. I threw it together quickly a couple of years ago with what I thought were ‘good enough’ tolerances. The cylinders were overbored by 20 thousandths of an inch (+20 thou) and measured wear at around 3 thou, so I just de-glazed them with a honing stone and re-ringed the original pistons. In retrospect, that was a mistake. I really should have had the block rebored while it was stripped down. Sure, the engine ran and the initial compression was good. However, cylinder bore ovaling soon caused excessive oil consumption, producing an embarrassing amount of blue smoke while driving.

I didn’t want to lose a driving season while I stripped and rebuilt the original engine over the summer, and my rented storage lock-up has no electricity nor any heat, so working over the winter is not viable, either. I decided the best option was to try and build up a spare S block in my basement slow-time, so that when completed it would be ready to drop into the car along with my recently rebuilt gearbox. This would minimize the time my car would be out of commission.

Due to the COVID-19 mandatory lockdown in Massachusetts, I now have rather more time on my hands than expected. So, I guess there’s nothing for it but to start a new build.

My goal is to build up a complete 1966/67 specification short engine (everything below the head gasket) for an Mk1 Mini Cooper 1275 S, using all new old stock (NOS) or original manufacturer/reproduction parts. Not an easy task, considering that engine specification had a unique cylinder block and was only in production from 1964 to 1967. So spare parts are not available off the shelf.

Part 1 — Internal engineering

An early break enabled me to source a thin-flange S block in good condition from Seven Enterprises (7ent), the exact same AEG312 type as the original in my car. Apparently, it came from Doug Peterson, Mike Kearney’s racing partner from the Fortech Mini days. It was machined +0.030” oversize, and then put aside as a spare for the racecar. Fortunately, it was stored indoors for 30 years and retains the original main caps. It appears that it was also lightly skimmed to increase compression.

The block had just a little surface rust, but needed a good clean-up and camshaft bearings fitted before it could be used. A good scrubbing with a brass wire brush was followed by soaking in a gallon of CLR (Calcium/Limescale/Rust) dissolving solution. I also removed the rusted freeze/core plugs and all the brass screw plugs on the oil/water ways for access.

Then I used a gun/rifle barrel cleaning kit to pull helical wire brushes through all the drillings to clean out the rust and muck. It was pretty filthy, but there was no significant rust penetration. The water jacket only had some loose rust flakes behind the core plugs, which were easily dislodged and flushed out.

With the block now in usable condition, it was time to hunt for the rest of the Cooper S-specific parts. Since we aren’t actually living in 1967, ordering from BMC isn’t an option. So, I hit up the main USA and UK Mini parts vendors, plus eBay and the Mk1 Mini Forum for the harder to locate items.

My shopping list:

Crankshaft — A good EN40B S crank, courtesy of Nick at min-e-bitz UK.

Connecting rods — A used set of original S-type AEG521 con-rods off eBay.

Camshaft and followers — Sourced from Mini Spares UK.

New bearings (cam/main/big end/thrusts) — Sourced from 7ent and Mini Mania.

Front plate — Sourced from eBay UK (surprisingly hard to find Stateside).

Tinware — Sourced from eBay NOS and 7ent used parts.

Duplex timing gear — From Mini Spares UK.

I already had a set of +30 “County Brand” pistons (an AE Hepolite clone) on the shelf, in preparation for a rebore for my original engine. Gudgeon/wrist pins attach pistons and con-rods using an interference fit, also known as a press fit. The tricky part would be fitting the new pistons to the used con-rods without having access to a hydraulic press.

A technique I’ve used before is to put the new pins in the freezer overnight in a sealed bag with some uncooked white rice. The cold makes the pins thermally contract and the rice absorbs any water vapor from inside the bag. Then, I use progressively shorter bolts to wind the pins through the piston from one side, into an over-sized impact wrench socket used as a die on the other side.

For the camshaft, I really wanted to stick with the same AEG510 profile that I used in the previous engine. But Mini Sport has stopped selling their ST510/CA1 reground camshafts, so instead I went for the Mini Spares “Evolution 1” camshaft, which has a reputation as being drivable with good torque.

With the block cosmetically clean, it was time to refurbish its internals. I’ve never installed cam bearings before. It is always good to learn a new skill and the tools are available cheap on Amazon.

I bought a set of NOS bearings from eBay and tried installing them. After fitting the cam bearings, I found out the hard way that the original BMC parts require reaming to the finished bearing clearance size after installation. Lesson learned, I drifted them out again and fitted a set of modern repro bearings that I had also purchased for my previous engine build.

The crank was already ground 10/10 and just needed the journals to be lightly polished with 2000-grit emery paper to clean up some small rust marks from years of storage, plus new -10 bearing shells. Likewise, the bores needed minor surface rust removed with a light hone in an electric drill. Then the new pistons and rings could be installed — which, without the use of a ring compressor, takes more time (and fingernails) than one might expect.

The last job for fitting the camshaft was to plug two of the three-hole oil pump threads with 1/4” grub screws and blue Loctite. Then, drill and tap a second mounting hole to fit the more modern ‘A+’ two-bolt oil pump.

I dropped the crankshaft into place, taking care that the thrust bearings were within tolerance. There’s an easy way to do this without specialist measuring tools. Put the main shells in the block, and put two +3 thou thrust bearings in place on the center main. Then, try to fit the crank. If it won’t slide in, or feels like it’s tight or binding, change to standard thrust bearings.

(Which is what I did this time.)

I installed the distributor drive and was done with the internal assembly. Time for a lick of MOWOG green paint while waiting for the second batch of parts to arrive from Mini Spares in the UK.

[To be continued…]

With the cancellation of many 2020 car events, clubs and museums have been holding virtual events on-line. Facebook is a common platform, so it may be time for those of you who have resisted social networking to create an account. According to one poll, Facebook reaches 70% of all U.S. adults.

In late March, Connecticut-based Nutmeg MINIacs held a Facebook on-line car show with separate categories for modern MINIs and classic Minis. Members of the group posted car photos, and the judging was based on the number of “likes” each car received. I posted a photo of my ’68 Mini Traveller wearing a clown car costume (red nose on the grille and googly eyes on the windshield) and tied for 1st place.

Larz Anderson, Brookline, Mass.

On April 18th, the Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM) held a Virtual Cars & Coffee on their Facebook page. Participants posted a photo and description of their cars to the event page. They were encouraged to include all relevant details, including why the car was important to them. There was a “People’s Choice” category where winners were chosen by the most photo likes. A winner was also chosen by the staff for a “Museum’s Choice” award.

In-person Cars & Coffee had been scheduled monthly, May through October, so I expect there will be more virtual events. Simply like the museum’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/larzandersonautomuseum, to receive notifications of future events.

Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, Tenn.

The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville has an active Facebook presence. They have been posting photos of many unique cars in their collection, including driving videos. They held a Facebook March Motor Madness event, with a format similar to a sporting event bracket. The public voted for their favorite car in each round. The Dymaxion placed 1st, with the Zundapp Janus in 2nd.

Enjoy a virtual visit on the Lane’s website (www.lanemotormuseum.org) and daily fun on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lanemotormuseum).

And more...

Numerous car club Facebook pages have requested members to post photos of their cars parked in the driveway or garage. Some people have held miniature car shows using their collection of diecast vehicles. Getting creative is a great way to maintain our sanity in quarantine.

I will create new photo albums on the NEMO Facebook page (www.facebook.com/
NewEnglandMiniOwners) for modern and classic 1:1 scale cars, and for diecast vehicle cars shows. I know members have large collections of miniature Minis.

How about holding a virtual Mini Meet East with photos of our full-sized and toy cars? Here are a few other ideas to get you started: share videos of past real events arrange a diecast Cars & Coffee scene share slot car racing videos post a photo of you in costume from the year your car was built create a miniature drive-in movie scene hold a Concours de Matchbox stage a miniature funkhana.

If you don’t want to post photos or videos to Facebook, you can share them with the NEMO Google Group. Send an e-mail to business@britishmarque.com and ask to join the group. You can also e-mail me at dschwartz1957@gmail.com and I will post on your behalf.

WARWICK, R.I., Dec. 8 — The 17th annual “MINIs Making a Difference” toy rally solicited donations of new stuffed animals for use as “comfort animals” by area police departments.

Comfort animals are stuffed animals given to children during a stressful situation in which they encounter law enforcement. Comfort animals, packaged in clear bags, are stored in a police car until needed.

As MINI owners arrived at MINI of Warwick, they were handed clear plastic bags in which to place their donations. Each bag had a tag that read, “Donation compliments of MINIs Making a Difference.” The event collected 1,055 stuffed animals.

Police officers from departments in Cranston, Coventry, East Providence, Johnston, Middletown, Narragansett, North Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, Warwick and Westerly arrived to collect them. Fortunately most had SUVs (Warwick also had a motorcycle) because the animals filled each vehicle.

This was a great way to start the holiday season. MINI of Warwick was generous in opening their showroom early on a Sunday, providing helpers, and furnishing donuts and coffee.

I don’t know whether it is due to the effects of climate change, but last year it seemed like we were treated to a much longer than usual driving season in New England. Whereas I’d normally be putting my 1967 Mini Cooper S into winter storage around mid-October, I was still out and about driving it well into November.

Driving at dusk brings with it the requirement for good lighting, something for which the Lucas “Prince of Darkness” headlights on a Mini are not exactly held in high regard. In modern-day dense traffic, and with our cars being so small in comparison to the other road users, we really do need all the help we can get for increased visibility. Dim, flickering yellow lights are not very conducive to road safety.

In an attempt to address this problem, sometime in the mid-1990s the previous owner of my car fitted a row of four 55-watt halogen driving lamps to the front grille. However, they were wired into the headlight main beam circuit, and whenever they were turned on, the battery would immediately run flat.

Back in the 1960s, the original Mk1 Mini driver was expected to use only the pilot/side running lights for low-speed city driving. Use of the main headlights was reserved for highway driving where the engine is revving faster, and the crude positive-earth dynamo generator can keep ahead of the additional power drawn by two 45/60 watt headlights.

[Contrib. Ed. note: Early Minis used the positive battery terminal as ground, which in British parlance is referred to as “positive earth.” —DS]

Adding the 1990s-era high-powered halogen driving lamps did not help this situation at all, considering (2x60w + 4x55w)/12v = around 28 amps. The generator is rated at 22 amps and also has to power the ignition circuit, wipers and rear lights. It never had a hope of keeping the battery charged when the lights were on.

Fast forward to 2020, and there is a far superior lighting option: LED. Conventional incandescent vacuum or halogen bulbs only emit around 15% of their electrical power as visible light, the rest being infra-red (i.e., waste heat). Modern LEDs are more than 90% efficient. For the same 1200 lumens light output, a 55w bulb uses 4.6 amps, but an LED only draws 0.8 amps.

The problem, however, is that most LEDs are polarity sensitive (the “D” in LED is for “diode,” a semiconductor that only passes current in one direction) and designed for modern negative-ground 12v cars. Fortunately, a few vendors now sell LEDs with an internal rectifier circuit, allowing use on classic positive-earth cars — such as my Mini.

I placed a $65 order with www.ledlight.com, and a week later received four “non-polarized” LED bulbs, with a total current draw 3.2 amps. Well within the capabilities of my Mini’s rather feeble original electrical system!

While fitting the LEDs I also decided to replace the 1990s-styled “KC Daylighter” lamp units. Two of the housings were quite rusty, plus a 1960s Mini would have originally used Lucas lamps, as did the “works” Monte Carlo rally cars.

Reproduction Lucas lamps are still made, but the quality of the chrome housings manufactured in China is quite poor. Thanks to the wonder of eBay, I was able to get hold of four original 1950s/60s Lucas “576” lamp housings — two fog lights from an XJ120, and two driving lights from a Rolls-Royce.

Side note: The nuts needed for the threaded mounts are a very peculiar size. They are an obsolete thread, apparently only ever used on prewar British-built bicycles. I think the thread originally comes from the kerosene (paraffin) lamp used as a front bicycle headlamp, which in turn derived from horse-drawn carriages. Lucas continued using the same fitment into the 20th century for their electric lights.

After some minor repairs to the housings, sourcing of the missing mounting nuts and washers, and converting the long-stem XJ housings to the short plinth style needed for my Mini, I was ready to put all the pieces of this puzzle together. But first I had to make some small modifications to fit the LEDs, as they are single pole connections and the Rolls-Royce lights were designed for dual filament dim/dip bulbs. Again, spare parts are widely available in the U.K., so after another short wait for international shipping, I was finally ready to wire them up.

I laid out 2” nails on a wooden stud as a pegboard form, and used cloth tape to wrap a homemade wiring loom in the same style as would have been done in the ’60s — even using a genuine Lucas TLC3 “Trailer Light Connector” from a Series 2 Land Rover, just as the Abingdon Works team used back in the day.

In addition to being modern and functional, the completed lamp bar looks quite period-original. It is ready to fit back on the Mini in time for the new driving season.

NEMO Annual Meeting

As you all know, the NEMO Annual Meeting scheduled for March 29th was cancelled due to the coronavirus. We will try to hold an on-line meeting, video conference or phone conference in the near future and use an on-line survey for any items requiring member input.

Mini Meet East

Unfortunate but not surprising news from the organizers of the 2020 Mini Meet East, scheduled for July 6-10:

“The MME 2020 Organizing Committee has decided to cancel the event in Owensboro, Ky. The potential impacts of COVID-19 is the determining factor for the Committee’s decision.

“The Committee is very concerned for the safety and welfare of all the Mini community, our sponsors, advertisers and attendees. We want to thank you for all your support for MME 2020 and hope that this health crisis recedes in the near future and we can resume our normal lives and activities.”

Other events

Early season events have been cancelled at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Mass., and the Museum itself is closed until the end of April.

Updates will be sent from newenglandminiowners@gmail.com and posted on the NEMO Google Group. To join, send an e-mail to business@britishmarque.com and ask to join the Google Group.

Be sure to check the NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners, and website, www.nemomini.org (under “Events”), for the latest information. —David Schwartz & Dave Newman

PARIS, France — Vincennes en Anciennes is a classic car club open to all marques, and according to their website, it is the largest such club in France. The club is best known for organizing the Traversée de Paris (Crossing of Paris) that occurs twice annually, on the second Sunday of January and the first Sunday of August.

The Traversée unites some 700 classic cars, all at least 30 years old, which spend the morning crossing through Paris and driving around or past its more famous monuments. The cars are mostly French, German, British or Italian, though numerous American muscle cars (mostly Mustangs and Corvettes) also participate.

For the Winter 2020 Traversée, classic British cars, especially sports cars, comprised a significant portion of the participants. There was a fair number of MGAs and Austin-Healeys, plus at least two Rolls-Royce sedans, MGBs, Triumph GT6s and TRs, several Jaguar E-types, assorted Jaguar sedans, and an early rear-wheel-drive Ford Escort.

Classic Minis were once a dime a dozen in the streets of Paris (they were the best city cars available in their day), and a few participated in this Traversée, the most attractive one being an Italian Innocenti Mini Cooper.

In spite of the cold, gray day, many of the convertibles traveled top-down. Of course, drivers and passengers were well-wrapped in coats, gloves, wool hats and scarves. Those in British sports cars that traveled top up (and, in some cases, with side curtains in place, too) were also wrapped in winter clothes.

For both participants and spectators, the Traversée is a wonderful opportunity to see rolling automotive history. The Traversée is not a parade — classic cars negotiate Paris streets and present-day traffic (thankfully a bit lighter on a Sunday morning), much as many of them did three or more decades ago.

The sight of a classic Mini or an early 1970s Alfa Romeo GT winding its way around a timeless setting like the 17th-century Place des Vosges transports one back in time to those earlier decades, to a time when most cars were mechanically simpler and did not look like all the other cars — when the sight of a Mini Cooper or a Jaguar sedan parked at the curb or taking off from a traffic light was not rare, but still exciting.

[Contrib. Ed. note: Peter Walker is on sabbatical in Paris. An album with 169 photos of the Traversée is available at www.vincennesenanciennes.com/2020/01/ 14/20e-tdp-paris/ —DS]

September 2019 — With the summer and car show season mostly done, I could finally focus my attention on the gearbox build.

After several more orders to Mini Spares and Guessworks, all the parts needed for the final assembly were now to hand. I always assumed that classic Mini engineering was somewhat on the crude side, and indeed one of the strengths of the A Series engine is that it will continue to run and run, even when what should be less than a thousandth of an inch clearance exceeds that by a factor of ten. But as I was about to learn, there are more moving parts in a gearbox than in an engine, and some surprisingly close tolerances to be met with the final assembly.

I had stripped all the generic parts from the newest of the three donor gearboxes, including the forward and reverse gear selector and gate mechanisms, tidied them up after a week’s soak in carburetor cleaner, and installed them in the empty 333 gearbox casing using new mounting studs and bolts.

Starting with the layshaft, I assembled everything per the original BMC parts diagram, with new bearings, of course. It was at this point I realized the BMC diagrams from 1967 were perhaps less than accurate, or maybe the parts had changed in design slightly in the intervening 50 years. Either way, the layshaft bearings were not going to stay in position per the diagram, which seemed to rely on little more than the power of optimism rather than any actual mechanical means.

Investigating further, I found that the MG-style laygear had indeed been redesigned slightly in the mid-’70s and now required two inner circlips to retain the bearing, rather than the machined shoulder of the original design. Of course, I did not have these parts, so a week’s delay was incurred waiting for Mini specialist 7ent to deliver.

In the meantime, I set the end float tolerance on the laygear to make sure it was within spec. I needed a slightly wider thrust washer than standard, and of all the places one might expect to obtain this part on short notice, I’d wager amazon.com would surely be the least likely. Nevertheless, Amazon Prime delivered me a genuine BMC thrust washer for a 1967 gearbox the very next day! An hour or so of some fine surface grinding on a whetstone, and the thrust washer was down to size and the laygear end float was within tolerance.

The main gear was already assembled and fitted easily into the casing along with the only non-original part for this build. Although I was keeping to the original parts list for the gearbox, oil pump and filter technology has improved over the years, so I decided to install a competition center oil pickup in place of the original crude mesh cage.

The next point for tolerance is with the main shaft retaining clamp. This time I’d done my homework and ordered up a selection of different width shims. I was easily able to set the correct pre-load on the main bearing. All bearings were brand new name-brand parts where available, except the input shaft where I fitted a good used bearing from one of the donor gearboxes after re-packing it with grease.

With the gearbox assembly completed, it was time to work on the differential. This is the part I had been least looking forward to. For whatever reason, I can easily picture mechanical assemblies in my head, so do not have too much difficulty putting things back together after taking them apart — or in this case, just following diagrams in the workshop manual. However, a differential spins in three dimensions, and I just couldn’t picture how it operates. Oh, sure, I know the theory of how planet wheels interlock with the output shafts and transfer the motion from the driven crown wheel on the diff, but my brain just doesn’t want to deal with the idea of two things spinning in opposite directions, inside a diff cage which itself is spinning around a different axis.

(I have exactly the same problem trying to visualize how an old rotary aircraft engine works, using the same principle of things rotating one way while moving in the opposite direction. Maybe that’s why I could never learn to do somersaults on a trampoline, or dive into a swimming pool when I was a kid. But I digress…)

Anyway, it turns out that putting together a diff on the bench is actually quite trivial. Just don’t try to imagine how it works and assemble one piece of the jigsaw puzzle at a time.

The first job was to remove the crown wheel with the cracked tooth and replace with a new one. Next, disassemble the diff cage, replace the planet wheel, diff pin, and thrust washers, and lock into place with a new roll pin. Actually, quite easy, so long as it’s sitting there inanimate on the bench, not spinning in your head and inducing a migraine.

With the diff assembled, including the rare Hardy Spicer output shafts, I inserted it into the gearbox casing and torqued down the diff cover. Then it must be shimmed to the correct pre-load again I had thought ahead and bought a selection of different size shims. The final operation was to install the diff output covers and seal up it all up with a new gasket.

Nothing is ever straightforward, however. I had ordered the Hardy Spicer output covers based on their part number. The parts that arrived had that number cast into them, but they were too long on one side to fit the diff casing. A little research showed that the same part was used on the later Automatic Minis with the rod change gearbox, and an ‘ear’ had been added to the casting to secure the detent spring for the rod gear selection plunger.

A remote gearbox of the type fitted to my Mk1 S does not have that plunger, but it does have a gear selector linkage that must occupy that exact same space in the assembly. So, out with a hand coping saw. Half an hour later the ears were cut off the covers (I did both, even though only one side fouled the casing), and they were back to looking and fitting like 1960s-original parts.

The final task was to refurbish the Hardy Spicer joints with a new crucifix and bearings. This was relatively straightforward and only required cleaning some burrs off the heavily used castings.

With the gearbox screwed down to the bench, I torqued up the main nut on the input and output shafts, and it was job done. More than three years after starting with the idea, I was now the proud owner of a brand-new 22G333 gearbox of correct specification for my Cooper S 1275.

Installation in the car will wait until spring, as with the engine out I think it’s time to rebore and change the pistons.

Postscript — Of the three gearboxes generously donated to the cause, the two from early Minis turned out to be quite rare: 1959 (22A104) and 1960 (22A145). One was a more common model, 1962 (22A363). The oldest was donated to a Mini owner in California who is restoring a ’59 car. I stripped the newest to reuse the gear selector mechanism in my build, and mailed a package containing 32 lbs. of its gears to a U.S. serviceman in Afghanistan who is rebuilding an early gearbox.

The 1960 gearbox is still available if anyone else needs parts!

(Dedicated in memory of John Barker, my loving father and a lifelong petrol-head.)

CANCELLED due to coronavirus concerns that have closed the meeting venue, the Plymouth Airport.

We are currently exploring alternatives to face-to-face meetings, such as conducting business on-line.

Watch the NEMO Google Group list and this space for updates.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — The NEMO Holiday Party on Sunday, December 7th, was held again at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham, Mass.

The party was well attended, with 28 adults plus our youngest member, Nuala Barker. Welcome to new member Bill McFeely, who officially joined up at the Party.

Last year, attendees wore such a great variety of holiday-themed outfits that Faith Lamprey organized an impromptu competition. This year we made the competition an official event and handed out ballots during lunch.

When the ballots were tallied, 1st place was a tie at five votes each, and 2nd place was a tie with four votes each! Prizes were awarded to Nuala Barker with her sparkly dress and fluffy coat, and Wendy Birchmire with her red holiday decoration shirt. John Gallagher deserves honorable mention for his sweater featuring Santa and reindeer landing on an outhouse.

As usual, the Yankee Swap table overflowed with packages and bags of all sizes. There was no single hot gift this year, but there were a lot of great items that changed hands many times. Several attendees had to make multiple trips back to the table after their gifts were stolen, stolen, and stolen again.

One of my personal favorites was the Lucas electrical-themed gift. (In the interest of full disclosure, I had a lot of fun putting it together.) Several years ago, Wendy generously gave me a broken Mini wiper motor in a box labelled “Lucas-TVS Auto Electrical Equipment/Genuine Service Part.” Inspiration struck this year when I happened upon a “Lucas Quality Inspector” baseball cap. The box and hat feature the Lucas “lion and torch” logo. I included cans of “Replacement Wiring Harness Smoke” and “Blinker Fluid,” which were actually Jack’s Abby Smoke & Dagger Beer with faux Lucas service part labels affixed.

Seven-year-old Nuala headed straight for the brightly-wrapped Lucas box, despite my warning that it was really an adult gift. Not to worry, since she and her dad, Iain Barker, were sharing.

One of the popular gifts was a large pillow decorated with photos of NEMO member cars, designed by Wendy. The pillow changed hands a few times until Nuala stole it. As the swap proceeded, a few people ventured over to look at the pillow, passionately guarded by Nuala. No one was serious about stealing it, though, and Nuala happily took it home.

Thom Pickett was a crucial participant this year, and we would still be opening packages were it not for his pocket knife. Other gifts included a framed classic Mini print, a Mini history book, vintage Mini advertisements, a china plate with a rally Mini image, a box of 12 diecast Minis, a black classic Mini-shaped clock, LED trouble lights, a hooded MINI rain poncho, a rally Mini sweatshirt, a MINI logo soccer ball, jumper cables, beer, wine, and Scotch.

Be sure to check the Facebook page and NEMO website for photo albums of the guests and Yankee Swap, to be posted shortly.

In the previous installment, I described solving the mystery of which Cooper S gearbox and specification to build and acquiring a casing to build it into. Now the more difficult task: to find a gear set to go inside the casing. Once again, nobody was selling the ‘hen’s teeth’ gearbox parts I needed.

November 2018 — Having an empty 333 gearbox casing is one thing. Finding the parts to go into it is quite something else. Some gearbox parts are relatively consistent across multiple generations and can be interchanged, but there are thousands of individual differences between, or even within, particular model years. The BMC parts books are inconsistent at best, and in some places entirely wrong. So, it’s a bit of a minefield trying to track down specific parts for any particular vintage of car.

Then I caught a break. A Mini owner in Portugal had been looking for a genuine Cooper S wheel for some time. I had a spare, but with shipping from the USA it was too expensive. However, I found out he had recently built a 333 gearbox and had some parts left over. So, after some bartering, a deal was struck — I would deliver the wheel to Portugal in exchange for a mix of used and new S gears.

Next, over to eBay, where I managed to pick up a pair of rather tatty looking Hardy Spicer couplings from a Mini Automatic. Curiously, BMC/BL used the same couplings for the highest and lowest performance versions of the Mini, and nothing else! Available for UK delivery only, I had them sent to my parents’ house. This was just a few weeks before we were due to fly to the UK to spend the holidays with family so I would pick them up then.

I also put a call out on the NEMO mailing list asking if anyone had an old gearbox they didn’t need, so I would have a base set of parts to work from when assembling my new unit. Club Treasurer Dave Black replied, saying that he had accumulated several of the early cone-type gearboxes over the years, and I was welcome to take those — the catch being that he had three and they were a job lot.

I gladly accepted Dave’s offer, and in the murk of a December evening in a restaurant car-park during the NEMO Holiday Party, the silhouettes of two shady figures could be seen transferring their bounty from the trunk of one car to another.

Unfortunately, UK events transpired a little differently. My father lost his battle with cancer the day of the NEMO Party, so I flew to the UK that same evening to help make my father’s final arrangements. I packed the Cooper S wheel in my checked luggage and scheduled a courier to pick up the wheel from my parents’ house the next day. But the airline lost my checked bag in transit. Aaagh!

Eventually the airline tracked down my bag in Oslo, Norway, and arranged for it to be delivered to my parents’ house. It arrived one day before I was due to fly back to the USA. I rescheduled pickup for the wheel, and everything fell into place thereafter. Except — the courier lost the package containing the wheel for three days while en route to Portugal, but it made it in the end.

February 2019 — My Portuguese contact came through and sent the spare gears via mail to me in the USA. I’ve never understood why, but it’s much less expensive to mail from another country to the USA, than it is to mail from the USA to overseas.

Opening the package, I wondered what I would find. There was a 3rd/4th synchro hub, a new old stock (NOS) 2nd gear, a worn but usable 1st motion shaft (4th gear), and a worn but passable laygear. Very nearly half a gear set. Great result!

Now the hard part: completing a full gear set. I’d come to learn that the late ’60s MG Midget used the same ratio gear set as the Cooper S, and as a result some of the other parts I needed could be found from MG parts vendors. Over the next few months, I bought a new 1st/2nd synchro hub from the UK, an NOS 3rd gear from France, and a new laygear from Italy. The rest of the standard Mini gearbox parts including shafts, new bearings and shims came from the stocks of Guessworks and Mini Spares.

March 2019 — Now it was time to trial-fit the parts. I assembled the main gear shaft and the gear set without too much difficulty. It’s fiddly, and the detent springs and synchro ball bearings had a tendency to shoot off at random angles. But I had bought extras, anticipating my clumsiness. The Haynes manual, on-line photos and even YouTube videos made it quite straightforward — that is, until I got to the 3rd/4th synchro hub.

Try as I might, I just could not get it to fit on the main shaft. Then I took a close look and noticed that the shape and layout of the splines was different for this gear. Evidently it was for a different gear set, even though it looked like it had the correct number of teeth for the Cooper S.

After some discussions on the Mk1 forum, I learned that between the Cooper S 1071 in 1964 and the Cooper S 1275 in 1965, BMC redesigned the gear set and changed from 10 to 11 splines on the main shaft. I have no idea why they did this. Fortunately it is one of the more common parts and I was able to source a brand new 3rd/4th synchro hub from Seattle, which fit perfectly.

With all the main shaft parts now assembled, I dry-mounted it into the gearbox and — horror of horror — it didn’t fit! Everything looked O.K., but the gears would just not mesh with the laygear. How could this be? I counted and re-counted the teeth on all the gears, and everything was ‘by the book’. Yet it seemed the 3rd gear just would not mesh with the laygear.

Assuming that the brand-new MG laygear was the problem, I changed it out for the well-used one supplied by my Portuguese friend. That too did not mesh. So, it had to be the 3rd gear I bought from France that was wrong. Frustrated, I put the whole thing to one side and decided the best option was to ignore the gearbox and sulk for a week.

A week later, feeling less stressed, I put out a call for help on the Mk1 Mini forum. Several people replied that it was most likely an ‘A-type’ 3rd gear, and I needed a ‘B-type’ — another change that BMC had made between the earlier and later S gearboxes, the angle of the helical gear cut being different between the two versions for an identical tooth count. Why? Apparently, the B-type was designed to mesh more quietly and efficiently. Such is progress…

Luckily, I was able to source a good used ‘B’ 3rd gear from a helpful forum member in Canada. This gearbox was now truly an international affair! Even better, the engine specialist in France who sold me the ‘A’ gear also had a new ‘B’ gear and agreed to sell it to me as a replacement. I used the new one and kept the other as a spare. As the old saying goes: “It’s better to be looking at it, than looking for it.”

It turns out the earlier ‘A’ gear I bought from France was even rarer than the ‘B’. I was easily able to re-sell it to an earlier S 1071 owner in the UK. The gear travelled the Atlantic twice in as many weeks and ended up where it truly belonged all along. (At least one other person has contacted me since, asking if it’s still available — I am evidently not alone on this quest.)

[To be continued…]

Save the date! Our Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, March 29th, from noon to 4 p.m., at Plymouth Airport, 246 South Meadow Rd., Gate 2, Plymouth, Mass.

We will have the Green Hangar Conference Room to ourselves, with space for 50 people. After entering Gate 2 (there is no gate to get to the building), park to the right near the large, metal, green building. The entry door is on the right side.

This year we return to the potluck format. Attendees should bring either a main dish, a side dish or a dessert, and your preferred beverage. We need more mains and sides than desserts (which should be limited). As far as beverages, bring double what you like and we should be O.K.

The Green Hangar Conference Room has a warming kitchen, tables and chairs, and is handicapped accessible. We need to set up and take down the chairs and tables and clean up after ourselves.

We will be holding the usual give-away freebie raffle. If you have any Mini-related items you would like to donate, bring them along. An evite will be sent to the membership list in late February with a reminder in March.

Hoping the weather is sunny and warm for the Classics! Questions? Contact Dave Newman at wb1evp@gmail.com.

PLYMOUTH, Mass., Oct. 13 — A handful of Minis made it to the British Legends Weekend show on Sunday, the nicest day of the weekend. The show, hosted by the Cape Cod British Car Club, attracted the Barkers, Bertons, Icazas and Newmans, while Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild brought not a Mini, but an MGB.

The NEMO Holiday Party will be held at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham, Mass., on Saturday, December 7th, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

La Cantina is a family-style Italian restaurant and has been in business since 1946. The member cost for the buffet lunch will be $20 for adults and $10 for children, with the club making up the difference. If your membership has lapsed you can renew at the Party for the six-month rate of $10.

We will be holding a Yankee Swap, so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $25). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is his or her turn to pick. Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens! You get to pick a gift for every gift you bring. For those attending your first NEMO Yankee Swap, many gifts are Mini-, MINI- or British-themed.

We need a head count by November 25th. A reminder Evite will be sent to the NEMO e-mail list. RSVP to the Evite or contact me directly, dschwartz1957@gmail.com or (508) 561-3462. Let me know how many people will be attending, the ages of any children, and if you have any dietary restrictions.

The Holiday Party is one of our most popular events every year. Hope to see you there!—David Schwartz

One of my goals with buying a 1967 Mk1 Mini Cooper S was to experience what it would have been like to drive the fabled Cooper S exactly as it was in the 1960s. Originally a Mk1 Cooper S would have been equipped with a close-ratio gearbox and a higher ratio differential (3.44), suiting the race pedigree of its sports-tuned engine. Unfortunately, my car was fitted with a gearbox from an Elf/Hornet with standard ratio gears and a lower ratio final drive (3.65:1). Although this was perfectly adequate for normal use, there is quite a difference in concept between the sedate “designed for refinement” Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet, versus the “racing pedigree” Cooper S.

There have been many generations and revisions of the gearbox used in the classic Mini. The very first type, from 1959 to 1962, used three bronze cones for the synchromesh, taken from the in-line Austin A35 gearbox design. With a central “magic wand” gear change they were not very reliable, and tended to wear out quite quickly. Next came several generations of the 3-synchro gearbox, using the Porsche design of separate baulk rings for the synchronizer hubs. Then the “magic wand” was replaced by a more accurate “remote” gearbox for use on the sportier Cooper and Cooper S cars. Next a change to 4-synchro remote, then 4-synchro with a rod instead of remote change, and finally a limited edition 5-speed used on the mid-’90s Cooper S 5 cars.

The original Mk1 Mini gearbox had synchromesh on 2/3/4th gear but an un-synchronized “crash on 1st,” the attitude per Alec Issigonis that first gear is only to be used when pulling away from stationary. Unfortunately, he had not foreseen the advent of stop-and-go traffic, where first gear would be used more and more while on the move. This inevitably led to the all-too-familiar repeated grinding to try and find first gear with the car still in motion.

Swapping out the original Mk1 worn gearbox for a fully synchro version donated by a non-S Mk2 or later Mini was a common solution in the ’70s, and most likely the reason my car had the wrong type fitted. Unfortunately, the differential on each Mini is machined to match its gearbox casing, so swapping the gearbox also results in the final drive ratio changing to that of the donor car. This means that not only are the closer ratios of the “sports” S gearbox lost, but also the engine revs much higher in any given gear due to the lower ratio final drive.

This would not do no, not at all.

September 2017 — The first thing I needed was to know exactly which gearbox casing to start from. The premier source for Mini gearbox parts is guess-works.co.uk, and a quick e-mail to John Guess confirmed the worst: “Mk1 S parts are far and few between now. You’re looking for a 190 or 333, for which you may as well take out a second mortgage to pay for.” The Internet forums and reference books confirmed that “Q 22G333” was the casting number used for the 1967 Cooper S 1275.

The 3-synchro 22G333 gearbox was only used from 1964 to 1968. To make matters worse, the factory-spec set-up for my 1967 S was with an improved differential having Hardy Spicer output shafts, introduced as part of the homologation improvements for the Monte Carlo works rally cars to use. Of the total four-year production life of the 22G333 gearbox, that particular combination was only fitted between April 1966 and the introduction of the Mk2 all-synchro gearbox in August 1968.

Other than a list of part numbers, I really didn’t know what I was getting into. Back in the late ’80s/early ’90s, when I was repairing old Minis most weekends, I would focus on bodywork, mechanicals and engines, while anything gearbox-related was left to my father. Gearboxes always seemed like a box of black magic to me. Now it would be my turn to figure out how they worked.

So this is where I found myself — 50 years too late, no real clue what I was getting into, and trying to source a gearbox that was only in production a little over a year. This was not going to be easy. I spent the next year scouring on-line parts vendors, chat forums and other Mini-related sources, but to no avail. It seemed what I was looking for just wasn’t available. Nobody was selling 22G333 gearboxes, and nobody knew where to find one.

November 2018 — As luck would have it, Mini Mania in California was having an end-of-summer stock clear-out, and one of the things they listed in their e-mail newsletter was a used Hardy Spicer differential. After some discussion it emerged that this particular diff had a broken tooth on the crown wheel so it had been sitting on the shelf for a while, but was otherwise serviceable. Better still, they also had the empty 333 gearbox casing to match the diff, but alas, no gear set to go inside it.

I waited anxiously the few days for their “20% off used parts sale” start date, then placed the order. Sure enough, a week or so later the empty gearbox case and diff arrived, plus a new crown wheel to replace the broken one. Even better, no second mortgage required. The game was afoot.

[To be continued…]

WESTON, MASS., Sept. 21 — This marked the 25th year of the Weston car show, presented by the Rotary Club of Weston & Wayland. The show runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with early risers arriving at the Weston town green by 7:30 a.m. Cars park around the green and the Town Hall building and there is plenty of shade.

The morning was cool with bright sunshine — perfect fall weather for a car show. I drove my 1950 Morris Minor Tourer with the top up for the first time this season.

There is always a good turnout of British cars and I knew several NEMO members planned to attend. I spotted Wendy Birchmire’s Union Jack Mini parked next to Tom Birchmire’s MG TD replica and pulled in next to the Mini. Tom and Wendy had spread out to reserve an extra space or two. I made sure to leave room for another little British car. Within minutes Gary and Meryl Hampton parked their TR3A next to my Morris Minor. We had a nice enclave of four LBCs.

Other NEMO members and friends of NEMO trickled in over the course of the morning. Ken Lemoine arrived in his 1961 Jaguar XK150, Iain and Nuala Barker in their 1967 Mini Cooper S, Michael Gaetano in his 1947 Bentley Mark VI, Dean Saluti in his 2007 Jaguar Estate Wagon, and Paul Saulnier in his 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS.

While walking the grounds, I saw the familiar orange color of Alex Daly’s 1962 Mini Cooper 1380. The car was riding a bit low and carrying four adults. Alex’s partner Michael Goncalves was in the back seat, but who were the other people?

A few minutes later the mystery was solved when Alex introduced me to his parents, Ken and Claire Daly. Ken and Claire were long-time NEMO members, bringing Alex with them to NEMO events when he was a baby. Alex is the second-generation owner of the Mini, which he and his father worked on together. Ken declined an offer to drive the car.

Weston is one of my favorite multi-marque shows, with cars spanning 110 or more years of automotive history. The show features everything — Brass Era cars, hot rods, muscle cars, foreign cars, and American cars from every decade.

Each year brings a few rare and unusual cars, and this was no exception. My favorites included a 1904 Oldsmobile, a 1937 Lincoln Zephyr, a 1960 Dodge Polara D-500 and a 1966 Cord 8-10 Sportsman. (Please forgive me as I digress from British cars.)

Cliff Lewis drove his 1904 Oldsmobile Curved Dash GC from Wayland. The car has tiller steering and is truly a horseless carriage. Cliff believes it is the oldest car in Massachusetts that runs on a regular basis.

The Oldsmobile won five awards in Weston, including Best of Show and Most Unusual. Cliff drove the car on the 60-mile London to Brighton Run, which is held every November. The car doesn’t have a top or a wind screen, just an umbrella in a wicker holder fixed to the side, and it rained for the entire drive.

The Lincoln Zephyr is one of three that were factory-built and is the only survivor. It is powered by a V12 engine. The car has streamlined styling cues, teardrop badges and fender decorations that mirror the hood ornament. The Zephyr won two awards.

I am a fan of space-age styling, gratuitous tailfins and extra chrome, and the Dodge Polara is in a class of its own. The car is a two-door with tailfins starting just behind the doors and ending about a third of the way down the trunk. The rear corners have a pair of stacked “jet exhaust” tail lights with the lower lights built into the bumper.

The Polara’s engine is a 383 V8 with ram induction. Dual carburetors connect to long intake manifolds that feed cylinder banks on opposite sides of the engine. Even the interior is futuristic, with a translucent steering wheel and speedometer, push-button transmission, and matching climate control push-buttons.

The Polara won three awards, including Best Muscle Car.

I am familiar with the graceful Cord 810/812 from the late 1930s, but did not know the make was briefly revived in the 1960s.

The original Cords were powered by a V8 engine, featured front wheel drive and had hand-cranked headlights that disappeared into the front fenders. The 1966 Cord Sportsman is scaled down from the original, with a wheelbase 20% shorter and a height lowered by five inches. It retains front wheel drive and is powered by a Corvair flat six engine.

The show car was number 53 out of a total production of 97. It has some original trim parts from 1936 and the first owner was Dick Clark (of American Bandstand fame). Surprisingly, the Cord did not win any awards.

Other British cars included Mike Rosen’s pristine 1962 MGA 1600 MkII, a 1978 Austin Mini, an MGB, a TR6, a 1968 Jaguar E-type, a 1994 Jaguar XJ220, and Rod Gilbert’s 1962 Jaguar XKE OTS. Rod has owned the XKE for many years and drives it regularly. He invited people to sit in it, and I took advantage of his offer.

In the Best British class, Mike Rosen’s 1962 MGA won 1st place, Michael Gaetano’s 1947 Bentley Mark VI placed 2nd, and Gary and Meryl Hampton’s 1960 Triumph TR3A placed 3rd.

In the Best Jaguar class, Ken Lemoine’s 1961 XK150 won 1st place, Rod Gilbert’s 1962 XKE was 2nd and Bill Braun’s 1968 E-type was 3rd. Dean Saluti’s 2007 Jaguar Estate Wagon took 3rd place in the Best of 2000s class.

The Weston show is well worth attending even if you don’t enter a car. You never know what will show up, and I just scratched the surface on interesting non-British cars.

STONEHAM, MASS., Sept. 29 — My daughter Laura usually accompanies me to one car-related event a year as a Father’s Day present. Since she’d met me for lunch at the Faneuil Hall car show in August, I figured we were done for the season. That was before I mentioned “Cars and Critters” at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, Mass.

When the kids were young, we had a family membership at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, and made periodic trips to the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. But somehow, we had never visited the Stone Zoo.

Cars and Critters is sponsored by Mustangs of Massachusetts, a chapter of the Mustang Club of America. Iain and Nuala Barker had attended last year with their 1967 Mini Cooper S. Their car was one of a handful of British cars, amongst a sea of muscle cars. Iain planned to attend again this year, and I asked him to save me a parking spot. Zoo admission is included with the car show entry fee, so the animals would be an added bonus.

My daughters are in their mid-20s, but there are some stuffed animals that they (and we) will never part with. Saturday night before the show I went on a stuffed animal scavenger hunt and found all the old favorites. Laura drove in from Northampton early Sunday morning, accompanied by Simba the lion cub (a recent addition from her days working at the Kennedy Center gift shop.) We filled the back seat of my 1968 Mini Traveller with Daddy Gorilla, Daddy Penguin, Snowflake Shackleton the polar bear, Koala, Monkey Puppet and Simba.

The show hours were 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Four or five rows in the parking lot were already full when we arrived at 9:45. The registration folks were expecting another Mini and directed us to a shady spot next to Iain and Nuala.

As expected, there were loads of Mustangs, muscle cars, a few hot rods with big V8 engines, and some heavily modified Japanese cars. The strangest muscle car was a 1983 SAAB 900 fitted with a short block Ford V-8 engine and a slew of performance upgrades. The Jurassic Park Jeep, a screen accurate recreation of the first jeep seen in the movie, was a special treat. It was parked next to a dinosaur enclosure.

We fielded lots of questions about our Minis and people really enjoyed seeing them at the show. Kids of all ages were amused by the stuffed animals in my car. There was a good climbing tree parked behind the Minis where Nuala spent time channeling her inner primate. (She must have taken lessons from the gibbons.) The only other British cars in attendance were a classic Land Rover, a modern Land Rover, a Rolls-Royce and a Triumph Spitfire. Two Jaguars (of the four-legged variety) live at the zoo as well.

Laura and I spent about two hours visiting the zoo. They have a good variety of animals that are housed in natural enclosures. To quote Laura, “Car shows are more fun when they’re at zoos.”

The NEMO Holiday Party will be held at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham, Mass., on Saturday, December 7th, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

La Cantina is a family-style Italian restaurant and has been in business since 1946. The member cost for the buffet lunch will be $20 for adults and $10 for children, with the club making up the difference. If your membership has lapsed you can renew at the Party for the six-month rate of $10.

We will be holding a Yankee Swap, so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $25). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is his or her turn to pick. Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens! You get to pick a gift for every gift you bring. For those attending your first NEMO Yankee Swap, many gifts are Mini-, MINI- or British-themed.

We need a head count by November 25th. A reminder Evite will be sent to the NEMO e-mail list. RSVP to the Evite or contact me directly, dschwartz1957@gmail.com or (508) 561-3462. Let me know how many people will be attending, the ages of any children, and if you have any dietary restrictions.

The Holiday Party is one of our most popular events every year. Hope to see you there!—David Schwartz

BOSTON, Mass. — This year marked the 12th time the Boston Area MG Club (BAMG) hosted the Faneuil Hall British Car Show series. BAMG welcomes owners of all British cars to participate. Club membership is not a requirement, nor is owning an MG. Cars are parked on the cobblestones between Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, with space for about 16 cars, so this is a very small show.

What makes the shows unique is the interaction with the public. Car shows are usually attended by people with an interest in cars and the audience is self-selecting. At Faneuil Hall there are thousands of tourists from all over the world. They don’t expect to see a classic British car show at a tourist venue and are always pleasantly surprised.

Speaking with people from the U.K. is especially fun. They love to talk about similar cars their family owned, the car they learned to drive on (“Gran owned one just like it”), etc.

It is a long day. Cars need to arrive at the staging area by 8:30 a.m. and the show ends at 3 p.m. Faneuil Hall security opens a gate to let us in and out. Leaving is a hoot, as hundreds of people gather to wave and take photos and videos.

I have been attending these shows with my 1968 Mini for the past five years and it is one of my favorite events of the season. For the June 22nd show I brought the Mini, and for the August 24th “People’s Choice” show, I drove my 1950 Morris Minor convertible.

In June, my Mini, an MGA, and a Triumph TR3A were flanked on both sides by MGBs. The owner of an MGB parked next to my Mini answered questions about my car any time I wasn’t there. It was nice of the organizers to park all the cool cars in the middle.

At about 2 p.m. the sky turned dark and there was a heavy thunderstorm warning. We hurriedly packed up our cars and made a hasty exit to beat the rain. Most of the convertibles left their tops down. I kept trading places with an MGA heading west on the Mass Turnpike. A few miles before my exit it started to rain, but I made it home without getting caught in a downpour.

The morning of the August show started out like a crisp fall day. It was 55° when I left the house and rather cold driving into Boston with the Morris Minor’s top down. The car doesn’t have a heater, so I rolled up the windows and closed the vent windows. The Minor prefers local roads to highways. The sun was bright and the air much warmer by the time I arrived in Boston.

There was a great turnout, including a 1966 Rolls-Royce Phantom V, a 1991 Mini Cooper, Wendy Birchmire’s Mini-based Domino Pimlico, Gary Hampton’s 1960 TR3A, Nels Anderson’s 1963 Land Rover Station Wagon, Tom Birchmire’s MG TD Replicar, a 1957 MG Magnette ZB, a Triumph TR6, and of course a lot of MGBs!

The Phantom V is slightly larger than the Space Shuttle. It was parked in the center of the car row, surrounded on both sides by mere commoners’ cars. The black paint gleamed, and the interior was replete with luxury accoutrements.

Ned Niemiec owns the Rolls and drives it to other shows around New England, but this was his first Faneuil Hall show. I gave Ned a heads-up that the public would crowd in close for photos. He was a good sport as people posed with the car and leaned in the windows for a better look. It seemed likely that the Rolls would win the 1st place People’s Choice award.

Pete Rhoten’s 1991 Mini Cooper is a Rover Special Products (RSP) model of which only 1,650 were produced. He imported the car from the UK in 2017, shortly after it became legal in the U.S. The car has covered a mere 30,400 miles in 28 years and is original except for a repaint due to fading.

Wendy Birchmire’s incredibly cute Domino was parked next to the BAMG information tent. A steady stream of people posed with the car and took turns sitting in it. Wendy quickly handed out all her voting ballots. When the votes were tallied, “cute” won out over luxury. The Domino placed first, the Rolls second and an MGB third.

A very special guest happened to be visiting Boston on August 24th. When the British Consulate heard about the Faneuil Hall car show, they arranged for “The Queen” to put in an appearance. When the show ended, Ned Niemiec chauffeured Her Majesty back to the consulate in his Rolls. (Truth be told, The Queen was advertising for Boston’s Dreamland Wax Museum.) My family met me for lunch and my daughter Laura accompanied me on the leisurely ride home.

“Cars of Summer” in Worcester, Mass., certainly lived up to its name. Set in the picturesque Green Hill Park, the event is arranged around what was originally the access road to the Green family private estate and homestead, circa 1760.

The show is held over three days starting on July 4th, U.S. Independence Day. Saturday was the main car show this year, and when Best in Class awards were presented.

The day was all set for sweltering summer weather, but that didn’t seem to affect the turnout. There were multiple classes, including one for classic cars 25 years and older. While ours was the only classic Mini, there were other European cars including a very nicely restored VW Type 2 van and a ‘screen star’ VW Beetle painted as Herbie, the Love Bug.

This event is very family-friendly, and includes a central pavilion with live music, street food and snack vendors, and a ‘kid zone’ children’s activity area with inflatable bounce house-type attractions. The park also incorporates Green Hill Farm — which although not open for petting the animals during car show hours, was available to walk around and view.

My daughter Nuala views our 1967 Mini Cooper S 1275 as her own (which hopefully one day it will be), and her main activity for the afternoon was treating the Mini like a climb-through playhouse, inviting all the kids at the show to climb in one door and out the other. Good job I’m not one of the “hands off” owners — it’s important to engage the next generation, and a few sticky fingers and scuff marks on the vinyl are no big deal.

Over 300 show cars attended the event, somewhat biased towards American classics and muscle cars. In addition to a Best in Show award, there are 50 judged runner-up prizes given out. Although by far the smallest vehicle in attendance and well out of its element as one of only two British cars I spotted (the other was a ’70s MG Midget), our little Mini did us proud by winning a runner-up prize.

As the afternoon wore on, the weather quickly started to turn and a local thunderstorm and flooding alert was issued on the Wireless Emergency Alerts System. The event organizers decided to hold the prize presentations early, allowing people time to get their cars back home and dry before the rain came. Of course, we did not have that luxury, being in a slow car and a long way from home, so we chose to grab a budget hotel room in Worcester, Mass., and stayed overnight.

Standing in the hotel lobby, looking out at poor “Mini KK” in the rain, we saw our car was almost up to her hubcaps in running water and it was torrenting off the roof and down the scuttle. Being a 52-year-old car it’s not exactly state of the art when it comes to waterproofing, but there was no sheltered parking so c’est la vie.

The next morning, I expected to open the doors and be presented by a biblical level of floodwater gushing out onto my shoes. But in fact, it was remarkably dry inside — just some dampness on the door cards where the rain had driven sideways between the sliding windows, easily cleaned up with paper towels. My daughter got a bonus day at the Worcester EcoTarium as a result, which turned a good weekend into a great weekend.

The NEMO Holiday Party will be held at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham, Mass., on Saturday, December 7th, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

This is the same venue we have enjoyed for the last two years. La Cantina is a family-style Italian restaurant and has been in business since 1946. The member cost for the buffet lunch will be $20 for adults and $10 for children, with the club making up the difference. If your membership has lapsed you can renew at the Party for the six-month rate of $10.

We will be holding a Yankee Swap, so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $25). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is his or her turn to pick. Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens!

You get to pick a gift for every gift you bring. Please, no more than one gift per person or the Party will never end.

For those attending your first NEMO Yankee Swap, many gifts are Mini-, MINI-, or British-themed.

We need a head count by November 25th. A reminder Evite will be sent to the NEMO e-mail list. RSVP to the Evite or contact me directly, dschwartz1957@gmail.com or (508) 561-3462. Let me know how many people will be attending, the ages of any children, and if you have any dietary restrictions.

The Holiday Party is one of our most popular events every year. Hope to see you there!

Directions: The address is La Cantina Italiana, 911 Waverley St., Framingham, MA 01702, and the phone number is (508) 879-7874.

Take I-90 (Mass Turnpike) to Exit 12. Bear right on the ramp and follows signs toward Framingham. Merge onto Rt. 9 East (Worcester Road). Follow Rt. 9 for about 1.8 miles. You will pass Dunkin’ Donuts followed by Samba Steak & Sushi. Immediately after Samba, take a sharp right onto Winter Street. Follow Winter Street about 1.8 miles until it ends. At the traffic light, take a left onto Waverley Street (Rt. 135). La Cantina will be on the left.

There is parking behind the restaurant and in a large lot across the street.

NEWTON, Mass., July 12-14 — The Goulds’ 24th Microcar Classic varied ever so slightly from its usual format. The Friday evening welcome reception was catered this year, which gave Nancy Gould, who hosts the event with her husband Charles, more time to socialize with the guests. William Ellis mapped out a new route for the Saturday driving tour from Newton to the summit of Mt. Wachusett.

The rest of the weekend was unchanged, with a stop at the Gould’s Matchbox Motors storage facility, Saturday night barbecue, and Sunday lawn event at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Mass.

AlphaCars was back this year with two different Russian cars. A 1976 Volga GAZ M24 “Moscow Taxi,” complete with taximeter, checkerboards and roof light. The Volga resembled a ’60s Ford Fairlane or Dodge Dart, and was the preferred car of the KGB. The second car was a 1990 ZAZ 968M Zaporozhets with an air-cooled rear engine.

My favorite oddball car this year was Max Hall’s Vespa 400, which was converted to an electric car back in 1972. The Vespa is powered by an old forklift motor and ordinally had eight large lead-acid batteries. Max updated it to use four modern batteries. The electric Vespa was one of three Vespa 400s at the Museum lawn event on Sunday. A gas-powered Vespa screamed its way up Mt. Wachusett on Saturday (and I do mean screamed, since with two passengers the owner kept it in first gear for the entire ascent!).

Minicar and microcar owners often have a sense of humor. A two-tone red and white Nash Metropolitan sported a giant wind-up key protruding from the trunk-mounted spare tire. The previous owner had wired the key to an electric motor so it spun slowly. Sadly, the Metropolitan broke down on the driving tour.

Five classic Minis and two Mokes started the 120-mile Mt. Wachusett drive. Unfortunately, Bruce Vild’s Mini suffered a potentially serious failure with no compression in two cylinders, and was towed by AAA. The preliminary diagnosis was head gasket failure, which was confirmed a week later by Dave Black. Dave had the repair complete and Bruce back behind the wheel a few days later. Bruce and Faith completed the driving tour in the Goulds’ Nissan Pao, along with Kate Lane.

Luke Vancraeynest’s 1981 Trabant had an alternator problem early in the driving tour, for a total of three casualties.

Two Subaru 360s were in attendance, both of which completed the driving tour. One of the 360s won an award for the longest distance driven to attend the weekend, having motored in from Springfield, Mass.

The new route to Mt. Wachusett had a lot more turns and a few cars got lost. There was an unexpected construction detour, and cars at the back of the line were quite confused when the front cars doubled back. Everyone eventually reconvened at the summit.

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day for the lawn event at Larz Anderson. The cars paraded from Newton to Brookline and parked by marque or category. There were eight Minis and two Mokes on the lawn. Most of the Minis belonged to NEMO members. I felt like a bit of a traitor to NEMO by driving my 1950 Morris Minor convertible on Sunday (though I did drive my 1968 Mini Traveller on Saturday). This year the Minis parked in the shade, rather than the sunny center of the lawn.

Sunday, July 14th, was Bastille Day, which is celebrated as the turning point of the French Revolution in 1790. All the French car owners celebrated by holding a parade on the lawn while the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” blared from the Museum’s sound system. It was quite a sight. Then it was time to give car rides to the public, a high point of the day.

Ken Lemoine’s 1965 Mini Traveller won 1st place in the Mini class, and Wendy Birchmire’s 1973 Union Jack Mini took 2nd. A VTEC Mini was 3rd.

Next year will be the 25th anniversary of Gould’s Microcar Classic. There will surely be some surprises. To get a sense of the weekend, see the on-line photo album posted by Joshua Sweeney, professional automotive photographer extraordinaire, at https://shootfordetails.smugmug.com/Automotive-Tours/Goulds-Microcar-Classic/Microcar-Classic-2019/.

To show or not to show, that is the question. On the plus side, the BCNH Show of Dreams is well-run, and Hudson, N.H., it isn’t a long drive from Needham, Mass., and is an easy distance to trailer. I was sure other NEMO members would be present, and friendly conversation makes the day go by much faster. On the negative side, my husband and I are winter people and don’t do well in the sun. A day of temperatures in the mid-80s wouldn’t be too hot as long as we had a tent to sit under. Let’s do it!

We decided to trailer “Jack,” our 1973 Morris Mini 1000. This year trailers were allowed to park close to the show field instead of on the other side of the visitor parking lot, making it much easier to unload heavy items like tents. Thank you, BCNH show coordinators! They also had “cooling tents” dispersed throughout the rows of vehicles. Inside each tent was a large cooler filled with ice water. We ended up sitting under one of their tents instead of putting up our own. Others joined us and we got to meet more car enthusiasts.

There were lots of vendors on the perimeter of the show field selling British car products and other items. An especially popular spot was the ice cream truck. There was a 50/50 raffle with over $200 going to the winner, and a silent auction featuring restaurant coupons, hotel accommodations and other goodies. A third raffle was for the prize of your choice on a table filled with car-related products. Each car registrant automatically received one ticket for the third raffle. Some people purchased long strips of tickets, hoping to be one of the early winners.

The Show of Dreams has been held every year since 1996 and BCNH selects local charities to receive show proceeds. The 2019 recipients were the High Hopes Foundation of New Hampshire, which aids chronically ill children and their families, and the New Hampshire Food Bank, the only food bank in the state. Each charity gave an award to their favorite car. Lucinda and Peter Barrone took home a trophy with a miniature shopping cart on it (very cute) from the Food Bank. Jack and I were awarded a plaque from the High Hopes Foundation.

There were only three classic Minis and four modern MINIs in this show. David Rosenberg and his Mini took a 2nd place in his division. Jack took 1st place in the British Classics 1970-1979 class. Best of Show went to Mark Harrison and his 1938 Bentley.

BCNH gives a unique gift to the 1st-place winner in each car class. Last year I received an elegant bottle of wine with a BCNH private label and a matching glass with the club logo. This year I won a folding camp chair. On the back it says, “2019 Show of Dreams 1st Place” along with the BCNH emblem.

The day was a huge success. I won a raffle prize with the one free ticket that came with my registration. For my prize I chose a Stanley Automatic Battery Charger/Maintainer.

A three-win day for Jack and me!

Regular readers may recall the article in the February newsletter about the early Mini Cooper 1071 S owned by Zach Barbera (car #3 from the 1963 Cooper works build). Iain had been trying for some time to cajole Zach into bringing his car to the Goulds’ Microcar Classic at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to get the car ready, it failed inspection due to excessive play in the steering rack.

If you’ve ever watched the BMC short film Wizardry on Wheels (available on YouTube) there is a scene where the painted Mini bodies are lowered from an overhead gantry to mate up with the assembled front end. The steering rack is clearly visible already fitted on the body, and it ends up sandwiched between the subframe and the body.

The video should have provided a hint as to how difficult it is to change the rack on an Mk1 Mini. The twin carburetors must be removed to gain vertical clearance. Then the front subframe mounts, engine steady and solid brake lines need to be disconnected so that the front of the car body can be separated from its mechanicals and raised up. Finally, the steering rack can be unbolted and withdrawn through the wheel arch.

So it was, on a hot, hot (90°-plus) day in July we found ourselves splitting a Mini in two. We worked in an open garage using just a trolley jack and an assortment of wooden props and axle stands.

On examining the rack after it was removed, it was obvious it needed a new end bearing. Where there should have been a nylon support bushing, we found nothing but a thick brown slurry of grease and decomposed plastic granules. Unfortunately, this car is not standard Cooper S and had been heavily modified when it was rebuilt as a racecar by Zach’s father in the mid-’90s. The steering rack was in fact a ‘quick rack’ with a 2.2 ratio. We e-mailed the original U.K. vendor and their reply stated that replacement bearings for this specialist part were no longer available.

Fortunately, similar steering racks were used on late model MPi Minis, and an entire new quick-rack is available from U.K. vendors. Order placed, a few days later DHL duly arrived with the new rack. Fitting it was straightforward, other than that I attached the tapered ball joints upside-down. In my defense, I assembled them the way they are shown in the 1963 BMC workshop manual. But the diagram in the manual was evidently drawn the wrong way up! This made for an interesting test-drive by Zach, but was easily remedied.

With the rack re-fitted and the two halves of the car bolted back together, it passed inspection with no issues. Now all we needed was a show to attend.

Melmark New England, a school for children with autism, hosts an annual all-makes classic car show in Andover, Mass. This year’s show was scheduled for August 10th, so that was our new goal.

The show is held on grass in the leafy grounds surrounding the school. Lots of trees provided shade for a summer day, and there was room for lawn chairs and pop-up awnings. Around 150 cars were in attendance. There was a wide variety, with classic two-seater Ford T-Birds, Corvettes, ’60s to ’70s muscle cars, an Edsel, a Model T, a firetruck, a Willys Jeep and many others.

The show itself is short and sweet, running from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and entry is free. All exhibitors and spectators are able to vote for their favorite car. We forget who won the show, but the runner-up did not step forward when announced, so the trophy was passed on to Pim as the next-most popular vote getter. (Wendy said, “I’ll take People’s Choice Runner-up any day, especially when competing with the caliber of cars at this show!”)

Good weather held for the duration of the show, but rain appeared shortly thereafter. Luckily, Tom had convinced Wendy to bring along Pim’s top and windows, so they were all set for the drive home. (Wendy again, “Note to self — listen to your husband more frequently!”)

All said, this is a great little car show and highly recommended for classic Mini owners.

BRISTOL, R.I., June 8 — I was still recovering from a hectic but ultimately rewarding “British by the Sea” show in Waterford, Conn., the previous weekend, and was looking forward to a more relaxed road trip to the British Motorcar Festival in Bristol.

This was to be the second “overnight” car show this year for my daughter Nuala and me, but due to the busy social calendar of a seven-year-old these days, we would not be able to attend the opening Friday night parade. Instead, we drove down early on the Saturday, while temperatures were still cool enough not to trouble the engine of my 1967 Mini Cooper S.

The trip down was uneventful, save for the constant honks, thumbs-up and cellphone photos taken from modern cars on I-95, and we arrived in plenty of time to set up pitch in the classic Mini row.

Bristol has the same organizational team as the Stowe British Invasion, and follows that established order of ceremonies — including having a “royal” visitor chauffeured to her throne, and various British-themed events throughout the day including “British fashion” and “ladies’ hats” competitions.

Seven classic Minis were in attendance, with a good spread of the models represented: Morris Super-Deluxe, Innocenti, Morris Cooper S, Austin Saloon, Austin Countryman, Morris Traveller with a VTEC engine, and a Morris 1/4-ton Commercial Van. Honorable mention goes to “Fuddy,” a solitary Morris Minor Series II.

Compared to Stowe, the Bristol show is small — about a quarter the size — but benefits from a more intimate ambiance. The location is also great for kids, with the seashore and a playground within easy sight of the show field. And bright weather all day helped the cars look their best.

After the show we retired to our hotel in Seekonk, with Sunday being mostly taken up by Nuala’s favorite activity of mini golf.

In all, it was a great little car show and one we will definitely revisit in future.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., June 15 — NEMO’s Ken Lemoine has organized a small classic car show at Framingham’s MetroFest for the past six years. MetroFest offers a bit of everything, with 20 food trucks, music and dance performances, kids’ activities, craft beer tasting and over 100 vendor booths. In previous years the car show was multi-marque with British cars, American muscle cars, European cars and even a truck from the early 1900s. This year the theme was all British, with cars supplied by members of NEMO and the Boston Area MG Club (BAMG). Many owners belong to both clubs.

Wendy Birchmire drove her oh-so-cute 1973 Union Jack Morris Mini, and was joined later by her husband Tom. Bob Brownell had a short drive from Shrewsbury in his 1963 Austin Mini. Bob’s wife and granddaughters arrived separately in a modern car (no seat belts in the Mini).

I finished re-installing the interior in my 1950 Morris Minor Tourer the night before Metrofest, and the car had its debut at the event. My wife Betty Lehrman and daughter Alison met me later in the day for lunch.

Ken Lemione brought his 1961 Jaguar XK150, one of the last five imported to the U.S. before Jaguar switched to the XKE. Ken’s daughter Alison and her children also joined us for lunch.

BAMG member Michael Crawford drove his 1933 MG J2 in from Uxbridge, Mass. Twenty-year-old James Nifong and other BAMG members brought their MGBs.

The LBCs were very popular with the public. An overly enthusiastic teenage girl sprinted toward an MGB and was about to vault over the door when I called out to her. Owners did allow people to sit in their cars, as long as they asked permission first!

One of my favorite photo-ops was two young brothers sitting in the cockpit of the MG J2 as Ken looked on.

While scoping out food truck menus I was excited to see a nicely restored Divco Milk Truck that had been converted to an ice cream truck. The owner was sitting in the driver’s seat and was quite surprised when I asked him the year of the Divco, as no one else knew what it was!

(I did, because in the late ’50s to early ’60s a milkman delivered dairy products to my house in a Divco truck.)

This particular Divco was a 1948 and the owner, Philip Rosenfield, invited me to climb aboard to look around. Rosenfield also owns the “Reasons to be Cheerful” home-made ice cream shops in Hudson and Concord, Mass. The truck is named “Chillwagon.” It attends local festivals and is available for private events.

Contact Ken (alvis1934@aol.com) if you are interested in participating next year. Or just come for lunch. Admission is free.

BROOKLINE, Mass., June 23 — The weather was sunny and warm for the 2019 edition of British Car Day at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. Overall turnout was good, with cars filling the upper lawn and two rows on the lower lawn. The Rolls-Royce and Bentley contingent parked across from the main museum entrance.

Given the record 60th anniversary turnout at British by the Sea, it was surprising there were only five classic Minis and three modern MINIs in attendance. I felt like a traitor driving my 1950 Morris Minor Tourer instead of my Mini. The Minor spent two years on jack stands in my garage while I sorted out sins of previous owners. My goal was to have it back on the road in time for British Car Day.

NEMO regulars Iain and Nuala Barker, Wendy Birchmire, and Alex Daly were in attendance. As was Ken Lemoine, who brought his recently acquired 1961 Jaguar XK150. Brett Lemoine drove Ken’s 1965 Mini Traveller, so he was well represented. Bill Psaledakis and his wife had the fifth classic Mini, a 1979 Austin in green with a checkered roof. Their car pulled in next to a green 2019 JCW MINI Cooper S with only 500 miles.

Most of the Minis were parked in the middle of the upper lawn. I brought my pop-up tent so NEMO members and friends could gather in the shade. When the wind picked up, Iain improvised tent stakes with screwdrivers from his tool kit.

I always search out unusual or rarely seen cars. There was a large Lotus turnout, including a Europa and three Elans, two convertibles and a coupe. The coupe was for sale. Then there was the rare 1948 Jaguar 3-1/2 Litre Drop Head Coupe. The car had a three-position top that can open over the driver while passengers remained in the shade. The look was decidedly prewar, like a chauffeur-driven Duesenberg.

A very original Jaguar XK120 Coupe sported a “Please Touch” sign on the windshield. Wow!

A 1970 Marcos GT powered by a Volvo B30 engine was parked on the lower field. The Marcos has a fiberglass body with a long bonnet that reminded me of a Jaguar E-type. A total of 150 were sold in the U.S. by Volvo dealers.

A Triumph TR7 owner with a sense of humor had affixed Ferrari badges to his car. Late in the show, a beautiful blue and white 1934 Riley roadster was driven onto the upper lawn by an owner clad in a winter hat. The car stayed for less than an hour and was never judged.

Ken Lemoine’s 1965 Mini Traveller won best in the Mini class, and Wendy Birchmire’s 1973 Union Jack Mini took home the People’s Choice Award.

WATERFORD, Conn., June 2 — To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the classic Mini was featured as “Marque of the Year” at the Connecticut MG Club’s 32nd annual British by the Sea (BBTS).

The day started out overcast, but around noon the sun broke through the clouds. Harkness Memorial State Park, the site of the gathering, is a beautiful venue, and all show cars park on a large lawn with a view of Long Island Sound. There were 320 fantastic British vehicles at the show this year!

For the past few months I have been writing about BBTS in NEMO Newsbeat and posting event reminders on social media. Clearly, Mini and MINI owners got the message. We had a great turnout with 23 classics and 13 modern MINIs. The CT MG Club said it was the most “Marque of the Year” cars that have ever shown up at BBTS! Several members even brought one of each, while others brought two classics!

The official show start time was 10 a.m., but Minis continued to trickle in until after 11, so the parkers started a second row.

There were four NEMO member classic Minis I had never seen before. Dave and Fran Brown brought a ’66 Moke and ’67 Van, both of which were in pristine condition. Paul Smith brought a ’70 Innocenti Mini that he had rescued from under a tarp, as well as a ’67 Austin Van. The Van was a left-hand drive export model for Finland, equipped with a factory engine block heater and fresh air cabin heater in the engine compartment.

Other NEMO members got their cars back on the road just in time for BBTS.

Dan St Croix’s ’71 Morris Mini had been parked for five years. After a trailer ride to Dave Black’s Mini Barn, Dan’s car made the drive to Waterford. Dan looked particularly natty in his white coveralls with red trim. His windshield sign listed “cute single driver” as a feature, and I have to agree.

Greg Mazza’s ’67 Cooper S also made the trip, after finally drying out from the hurricane that hit British Legends Weekend on Cape Cod in 2016.

Lorine and Derick Karabec trailered their gorgeous ’67 Wolseley Hornet (a “booted” Mini variant) up from Ulster Park, N.Y. It is always a treat to see their Hornet, as these cars were not imported to the U.S. Dianne Izzo couldn’t make it to BBTS, but she sent her ’73 Austin Mini with family friends.

Iain and Nuala Barker’s ’67 Cooper S has been a regular at many events. This year Iain also brought a Churchill Hydrolastic pump he restored, as well as an original BMC tool roll.

Wendy Birchmire brought her popular Union Jack ’73 Morris Mini 1000 and Paul Berton flat-towed his ’67 Austin Cooper S down from Salem, Mass.

Bob Brownell made a 2 1/2-hour scenic drive on back roads from Shrewsbury, Mass., through eastern Connecticut. This was a comfortable 40-50mph drive for his ’63 Austin Mini’s 850cc engine. At 85 miles each way, it was the longest drive in his five years of ownership. To be safe, Bob carried tools and spare parts, while his wife Kathy followed in a modern car.

Dave Black drove down in his ’79 Mini 1000, as did Mark Fodor in his ‘59/’60 Austin Mini. Betty and I had an uneventful drive from Framingham, Mass., in my ’68 Morris Mini Traveller. Given the blown head gasket last year, I kept the speed down on the highway.

Barbara Newman drove “Buffy,” her ’60 Morris Mini, while Dave Newman drove their 2013 MINI Cooper Club Van woodie wagon. I have it on good authority that Dave’s modern MINI had trouble keeping up with Barbara’s 850cc classic. Buffy wore a variety of 60th birthday decorations at the show.

Dave Icaza brought his ’69 “Surfer Dude” Austin Countryman, and Jean Icaza parked her 2002 MINI Cooper on the show field.

Yes, NEMO was well represented in both classes.

Non-member classics included a ’98 Mini that climbed Mount Washington and sported a “MINIs on Top” decal, a VTEC estate and a VTEC saloon, and a restoration in progress displayed on a flatbed trailer. The show announcer kept referring to the restoration project as half a Mini whenever additional classics arrived on the field and he gave the count!

Antonio Sapata has been active in the modern MINI scene for some time. He brought a recently acquired an ’81 Mini and is busy fitting it with Mk1 features, though he won’t swap out the wind-up windows.

Roger Bartlett’s 2008 “Minions MINI” was a crowd favorite and won 1st in the New MINI class. The car is yellow with green stripes, wheels and accents, and is covered with “Minions” from the Despicable Me movies.

There were several signs stating “Life is too short to drive a boring car.” Dave Oliveira displayed two MINIs on the show field, the GABB racing MINI and his daily driver. A MINI Clubman had a pop-up tent mounted on the roof. The owner said he has taken the car on camping trips and the tent sleeps two.

I am always on the lookout for oddball vehicles, and one of the most unusual cars on the field was a 1960 Bugeye Sprite that had been converted to an electric drivetrain.

From a distance I knew something was different when I spotted thick orange cables under the open bonnet. The 80hp AC motor accelerates from 0 to 60mph in just 10 seconds (the original 948cc engine took 20.5 seconds). The batteries are in the boot, which gives a 50/50 weight distribution, and the car is only 75 lbs. heavier than a 1275cc gas-powered version. The gearshift lever was replaced with a cup holder, and a battery charge gauge is mounted on the dash. Otherwise the interior is true to the original.

Several rarely-seen cars were present at the show. A 1953 Triumph Mayflower was registered in the Open Sedan class. The Mayflower is a very small saloon with upscale lines, as if a Bentley was scaled down by half.

Another Triumph, a 1948 2000 Roadster, was registered in the Open Sport class. The 2000 has “dickey” seats in the boot, just in front of the spare tire, which is mounted on the boot lid. There is a second windshield that folds up from the boot to protect the rear passengers.

When awards were handed out for the Classic Mini class, Iain and Nuala Barker’s 1967 Cooper S took 1st and Best in Show Featured Marque. Wendy Birchmire’s 1973 Morris Mini took 2nd, and Fran and Dave Brown took 3rd with their 1966 Austin Mini Moke. Congratulations to all.

Hopefully, the Mini 60th anniversary celebration will continue throughout the New England car show season.

A cautionary tale for those who do their own electrical maintenance. When replacing a car battery, make sure it is of the correct physical size and there is plenty of clearance before reconnecting the terminals.

A friend with an Mk1 Mini installed a new battery that had the same amps rating as the old one, but was wider, longer and shorter than the original. The reduced height caused the positive terminal to arc onto the metal floor when driving, and ultimately several hundred amps of current melted the old-style lead negative terminal clamp.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jeff Lane established the Lane Motor Museum in 2002, donating a personal collection of 70 vehicles. Now there are over 580 vehicles in the collection, and the Museum, located in a former Sunbeam bakery, has a 40,000 sq. ft. main floor, enough to display approximately 150 cars. Additional vehicles are stored in an attached parking garage and in the lower level known as “The Vault.”

The Museum rotates its collection on a regular basis and runs several special exhibits a year. Vault tours are held on most Saturdays and Sundays and are highly recommended!

Budget an entire day to visit the Museum. Serious fans of unusual cars will have no problem filling that much time. They have a large microcar collection, one-of-a-kind vehicles, and “uniquely different” cars. The Museum slogan is “Unique Cars from A to Z,” and that is an understatement.

The car that started Jeff Lane on the path to collecting was a 1955 MG TF 1500, a Christmas present from his father when he was 12 years old. The MG arrived as a body shell, frame, engine and pile of parts. Jeff spent four years restoring the car and took his driver’s test in it. The TF has a prominent place on the main floor and is surrounded by other British cars.

Unusual Minis

The Museum owns about 40 British cars, including classic Minis wearing Austin, Morris and Innocenti badges. Custom and unusual Minis include a 1965 Austin Twini Mini replica, a 1976 Austin Reptune Mini GT Gullwing, a 1969 Austin Mini Convertible, a Chilean-built, fiberglass bodied 1969 Austin Mini, a 1960 Austin “Shorty” Mini 850, a 2/3rd-scale Morris Mini convertible, and a 1975 Morris Mini GT5 racecar. The Chilean Mini body shell was developed by Peel Engineering.

In 1962, BMC built an experimental Mini Moke with two engines to help its off-road capabilities. This inspired John Cooper to build a “Twini Mini” saloon with a second engine in the rear, for use as a rally car. While testing the Cooper Twini, a mechanical failure resulted in a rollover and John Cooper was seriously injured.

Downton Engineering also built a Twini and BMC may have built several. Research done by the Museum did not reveal any original Twini examples, so the only option was to recreate one. Work on the Lane’s Twini replica started in 2007. A cutaway drawing and photographs helped get the details correct. The car has a set of Smiths gauges for each engine and two gearshift levers linked together by a cross bar. The accelerator works both throttles and one pedal works both clutches.

The Reptune Mini kit car is a fiberglass gullwing body designed to drop on a standard Mini, once the doors, roof, bumpers and lights have been removed. The kit was built in Ontario, Canada, and originally came with smoked acrylic gullwing doors. (The doors were not present on the Museum’s example.)

The 2/3rd-scale Mini was displayed next to a scaled-down Messerschmitt KR200. According to the museum website, the scaled down Mini was “built from body parts taken from a 1975 Mini, skillfully shrunken to approximately 2/3 the size of a real Mini.” The car looks much smaller than 2/3rd scale. It’s about the size of a child’s battery powered ride-in car.

Micros and Minicars

Of course, the Lane owns several cars built by the Peel Engineering Company, including a replica of the 1964 Peel P50. The P50 is known as the world’s smallest-ever passenger car. It is a three-wheeler, seats one person, has a 49cc engine with no reverse gear and weighs in at 250 pounds. Many readers have seen the episode of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson drove a P50 into the BBC Television Centre, in and out of elevators and down corridors, sitting in the car throughout his journey.

Somewhat taller than the P50 is the 1948 Lamar, described as the world’s narrowest car. At 2 ft., 4 in. wide, the Lamar was designed to fit through a standard British garden gate. The P50 is over 1 ft. wider. The Lamar’s target market was urban women shoppers. The car looks like it belongs on a children’s playground and sales were very limited.

The 1962 Sabra Sport Four was Israel’s first attempt at a sports car and is a marque that few are likely to be familiar with. Israel lacked a domestic auto industry at that time, so components were provided by 27 different British vendors, including Reliant, manufacturer of the tippy three-wheel Robin. The Sabra looks like a cross between an Alfa Romeo Spider and several different British roadsters.

The Museum owns several French-built propeller-driven cars, including a 1932 Helicron. It is unclear why anyone thought mounting a propeller on the front of a car was a good idea, and only one Helicron was produced. The Helicron steers using its rear wheels, and there is a video on the Museum website showing it being driven.

Numerous one-off prototype cars were displayed on the main floor. Streamliners included a replica of the 1933 Dymaxion, designed by Buckminster Fuller, and the oval-shaped 1946 Hewson Rocket, plus three teardrop-shaped cars designed by James Martin: a 1928 Martin Aerodynamic, a 1932 Martin Martinette, and a 1950 Martin Stationette, which featured wooden monocoque construction (you have to admire Martin’s perseverance).

Another odd one, the 1967 Gyro-X two-wheeled, gyroscopically-stabilized vehicle, was reported to reach speeds of 125mph using an 80hp Mini Cooper S engine.

As a microcar fan, I was familiar with the Zundapp Janus 250 from pictures in books and magazines, but had never seen one in person. Fortunately, the Museum owns a nice example from 1957. The Zundapp is like a two-headed BMW Isetta, in that it has a refrigerator-style door at each end. The car is symmetrical when viewed from the side. Passengers enter through the rear door and can face either front or rear. The engine is mounted between the two rows of seats, which can be folded down to provide a double bed for camping.

The Museum website (www.lanemotormuseum.org) provides details on the cars in this article, a complete list of the collection, and videos of unusual cars being driven. Click on the “Events” dropdown for Vault Tour information, and the annual “Rally for the Lane,” a fundraising event where you get to drive cars from the collection on a full day rally.

To see more photos of my trip, go to the NEMO website’s Gallery under “Events.” And for a chance to see and ride in some unique cars in the greater Boston area, don’t miss Gould’s Microcar and Minicar Classic, July 12-14 in Newton, Mass. Visit www.bubbledrome.com for more information.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Mar. 31 — This year we held the NEMO Annual Meeting at Owen O’Leary’s Restaurant, a brew pub with two locations in eastern Massachusetts. They feature an Irish pub menu and a good beer selection. We reserved the lounge, a semi-private room that opens onto the bar. We had a great turnout, with 25 adults and one child in attendance. The meeting started with a social hour followed by an à la carte lunch.

In the last issue I reported that Charles Laughton worked for BMC. Charles saved a variety of Austin marketing brochures from 1956 and 1957 that he shared with us before lunch. Charles also brought an 8x10 movie star-worthy photo with him at the wheel of the top-down 1957 Austin-Healey 100-6 he once owned.

Every year we hold a free raffle of Mini or classic car-related items donated by members. Faith Lamprey handed out raffle tickets as people arrived.

There was a special drawing for the soon-to-be-released book, Mini 60 Years, by Giles Chapman. Dave and Barbara Newman won the book and Faith provided a sign-up sheet for members to purchase copies at a discount. The regular raffle prizes included a yellow Hrach Moke T-shirt, stacks of magazines, books and toys, etc.

After the raffle we moved on to the business meeting. Dave Black provided the financial report. The NEMO bank balance is healthy, with the Holiday Party being our major expense, followed by British Marque subscriptions.

Dave also provided an update on the Hrach Fund account, which is in honor of founding member Hrach Chekijian. Ken Lemoine started the Fund in 2015. Its charter is to help young people get involved in the British car hobby. Thus far the Hrach Fund donated a new convertible top for 17-year-old James Nifong’s MGB. John Gallagher, who won the Hrach shirt in the raffle, auctioned it off to raise money for the Fund. Ken was the high bidder. Please contact Ken at alvis1934@aol.com if you would like to suggest a worthwhile project or recipient.

Lorine Karabec led a discussion on East Meets West Mini Meet 2019, June 24-28 in Snowmass, Colorado. There was a post in the NEMO Google Group about hiring a car transport company to drive six to eight classic Minis from New England to Colorado and back. Given the short New England driving season, though, members did not want to be without their cars for an extended period of time. It appears there will be little if any NEMO presence at East Meets West Mini Meet 2019.

Faith proposed adding a PayPal option to the website for membership renewals and new members. NEMO may still have a PayPal account from when the club last sponsored Mini Meet East. Stay tuned for additional information.

Yours truly provided an update on the NEMO Facebook page, which currently has 832 follows and 789 likes. Last year Iain Barker created an associated NEMO Marketplace group where members can buy and sell cars and parts, or post wanted ads. This is a closed group, which means members must be approved. To date, we have approved all membership requests. The group has been fairly active and has 259 members.

I then led a discussion on the Connecticut MG Club’s 32nd Annual “British by the Sea,” which takes place on June 2nd in Waterford, Conn. (details and registration forms at www.ctmg.com). Classic Mini is the featured marque in honor of its 60th anniversary. Classic Minis will be parked at the front of the show field with modern MINIs two rows back, and we want to have a record turnout of cars. Please invite all your Mini/MINI friends. The British Marque vendor booth will be up front with the Minis, and we are bringing a pop-up tent so club members will have a shady spot to gather.

We invited Zach Barbera to bring his historically significant 1963 Works Mini to BBTS (see Iain Barker’s article in the March 2019 issue). Zach is interested, but will need to have his car trailered from northeastern Mass to Waterford. John Gallagher may be able to provide an enclosed trailer, but we also need a tow vehicle. Please contact me (David Schwartz) at (508) 561-3462 if you have a trailer and/or tow vehicle and the expertise to be able to help.

Bruce Vild gave an update on the British Motorcar Festival, June 7-8 in Bristol, R.I. This event is organized by the same people who run the British Invasion in Stowe, Vt. The format is very similar to Stowe and the Festival is much closer to home for many NEMO members. The show venue is Colt State Park, which overlooks Narragansett Bay.

NEMO member Chris Izzo, a major force in British Motorcars of New England (BMCNE), invited NEMO to attend their events. Chris provided an overview of numerous shows and tours that have been added to the NEMO calendar.

Last but not least, Bruce moderated a discussion on Minis and Mini Variants. This discussion had been going on for months via e-mail and in the NEMO Google Group, with the intention of resolving the issue well before Stowe, where the question came up last year and led to one entrant’s protest after class awards were announced.

Members were happy with the food, drinks and service at Owen O’Leary’s Restaurant, though the space was noisy so that it was difficult to hear some soft-spoken members during the business meeting. For 2020 we would like to find a pub with a fully enclosed function room suitable for 30 people.

Last September, my wife Betty and I drove our 1968 Morris Mini Traveller to the Woodie Car Show in Wareham, Mass.

The show sponsor was the Yankee Wood Chapter of the National Woodie Club. The event was held on the grounds of the A. D. Makepeace Company, one of the oldest cranberry growers in the country. A great bluegrass band played for much of the day and excellent barbecue was available for lunch.

My car was the first Mini-based woodie to attend this event. It was dwarfed by the huge American woodie wagons, sedans and convertibles. Many cars were true works of art, sporting panels of ash with mahogany trim, all varnished to a gleaming mirror finish.

The oldest car was a 1924 Ford Model T Depot Hack, and the newest was a ’70s-vintage station wagon with vinyl wood-grain siding. There were several preserved original cars and even a modern surfer-dude hot rod patterned after a Model A.

The way-back in one station wagon was filled with period-correct picnic baskets and luggage. Another car had child-sized fabric dolls sitting in the third-row seats that the owner had made to amuse her grandchildren.

My car won a trophy for the longest distance driven. After the show, most woodies participated in a driving tour through cranberry bogs, forests and on a historic road. The tour ended at an ice cream stand.

Owners I spoke with had no idea Mini produced woodies, though they were familiar with the Morris Minor Traveller. Everyone was welcoming and excited to see us. The organizers invited us to attend the 2019 National Woodie Meet, August 8-12 in Ogunquit and Wells, Maine. I promised to reach out to NEMO members that own woodies.

If you can’t make the national event in Maine, the Yankee Wood Chapter will be holding a show on September 14th in Wareham, Mass.

Watch the NEMO calendar for links to the National Woodie Club website and Yankee Wood Chapter Facebook page.

As mentioned in the Annual Meeting report, we have been holding an open forum with the goal of arriving at a clear definition of Mini classes in time for the 2019 British Invasion. (This pertains only to Minis, not MINIs.) The club reached a consensus that should avoid the registration confusion and controversies of previous years, and everyone, at least in NEMO, is on board. Michael Gaetano, the Invasion’s Event Organizer, is on board as well.

The classic Mini classes will be separated by year as in previous years, but the Variant class will have a clear, consistent definition. Cars will be segregated by body style rather than what’s under the hood, where they were made, whether they have surfboards on the roof, whatever.

In other words, anything that’s not a saloon will be placed in the Variant class, the hypothetical arrangement and description being as follows:

Class X: Mini Saloons, 1959-1969

Class Y: Mini Saloons, 1970-2000

Class Z: Mini Variants, 1959-2000 (Non-saloons, including Vans, Estates, Mokes, Pickups and Cabrios, plus Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet).

For members unfamiliar with terms from the other side of the pond, a “saloon” is a sedan and an “estate” is a station wagon such as the Austin Countryman or Morris Mini Traveller. Included now in the saloon classes will be the “foreign” (i.e., non-UK produced) Minis, such as the Innocenti Mini, as long as they have the familiar Mini saloon body style.

Although the Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet technically are saloons, they have a different body style from other Minis due to their extended trunks and therefore will be grouped with the Variants.

Mike Gaetano has agreed to replace the 2018 class listings “Austin & Morris Mini, 1959-1969” and “Austin, Morris & Rover Mini, 1970-2000” with “Mini Saloons, 1959-1969” and “Mini Saloons, 1970-2000.” This will include the non-UK produced Minis other than Austin, Morris or Rover (for example, Leyland Minis), formerly classed with the Variants simply because they were non-UK models with subtle differences from their British cousins. The British Invasion class list will also include the note describing Variants.

The definition of “Variant” is sometimes called into question. Based on research done by members of NEMO, body style is the one thing that people can agree on, as we did at our Annual Meeting. We think these definitions will help car owners identify where their vehicles should be placed on the show field at Stowe, and may be useful for class registration at other multi-marque meets as well.

WATERFORD, Conn. — The Classic Mini will be the featured marque at the 2019 edition of British by the Sea (BBTS), so this seems like a good time to report on the 2018 event — looking back by looking ahead.

The weather in Waterford was sunny but not too warm, which led to a good turnout of cars. Harkness Memorial State Park is a beautiful venue and all show cars park on a large lawn with a view of Long Island Sound.

There were eight or nine classic Minis present, but only four modern MINIs. (There was also a 1965 MG 1100 registered in the MG Saloon class. The MG 1100 shares Mini underpinnings.) Most of the Minis were owned by NEMO members, four of whom drove their Classics to the show for the first time. Three of the four Minis had mechanical issues getting to BBTS but at least they made it, in my case just barely.

I had wanted to drive my 1968 Mini Traveller to BBTS several times, but the car always seemed to be up on jack stands in my garage when the show came around. In 2016, my car made the drive from Framingham, Mass., to Stowe, Vt., so I assumed the trip to Waterford, Conn., would be uneventful.

Sadly, the British car gods were against me, and a few miles before the I-395 exit the engine started losing power. I decided to press on since it was only ten more miles to the venue. I managed to coax my car onto the show field, but was fairly certain the trip back would be on a flatbed.

BBTS was the first long-distance outing for Iain Barker’s 1967 Mini Cooper S. The engine ran hot on the 120-mile drive down and the car experienced electrical gremlins, possibly due to the original Lucas control box overheating. Engine heat may have caused the voltage regulator cut-out mechanism to expand, holding the contacts open and preventing the battery from charging via the dynamo.

When Phil Darrell and Iain fitted Phil’s 1972 Mini with a 1380cc A+ engine, their goal was to have the car ready in time for BBTS. They made the deadline, but Phil’s car stalled out en route at a gas station due to running rich and flooding. Fortunately, he was able to get it restarted and made it to the show.

Iain, Phil and I spent much of the show with our car bonnets raised, trying to sort out various mechanical issues. Lots of British car owners stopped by to observe and offer advice.

Iain helped with my car, and we pulled spark plugs and wires checking for a difference in engine rpm. The diagnosis was a blown head gasket, so my car received a ride to Dave Black’s Mini Barn courtesy of Hagerty towing insurance, squeaking in just under the free mileage limit.

Phil and Iain were able to balance the carbs on Phil’s car right there on the show field, using nothing more than a piece of fuel hose as a listening tube to get the airflow at an even hiss by ear. Iain had a battery jump pack as a backup, and found that once the voltage regulator had cooled off it charged normally again.

Dianne Izzo was the only first time NEMO attendee whose Mini didn’t have a problem. Of course, she earned this privilege the hard way, as her 1973 Austin Mini had been in the shop since shortly after she acquired it in 2014. Congratulations, Dianne, it was great to see your car on the road and at the show.

More than 350 British vehicles typically attend BBTS. The Connecticut MG Club posted a photo album from the 2018 event at www.flickr.com/photos/ctmgclub/albums/72157703046010272, and their website, www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html, features a drone video from a prior year. In my experience, BTTS is second only to the British Invasion, and there is something different and unusual every year.

For 2019, we want to have a record turnout of classic Minis at BBTS. The date is Sunday, June 2nd, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Our little cars will be at the front of the show field with MINIs two rows back. The Connecticut MG Club plans to place the British Marque vendor booth up front with the Minis, and yours truly is bringing a pop-up tent so club members will have a shady spot to gather.

Pre-registration is $15 and runs until May 24th, or you can register at the gate for $20. The registration form can be downloaded from www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html. There is a “2019 Registration” link on the right side of the page. We hope to see you on June 2nd.

Two astute readers reported an error in the “British Legends Weekend (BLW) Car Show” article that appeared in the December NEMO Newsbeat. There was a right-hand-drive Austin Cambridge A50 at the show, and I stated that the A50 was never exported to the US. Clearly, the Internet was wrong.

I received a phone call from NEMO member Charles Laughton who regaled me with stories of his days working for BMC, stating unequivocally that A50s were imported into the US. (Now we need to convince Charles to write some articles about his BMC experiences!)

I also had a pleasant e-mail exchange with David Whall, who provided the following information:

“I well remember two A50s as a child growing up in southern New Hampshire in the 1950s. One could be found in the town of Windham while the second could be spotted in Lee. Both were black.

“I also seem to recall an A90 from the period but could be mistaken — it might have been an A50 after all. Needless to say, the A50 was a rare sight as these were the only ones I recall.

“If I remember Austins too well it is probably because as I child I collected Dinky Toys and my collection included a beige-and-blue-trim pre-Pininfarina A105, much on the stylistic lines of Keith Hartinger’s A50 at BLW.

“As further verification the A50 was exported to the USA I would cite Road & Track’s 1956 Road Test Annual, which on page 59 has a test of the Austin Cambridge. The test report (#F-10-55) listed a top speed of 75.6mph and 0-60 acceleration of 24.4 seconds. POE list price was put at $1,895.

“I read the print edition of British Marque. I mean, what would you expect from someone who actually remembers a 1955 A50 or an even earlier A40!”

Thank you, Charles and David.

Well, it seems that low-speed cooling fan failure is a common fault as modern MINIs start to age. There are many reports from MINI Gen1 owners on the Internet forums — fewer for Gen2, but my 2009 JCW has the exact same symptoms.

To determine if your MINI has the problem, start the engine and turn on the A/C via the “snowflake” button. The radiator cooling fan at the front of the car should spin. If it doesn’t, the resistor that drives the fan at low speed has burned out.

Replacements for the OEM resistors are available, but fitting requires disassembly of the front of the car (aka service mode) to access the radiator, which is several hours of labor.

For Gen1 MINIs, there is a hack to splice an external resistor into the wiring loom in order to bypass the failed resistor. I traced the fan wiring on my Gen2 JCW using a voltmeter, and realized the same external resistor bypass can be done by just adding jumper wires at the control relays. No modifications to the wiring loom are required.

Basically, instead of the original tubular air-cooled resistor, a higher-power external resistor with an aluminum heat sink is bonded to the chassis with thermal glue.

Solder two 16-gauge wires to the external resistor terminals and insulate with tape or heat-shrink, then install as follows:

1. Open the fuse box and remove both fan relays.

2. Insert one resistor wire into the low-speed fan 12v switched contact #30.

3. Insert the other resistor wire into the high-speed fan 12v switched contact #87.

4. Push both relays firmly back into their sockets, to jam the wires in place.

5. Use thermal glue to fix the resistor to the metal chassis of the car as a heat sink.

The bypass works as follows: When the low-speed fan relay clicks on, 12v are fed from #30 through the resistor into the output side #87 of the high-speed relay, which is wired directly to the fan. When the high-speed fan relay clicks on, the resistor has 12v on both sides so does nothing, and 12v at #87 go directly to the fan.

The Amazon part numbers are B015Z195A4 for the resistor, B072MSXHJD for thermal glue.

Caution: Incorrect wiring can cause fire or other damage. Proceed at your own risk.

Steven Lichty organizes the biannual Caffeine & Classics Road Rally to Gloucester, Mass., and I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend by Zach Barbera. I had not met Zach prior to the event, but was acquainted with him and his car through the on-line Mk1 Mini forum. Zach is the owner of an Mk1 Mini with a unique history.

The event is very informal — coffee and donuts at Steve’s house, meeting other classic car owners, and then a leisurely drive in procession on back roads to the destination, which was a picnic on the cliff edge next to the quarry at Halibut Point State Park.

There were around a dozen classic cars at the meet, including a rare Triumph TR8 3.5L, an MGA, our two Mk1 Minis, a TR6, various classic Porsches, and even “modern classics” such as a Subaru Impreza. I thought the Minis would be the smallest vehicle in the group, but then an immaculate Fiat 500 Cinquecento arrived. There was even a very nicely restored wooden boat, a 30-year labor of love by its owner.

For me, Zach’s Mini was without a doubt the most interesting car in attendance. It is well documented that on March 7, 1963, five brand new standard Mini 850 body shells were taken from the production line and built up by hand at BMC, upgrading the performance by using Formula Junior race engines provided by John Cooper’s engineering works. These five cars became the very first ‘Mini Cooper 1071 S’ cars, of which a total of 4,030 were eventually produced. Zach owns car #3 from that build, originally registered in the UK as 289 JOB, and it is in remarkably good condition given its age and provenance.

The car was initially used in-house by the BMC publicity department for photographs in the ‘1071 S’ launch brochures, and loaned for industry and journalist test drives, reviews, etc., through 1963. Charles Griffin, head of BMC engineering, bought the car used in September ’64 for his son. But with the 1275 S coming out shortly afterwards, he did not keep it long. The car was sold and successfully rallied in club events by several owners through the 1960s and ’70s.

Joe Barbera acquired the rather worn-out remains of the car in the ’90s after the end of its rallying career and had it shipped to Singapore, where he was working as an ex-pat at the time. He then commissioned a local restorer, David Works Garage, to rebuild the car to its factory specifications. The original engine was long gone, but was replaced with a period authentic Downton/ST Stage-3-tuned 1071 of similar vintage and specification.

As a spokesman for David Works explained, “[We] built it for Joe over 20 years ago. That Mini has an original Works FJ Downton motor from Greg Hales, Safety Fast Engineering. We supplied a full straight-cut competition gearbox using the triple-three casing.”

Zach inherited the car at the passing of his father, and had been researching its history on the Mk1 forum, which is where we got connected.

It was great to see the car running on the drive, and especially to hear the throaty roar from the peaky camshaft of its Stage-3 engine, and the whine of its straight-cut racing gearbox.

On February 2nd, the MINIs of Boston group held a “Pay the USCG Rally” to help Coast Guard families in need due to the government shutdown. This was one of many rallies held throughout the country to help these men and women, who were working without pay.

Kristin Masta orchestrated this daylong event and it went flawlessly. A dozen MINIs gathered in Bedford, N.H., to begin the Rally. Although the temperature was near zero degrees, the group braved the elements and stood proudly by their cars talking all things MINI. Most cars were filthy and covered in road salt, but they still looked beautiful to me.

At the appointed hour there was a radio check and then off we went. Prior to turns or traffic lights, directions were given via walkie-talkie. A “sweeper” bringing up the rear called in to report whether all cars made it through a light or if some were waiting. This system is great at preventing cars from getting too far apart, and me from getting lost!

After a stop at Panera in Leominster, Mass., everyone gave donations to Kristin so she could pass them along to her contact in the Coast Guard. There were supermarket gift cards and loads of non-perishable food.

Following a bathroom and refreshment break, a few MINIs dropped out of the caravan and several more joined in. Next stop was New Country MINI in Hartford, Conn., to collect more donations. At the dealership we were greeted by members of Nutmeg MINIacs, a Connecticut-based MINI club (Connecticut being “the Nutmeg State”). We took a dinner break at the Plan B Burger Bar in West Hartford, and still more MINI conversations were had. Then it was over…

The Rally was a huge success. Kristin’s MINI was filled with food items and she collected $1,100 in gift certificates. Once again, MINI owners proved they are generous and sensitive to the needs of others!

A reminder: our Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, March 31st, from 12 noon to 4 p.m. at Owen O’Leary’s, 17 Connector Rd., Westborough, Mass., (508) 366-9262, www.owenolearys.com. We reserved the lounge, which has high-top tables and space for at least 30 people.

Owen O’Leary’s is an Irish pub with a good beer selection. Food and drink will be ordered à la carte.

We will be holding the usual Giveaway Freebie Raffle, so if you have any Mini-related items you would like to donate, bring them along. An evite will be sent to the membership list in late February with another reminder in March.

Also come with any thoughts you might have about the ongoing “What is a Mini Variant?” controversy. We’re committed to helping Michael Gaetano settle the question before registration time for the next British Motorcar Festival in Bristol and British Invasion in Stowe (in June and September respectively).

Owen O’Leary’s is located on the eastbound side of Rt. 9, about 1 mile west of I-495. It shares an entrance with a Hampton Inn. There is another Owen O’Leary’s several miles away in Southborough, so be sure you punch the correct address into your GPS.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Dec. 1 — The NEMO Holiday Party was again held at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham. The turnout was good, with 27 adults plus our youngest event regular, Nuala Barker. Thanks to the mild weather and lack of road salt, two members drove their classic Minis, yours truly and Paul Berton. (Congratulations to Paul for doing an outstanding job on the 10-year-long restoration project and engine rebuild of his 1967 Austin Cooper S!)

Every year a few people wear holiday-themed outfits to the party. This year featured such a standout selection that we were inspired to hold an impromptu vote for the best outfit. It was a difficult choice, but 1st place went to “Santa’s helper” Lorine Karabec. Keeping with the family theme, Derick Karabec was attired as an elf.

Meanwhile, Dave Newman sported a Rudolph faux tuxedo, John Haig wore a dancing reindeer coat with matching necktie, Jean Icaza wore a hat decorated with candy canes and a Christmas-tree Mini shirt, and Nuala Barker outclassed the adults with her purple velvet party dress.

Several announcements were made at the conclusion of lunch, including a heads-up on British by the Sea, where in honor of the 60th anniversary, the classic Mini is the featured marque. Bruce Vild and Faith Lamprey awarded a “Mini Enthusiast of the Year” trophy to Lorine and Derick in recognition of their work on Mini Meet East 2018 (they also ran MME 2013).

As usual, the Yankee Swap table overflowed with bags and packages of all sizes. Nuala’s ticket was picked first, which by NEMO rules gave her the right to the final swap at the very end. Her first gift was British beer, not really appropriate for a six-year-old, but dad Iain appreciated it (until it was quickly stolen).

The hottest gift last year was a fleece blanket printed with photos of NEMO member cars. Wendy Birchmire designed the blanket, which ultimately went home with Barbara Neiley. To the surprise and delight of many, Barbara re-gifted the blanket this year, explaining that it really should go to someone whose car was pictured. Alex Daly managed to hold onto the blanket this year, which was fitting since he was the first person to receive it last year.

Wendy designed another, slightly smaller blanket for this year’s Swap. It was packaged in a British flag shoulder bag along with a box of English toffee. I was the first to open the gift, but it was quickly stolen. My Mini Traveller was pictured in the top row and was the largest car on the blanket. Oh, well. After changing hands several times, the blanket, shoulder bag and toffee went home with Nuala after she made the final steal, much better than beer.

Other gifts included die cast Minis, two pillows picturing Minis, tools, LED trouble lights, Mini-related books and repair manuals, food, mugs, a radio controlled MINI, a 500-piece Mini puzzle, a vintage Mini advertisement, a framed Mini racing print, and a commemorative Queen Elizabeth tea cup. Ken Lemoine took home a 1:18 scale MINI, which he immediately shared with his young grandson (Ken is already training the next generation of enthusiasts).

Be sure to check the Facebook page and NEMO website for photo albums of the guests and Yankee Swap.

WARWICK, R.I. — On December 9th, 24 MINIs arrived at MINI of Warwick for the 16th Annual “MINIs Making a Difference” Toy Rally. Each car contained at least one present to be donated to Children’s Friend, Rhode Island’s oldest child welfare organization, providing services for children and families in need for 184 years.

MINI of Warwick closed the dealership to the general public for the day, welcomed the Toy Rally participants with a breakfast of muffins, doughnuts, sandwiches, coffee and orange juice, and gave everyone a goodie bag.

Each person d the number of presents they brought as they entered the dealership. I felt like a bit of a Scrooge when I heard that Abbie, a young MINI enthusiast, contributed 210 toys. She had asked her friends, neighbors and relatives to donate to the drive.

When the final count was tallied, 1,575 gifts had been collected. Wow! This event provided confirmation that MINI owners are kindhearted people. The Toy Rally has been held since 2003, and has so far provided 20,459 toys to needy children.

Members of Children’s Friend arrived to collect the gifts and then it was time to go motoring. We drove to the highway accompanied by a police escort. Officers in cruisers and on motorcycles stopped traffic at intersections so our caravan would not get separated. This year I purchased a walkie-talkie before the rally. I would not get lost this time.

After a short ride, we exited the highway, drove through cow-country back roads and whizzed though S-turns in a way that only MINI owners understand. My MINI felt a little clunky with its new snow tires, but still clung to those turns beautifully.

After about an hour’s drive on mostly rural roads we arrived at Foxwoods Casino. The more adventuresome MINI owners gathered at Monza World Class Karting. They donned full helmets and raced around the twisty track in cars that can go up to 45mph. Instead, I chose to do some Christmas shopping at the resort and had a nice buffet lunch in one of the many restaurants. Yes, I know, I am a coward, and I’m likely to stay that way for the rest of my life! Watching others race around the track is enough excitement for me.

Count me in for this event next year, and maybe also the Turkey Trot, where volunteers fill their MINIs with turkeys and food baskets for distribution around Rhode Island to those in need.

March 31 — NEMO’s Annual Meeting will be held from 12 noon to 4 p.m. at Owen O’Leary’s, 17 Connector Rd., Westborough, Mass. Their phone is (508) 366-9262 and website www.owenolearys.com. We reserved the lounge, which has high-top tables and space for at least 30 people. Owen O’Leary’s is an Irish pub with an extensive beer selection. Food and drink will be ordered à la carte. We will be holding the usual Give-away Freebie Raffle, so if you have any Mini-related items you would like to donate bring them along. An evite will be sent to the membership list in late February with a reminder in March. Owen O’Leary’s is located on the eastbound side of Route 9, about 1 mile from I-495. There is another location in Southborough, so be sure you punch the correct address into your GPS.

June 2 — British by the Sea will take place at Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford, Conn. In honor of the 60th anniversary, the classic Mini will be the featured marque. Classic Minis will be right up front on the show field with new MINIs two rows back. We want to have a record turnout of our favorite little cars! The Connecticut MG Club has offered to put the British Marque vendor booth in front with the Minis. We need one or more of our members to bring pop-up tents so the club will have a place to gather, too. There is a new show T-shirt every year. Dianne Izzo suggested NEMO get involved with the 2019 T-shirt design. Details are on the BBTS website, www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html.

July 12-14 — The Goulds’ Microcar Classic. Minis, classic and modern, are welcome, and you never know what else will show up. Last year it was a slew of Russian cars and a Crosley, in addition to the usual 2CVs, Isettas and Messerschmitts. Always a hoot, especially when we go to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum and give spectators rides. Go to www.bubbledrome.com to find out more.

August 8-12 — National Woodie Meet, Ogunquit and Wells, Maine. Here is a chance to show your Mini Traveller or Countryman with their much larger, American-made brethren. A car show and Perkins Cove parade are on Saturday, August 10th. There are several Woodie cruises, a lobster dinner, optional sailing, etc. British Woodies are welcome to attend. The full agenda for the weekend may be found at https://woodies.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=871106&item_id=43745. The National Woodie Club is made of regional chapters. The “Yankee Wood Chapter” covers New England and runs an annual fall event. Stay tuned.

SANDWICH, Mass., Oct. 7 — The British Legends Weekend (BLW) car show was back on the grass this year at the Oakcrest Cove Field in Sandwich. Jaguar and Land Rover were the featured marques, and once again there was a “Concours d’Evolution,” which paired classic vehicles with their modern counterparts.

Lunch was provided by several food trucks, a dessert truck and a well-attended beer truck. Our hosts, the Cape Cod British Car Club, arranged for a large dining tent next to the food vendors.

The day was dreary with a few raindrops in the afternoon. Even so, there was a stunning selection of classic Jaguars, including my personal favorites, the XK120 and XK150. In the “rarely if ever seen” category were a 1929 Rover Riviera fabric body 2-litre saloon, a 1950 Allard K2, and a 1955 Austin Cambridge A50.

Yes, I am including the Austin A50 with this rarified company because it made me smile more than any other car on the field. The A50 had right-hand drive and a two-tone turquoise-and-white paint scheme. They were never exported to the US and this was the first one I had ever seen. Owner Keith Hartinger trailered the car from Florida to the Cape. He has several other British cars and has previously attended BLW.

[Keith was the recipient of a British Marque Favourite Award a couple of years ago for a lovely bone-stock Mini he had brought to that year’s BLW. —Exec. Ed.]

Classic car expert and author Dave LaChance has been a judge at past BLW shows, and he was around this year, too. Since Rover was a featured marque, Dave drove his 1968 Rover 2000TC from the Berkshires, where he lives, to Sandwich. I have seen photos of the TC on-line and it was nice to finally meet her in person.

On our drive to the Cape, my wife Betty asked about cars besides Jaguar that were named after animals. We only came up with a few. Knowing there were many more, we held an “ask the expert” session with Dave, who came up with a much longer list, including the “horses”: Mustang, Pinto and Bronco.

Sidelined, but saved

Chris Cole and Gail Gray made their annual trip from their home in Vermont to attend BLW. They own a number of classic British cars and alternate between their Mini and TR4A. Despite the long distance, they never trailer a classic car to the Cape.

I knew something was amiss when they pulled onto the show field in an unfamiliar car. It seems they had a misadventure on the Saturday driving tour when a suspension part in their car failed and the left front wheel broke free. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Their car was towed to Mike Dallaire’s garage for temporary repairs. Chris and Keith Hartinger spent hours piecing it back together, but the car was not safe to drive any distance. Keith generously offered to give Chris, Gail and their car a ride back to Vermont (this after trailering his A50 up from Florida!).

Mike loaned his Triumph Spitfire to Chris and Gail to drive for the remainder of the weekend. What a great community.

NEMO on the field

Congratulations to NEMO member Chris Izzo on his recent purchase of a 1983 Jaguar XJ6. Chris owns several British project cars including a Mini van. It was great to see him with a well-kept running car on the show field! As a bonus, the car won 1st place on its maiden outing.

The turnout of classic Minis was quite low, with only my 1968 Mini Traveller and Iain Barker’s 1967 Mini Cooper S in attendance. Four modern MINIs were on the show field with another two in the parking lot, including Iain’s 2015 Cooper S tow vehicle. A Honda VTEC-powered 1964 Mini van was registered in the show’s Modified class. Perhaps the rainy weather forecast kept NEMO members away.

Two non-human “drivers” were spotted among the Mini classes. A mermaid was seated in Pam Dallaire’s MINI convertible, and a tree sloth took the wheel of Iain Barker’s Mini Cooper S. It is nice to see car owners add some humor to the show.

The competition was tough, but Iain and I won 1st place in our respective classes. Bruce Vild took home a 2nd for his modern MINI, 1st going to Pam and her mermaid.

Best of Show was awarded to Dirk Burrowes for his 1929 Rover.

At the end of the show it was great fun to watch Iain pull his 2015 MINI onto the field, connect a tow bar to his classic Mini and drive away in tandem. There was some light rain on the drive home, but fortunately Betty and I made it to Framingham just in time to avoid the deluge.

Next year, BLW will be held October 11-13 in Plymouth, Mass. The Saturday evening banquet will be at Plimoth Plantation with the Sunday car show on a grassy field at Plymouth Airport.

See you there!

BEDFORD, N.H., Nov. 10 — The NH Mini Events rally group held their third annual canned food drive and Winnepesaukee Rally in conjunction with MINI of Bedford. The food drive benefits the New Hampshire Food Bank. This year, ten MINI owners and four passengers met at the dealership for coffee and donuts, and to drop off their donations.

As in past years, participants didn’t bring just a few items, but each brought several cases of canned goods. The donations more than half filled the rear of a 2018 MINI Countryman (see photo).

Following some photos at the dealership, the rally group drove north around the western side of Lake Winnepesaukee with a lunch stop at the the Bob House and the Reel ’n Tavern in Moultonborough. After lunch the Rally continued down the eastern side of the lake, concluding at the Cork ’n Keg Grill in Raymond. While the morning weather was rainy at times, the scenery along the New Hampshire country roads was gorgeous, with colorful foliage lining most of the driving route.

NH Mini Events hosts 6-8 rallies a year, featuring scenic drives on twisty roads around New Hampshire. Most rallies include a lunch stop at a good local restaurant. The final two rallies of each calendar year have a charity component. The November rally is a food drive, and the December rally supports Toys for Tots (and is also hosted by MINI of Bedford).

Paul Bradt founded NH Mini Events and continues to lead it. MINI owners interested in participating in the rallies can find more information on the group’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NHMiniEvents.

What could be nicer than joining other MINI owners for a ride through the back roads of New England on a picturesque, but rainy Saturday? “Not much,” would be my answer.

The Haunted Apple Jack Rally on October 13th began at MINI of Peabody in Peabody, Mass. After meeting there and admiring the new MINIs for sale, 29 cars began the caravan to the Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury. We made several stops along the way to admire the autumn foliage.

The orchard provided pick-your-own apples of numerous varieties as well as a farm store stocked with wonderful pastries and freshly made donuts. After the sun began to shine, a group of hearty MINI enthusiasts ventured into the orchard.

The caravan reconvened and we were off to two different restaurants in Epping, N.H.

Somewhere along the way other MINI owners joined the group, so it was about 60 MINI enthusiasts who met for dinner at one of the two restaurants. The Holy Grail, which I chose, could only accommodate 40 people in their upstairs dining room, so the rest of the group went to the Rail Penny Tavern.

Following dinner, an adventurous group of MINI owners went to the Haunted Overload in Lee, N.H., to be scared by the witches and goblins. I headed home since I’m a coward and don’t like people and objects jumping out at me!

If you have never been on a rally, you should give it a try. Kristin Masta and Josh Amato do a great job organizing them. The people are genial and full of information about MINIs. It is a totally fun experience.

All the cars on the route today were modern MINIs, but classic Minis are always welcome.

Check the MINIs of Boston Group on Facebook for upcoming events at www.facebook.com/groups/boston miniclub.

Body style, engine size, wheel size, suspension type, country of origin, even brand — there are so many ways classic Minis have varied during the car’s 41-year run that it’s sometimes difficult to draw the line between a “Variant” and a car that is just the result of product development, adaptation to a particular market, or up-market design for dealers of premium brands in the old BMC chain.

We may all agree that re-bodied or re-engined Minis are Variants (think Mini Marcos or VTEC powerplants here), but what about alternative body styles from the factory, such as the woodie wagons, the vans and pickups, or even the squared-off Mini Clubman saloon and 1275 GT of the 1970s?

The question “What is a Variant?” came up after the most recent British Invasion in Stowe, Vt. In the people’s choice competition there were two classes for Classic Minis according to year, and one for Mini Variants. The classes were sorted on the basis of the information provided about the cars at the time of registration.

An Austin Countryman (woodie wagon) wound up winning the popular vote in one of the Classic Mini classes and a 1st place plaque. The owner of the Mini saloon that placed 2nd lodged a protest, suggesting the winning Countryman be disqualified because it was in the wrong class. He said it should have been with the Variants.

After he and I traded several e-mails, event organizer Michael Gaetano decided that the Countryman would not be disqualified and the results of the popular vote would stand. However, we agreed that a clear, concise and consistent definition of Mini Variant needed to be developed going forward, and NEMO could help.

From some of the initial conversations I’ve had with people, we should start with body style. One person I spoke with said a Classic Mini is a “two-box” saloon, and all other body styles are Variants. So into the latter class would go the Austin Countryman, the Morris Mini Traveller, most certainly the Moke, the panel van and pickup. Add the Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf as well, with their “three-box” (extended boot) layout.

The first-generation Innocenti Mini Cooper? No, that was a “two-box” saloon, therefore a Classic Mini.

Not so fast, said another person. The Innocenti Mini Cooper, along with the Australian Mini K, were saloons all right, but with enough bespoke features to put them in the Variant category. To the body style criterion for the Classic Mini he would add, “and manufactured in the Cowley plant in Oxford or the Longbridge plant in Birmingham, England.” Even if built under BMC or BL license, “foreign” Minis need not apply — they’re Variants.

What about other BMC models, such as the MG 1100, Morris 1100, Vanden Plas Princess 1100 or Austin America, which have Mini underpinnings?

No, the second person said, these were designed to be different vehicles from the beginning. In a show such as Stowe, they belong in classes for “Other MG, Morris or Austin,” not Mini Variants.

The third person I mentioned the controversy to simply replied, “Hmm. I’ll have to get back to you after I’ve given it some thought.”

And that’s where it stands now. We’ve all been tasked with giving it some thought. Get back to me at execeditor@britishmarque.com or through the NEMO Google group and let’s get the discussion going.

And if you think trying to make the distinction by body style is bogus, let’s discuss that, too. The next Invasion is counting on us.

[Contrib. Ed. note: See the “ADO15” and “ADO16” articles in Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMC_ADO16) for a list of vehicles based on the Mini’s transverse-mounted A Series engine. —DS]

The NEMO Holiday Party will be held at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham, Mass., on Saturday, December 1st, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

This is the same venue we enjoyed last year. La Cantina is a family-style Italian restaurant and has been in business since 1946. The member cost for the buffet lunch will be $15 for adults and $10 for children, with the club making up the difference. If your membership has lapsed you can renew at the Party for the six-month rate of $10.

We will be holding a Yankee Swap, so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $25). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is his or her turn to pick. Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens! You get to pick a gift for every gift you bring. Please, no more than one gift per person or the Party will never end. For those attending your first NEMO Yankee Swap, many gifts are Mini-, MINI- or British-themed.

We need a head count by November 20th. A reminder evite will be sent to the NEMO e-mail list. RSVP to the evite or contact me directly, dschwartz1957@gmail.com or (508) 561-3462. Let me know how many people will be attending, the ages of any children, and if you have any dietary restrictions.

The Holiday Party is one of our most popular events every year. Hope to see you there!

Directions — The address is La Cantina Italiana, 911 Waverley St., Framingham, MA 01702, and the phone number is (508) 879-7874.

Take I-90 (Mass Turnpike) to Exit 12. Bear right on the ramp and follows signs toward Framingham. Merge onto Route 9 East (Worcester Road). Follow Route 9 for about 1.8 miles. You will pass Dunkin’ Donuts followed by Samba Steak & Sushi. Immediately after Samba, take a sharp right onto Winter Street. Follow Winter Street about 1.8 miles until it ends. At the traffic light, take a left onto Waverly Street (Rt. 135). La Cantina will be on the left.

There is parking behind the restaurant and in a large lot across the street. —David Schwartz

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., Sept. 6-9 — The second weekend of September was a time of wonder for classic Mini fans, both on the streets of the village “old course” and at the modern Watkins Glen International racetrack.

The weekend two events in one: the Watkins Glen US Vintage Grand Prix Festival at the track, overseen by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA), and the Watkins Glen Mini Festival.

While the events were open to all who purchased a gate ticket, only 60 dedicated Mini Cooper fans got to purchase tickets for the Tower Suite that overlooks the track’s first turn and esses. This Friday-to-Sunday suite pass provided access to an indoor facility with huge windows, a rooftop viewing area, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday. It also included special Mini-only parking, VIP laps on the track Saturday night after the racing was over, and posters and programs signed by Paddy Hopkirk, the famous Mini rallye driver.

The Tower Suite was a great place to meet fellow Mini enthusiasts, and also to meet racing celebrities: Paddy Hopkirk, who was there for three days, Le Mans driver Marc Miller, and David Hobbs, who has driven almost every type of sports racer and has been a television commentator for Formula One and other events. The Tower Suite was arranged by Ian Rae of MotorWerks Magazine and Norman and Jesse Nelson.

The SVRA had all kinds of vintage racing going on that weekend, but the big event was the special Mini-only races, with trophies handed out by Paddy himself.

Friday was the day to visit the village of Watkins Glen, as they closed off the streets of the 6.6-mile “old course” where from 1948 to 1952 races were held on the public streets. There, among the haybales and thousands of fans, vintage racecars of all types took to the streets for a demonstration on the original course.

Watkins Glen International, built in 1956 just above the village as a dedicated racetrack, hosted vintage races from Friday to Sunday. These were held on the 3.4-mile, banked-corners long course, which has significant elevation changes and lots of runoff. This track has hosted F1 racing and continues to host NASCAR, IMSA, Pirelli, SCCA and other series during the year. It is a wonderful track to drive on, and very fan-friendly for camping, photography positions, stands and ease of visiting.

Watkins Glen is situated at the southern end of Seneca Lake. The village has many nice hotels, B&Bs, restaurants and shops of interest not only to race fans but to the average person. The MINI JCW Racing Team has had many 1st and 2nd place finishes at the July IMSA races. If you have never watched these races or visited the village, you are missing a lot.

STOWE, Vt., Sept. 14-16 — The British Invasion is billed as “North America’s largest British classic sports car and motorcycle event.” As a first-time attendee, I didn’t realize it is not just a show, but also a weekend full of activities. My husband Tom and I only attended some of them but we appreciated all the offerings.

Friday afternoon registration was well organized and we quickly received our information packet, lanyards and drink tickets. Participants were treated to a welcome reception with appetizers and complimentary beer or wine. After the reception, drivers parked their cars in downtown Stowe for a street party with live music, food and general gaiety. Spectators were awed by the assembled show cars. Later in the evening a group of NEMO members gathered at the Hob Knob Inn for a delicious meal. I wonder what the major topic of conversation was. Could it have been Minis?

A show in late September means cool temperatures, right? Wrong! Saturday morning started with a bit of haze that eventually burned off and the temperature soared to 82°. It didn’t seem so bad for the first few hours, but later I felt like my 2018 MINI’s paint color, “melting silver”! My solution was to try every cold beverage sold by the food stands. Watermelon lemonade slush worked the best!

A sign designated an area on the show field as Class 32, for Minis produced in the ’70s through 2000. There were two cars parked next to the sign, a 1972 Mini (the class winner) and a 1999 Mini. Across the aisle was an elegant group of Minis that were also in Class 32. Although the class numbers were clearly visible on the windscreen placards, some people were confused about which car was in a given class.

[Some unavoidable last-minute changes led to regrouping some of the classes on the field, which may have caused some of the confusion. —Exec. Ed.]

It is really unkind to have a corral with cars for sale at any show. I wanted to buy them all! The little blue classic Mini was particularly attractive, but I know when to stop spending. Isn’t there an old adage that says, “You can never have too many Minis?” It must be true, because very few Mini enthusiasts own only one car.

The Invasion festivities include a bit of humor. Some participants dressed in British garb and meandered through the crowd. NEMO’s own Barbara Newman looked adorable as Paddington Bear (it was amazing she didn’t melt wearing a winter coat and rubber boots in the heat). An attendee dressed as Mary Poppins had a working carousel on her hat and circulated among the crowd with her brightly attired partner Bert. Other British enthusiasts wore kilts, bowlers, and related finery.

Speaking of hats, there was a ladies’ hat competition judged by “the Queen” (portrayed by Invasion regular Michelle Dickson) and members of her court, including Lord Bruce of County Marque (sometimes known as Bruce Vild, Executive Editor of British Marque). I received the award for the “Most British” hat.

The Saturday afternoon award ceremony began with a parade of gorgeous, shiny cars that took part in the Concours d’Elegance. Following that were awards for outstanding members at the event and then awards for the best costumes. By 4 p.m. the ballots were counted and awards for the 65 classes of cars and motorcycles commenced. I couldn’t wait for the awards to end so I could get back to the hotel and jump in the shower!

A suntanned group of 18 NEMO members chose to forgo the dinner sponsored by the Invasion and assembled for a meal at Junior’s Restaurant. Sometimes I think that listening to the Mini-addict “car talk” is as enjoyable as the show itself. I always learn something new from these knowledgeable folks.

Sunday featured the Competition of Colors, an event where all marques were grouped together by color. Vehicle categories were red, white, blue, British racing green, black, two-tone, and rainbow for any color not previously mentioned. Now that’s a different concept! Car owners cast their ballot for the best in each category.

Sunday was also the Tailgate Picnic Competition, with judging in seven categories. Prizes included Best Costume, Most Elegant, and Best Tasting.

When we return next year (we have already decided to add it to our “must do” list), maybe we will participate in a driving tour or other elements of the British Invasion. This year we came to sample and we liked what we saw.

It’s official! Saturday, December 1st, is the date of the NEMO Holiday Party, at the venue we used for our party last year: La Cantina Italiana, 911 Waverly St., Framingham, Mass., (508) 879-7874.

The time is 12 noon to 4 p.m. View the facilities at http://functions.golacantina.com/home.

Contributing Editor David Schwartz has received confirmation from the function manager at La Cantina, and we are good to go. Thank you, David!

Mini Meet East (MME) in New Paltz, N.Y., was my first experience attending a classic car destination event. I’ve participated in a bunch of local car shows and driving cruises, plus one-day events such as the London-to-Brighton Mini Run back in ’92, but I had never gone to a multi-day event.

My first decision: Should I take the classic 1967 Morris Mini Cooper S, or the modern 2015 MINI Cooper S? I briefly considered driving my ’67 Cooper S the 220 miles from Cambridge, Mass., to New Paltz. The routes suggested by Apple Maps were either four hours on the highway, or six hours on back roads. The car is prone to overheating, and with a forecast for 90° plus I didn’t much fancy the chances of arriving with the head gasket intact.

Perhaps I could take both, towing the classic behind the modern? The MINI is not really known for its prowess in hauling loads. Tow hitches are available, but only for Class 1 up to 2,000 lbs. The combined weight of a classic Mini at 1,500 lbs. plus a lightweight trailer at 800 lbs. just wouldn’t work.

My wife had a thought, “You see RVs hauling cars behind them on their long Interstate adventures. Perhaps you could fix something up for the Mini?” Sounds like a project for a rainy weekend and fortunately I could see thunderclouds on the horizon.

So, having spent most of a weekend reading about flat towing and buying an assortment of angled steel bar and grade 8 bolts from Home Depot, I had a plan. This involved drilling out the front subframe bolts of the ’67 Mini and fabricating a parallel towing bar behind the front license plate, to which an RV-style flat towing trapeze from Harbor Freight could be attached. On the MINI end, it was a fairly simple job of removing the rear lights, bumper and crash structure to fit the Class 1 hitch.

The only problem came with hooking up the trailer lights. I bought a set of magnetic lights to fit onto the rear parcel shelf of the Mini, and ran the cable across a clothesline of bungee cords to the rear hatch of the MINI. But when I spliced the control box into the MINI wiring loom, all I got was “reverse light failure” displayed on the dashboard.

Hmm. It turns out MINI in their wisdom used a blue wire with a gray trace for the reverse light, and a gray wire with a blue trace for the brake light. Simple fix when I spotted my error, but really, BMW, couldn’t you have thought that through?

So, we were all set. Off to MME.

The drive was uneventful, other than a constant barrage of honking horns, thumbs up from other drivers and even some cars overtaking then dropping back to take photos! The instructions for the towing A-frame said to check the couplings every 100 miles. I didn’t fancy my chances maneuvering in a car park, so I pulled into the truck stop area of a highway service plaza, much to the amusement and curiosity of the big-rig drivers.

MME is technically a four-day event, Monday evening through Thursday evening. Originally, I planned to drive down on Tuesday. I expected the main event would be the car show on Wednesday, so I had only booked the hotel for three nights. After I decided to tow, traveling the day before seemed more prudent. Unfortunately, the host hotel was fully booked for Monday, but I managed to get a room in a hotel next door, literally just across the parking lot.

On arrival I was immediately impressed by the organization of Brits of The Hudson, the host club. They arranged everything perfectly for a speedy registration. There was a raffle for Mini- and classic car-themed prizes, so I entered a strip of tickets.

I spent the next few hours walking around the parking lot of the hotel, looking at the assembled Minis and MINIs, and chatting with a few of the owners. This turned out to be a mini car show all by itself! Then it was time for the first organized event, the Sunset Tour across local back roads, ending at an ice cream farm stand. The drive was well organized, with everyone assembling at the hotel to travel in a convoy. Even so, I managed to make a wrong turn (actually, following another Mini who went wrong!), but fortunately, my car being a Mini, turning around in the width of a narrow country road was no problem.

Now, truth be told, I had not put many miles on my Mini since rebuilding and fitting the original engine earlier in the year. I’d driven the 100 miles each way to British by the Sea and knew there was a small issue with oil smoke and a more serious overheating issue. Aside from that trip, the car was largely untested. So, the 40-mile-or-so Sunset Tour was a baptism by fire, but the Mini coped with it amicably. And more importantly, I had a great time. We even got to watch parachutists from a nearby municipal airfield skydiving across the sunset.

Tuesday was the first full day of the meet. A driving rallye had been organized, but I elected not to risk my luck and instead drove straight to the second event, the panoramic photo. After a well-organized barbecue (including vegetarian bacon sandwiches for us veggies) and more socializing with owners (during which I learned who the mysterious Hrach was — thanks, Barb), it was time to go to the field for the photo.

It was a scorching hot day and standing on the field for several hours was not particularly comfortable. Eventually the photo was taken and we all retired to the hotel. But, not for long, because there was an evening organized drive. The weather had broken and thunderstorms were brewing. So, I decided to take advantage of being a two-Mini attendee, and used my modern MINI for the drive in the rain to the famous Walkway over the Hudson, a disused railway trestle bridge set in beautiful scenery. Almost immediately I regretted that decision, as the classic Mini drivers were having much more fun.

Back at the hotel, people gathered around a parking lot full of Minis into the late hours, drinking beers from the nearby gas station and chatting about classic car stuff.

Wednesday was car show day. The show was well categorized, with a specific class for “external hinge” Mk1 and Mk2 Minis, which included mine. There was strong competition from an immaculate yellow Speedwell Mini and a replica of LBL6D, the famous Monte Carlo-winning Works Mini. I had a good day looking around the other classes, in particular the Brits of the Hudson line-up of classic non-Minis. There was also a small swap meet, including a rare Innocenti heater being offered for sale. With rather amazing serendipity, an Italian Innocenti 1300 Mini owner attending the show needed just such a heater!

I met a couple of folks over from the UK whose names were familiar from the on-line Mini forums. UK Mini expert Nick Rogers cast his eye over my car and the only fault he called me out on was the horn being mounted upside down (since rectified!).

The next event was the Funkhana. As a Mini Meet virgin, I had no idea what this was and didn’t enter — just as well, since it needed at least three people in the car to do successfully. As far as I could tell, the objective was to thrash your prized Mini around a parking lot while the passengers jumped out of the moving car to take part in various tasks. Kind of like an obstacle course for cars. It all looked hilarious, with Mini Mokes having a distinct advantage in the egress/ingress department.

The third evening event was an organized drive to a local ice cream parlor to watch the 4th of July fireworks. This again turned into an impromptu car show with so many Minis descending at once. Of course, we enjoyed showing off our cars to the locals. Afterwards we drove back in the dark. I hadn’t thought about that in advance, and it turned out my headlights do a good job of illuminating 5 or 6 yards in front of the car, with high beam adding at most another 2 yards! We arrived safely back at the hotel and held another parking lot post-event discussion. Some of the show cars had already been packed away in their trailers, but there were still plenty of cars and owners hanging around to chat with.

Thursday, the last day of the Meet, was split into two parts: an autocross at the local university campus, and the award ceremony banquet in the evening. The autocross had drivers race against the clock to navigate a course of cones and professional timing lights. Again, not knowing what to expect (and not being entirely confident in the reliability of my car) I hadn’t entered the autocross. But it was fun just to spectate, eat pizza, and watch the lunatic brigade thrash seven bells out of their engines, Turbo Dave in particular!

The evening banquet had a good turnout. It opened with clips from the Italian Job movie, followed by raffle results and then the awards. On the big screen was a photomontage of the entire event, including a rather stunning photo of my car taken by Michael DiPleco.

The drive home was uneventful, even though it was raining hard. In all, I had a great first time at Mini Meet. Next time I’ll know what to expect, hopefully have a better prepared car and be ready to participate in more of the events. I’d like to thank Lorine and Derick Karabec for organizing such a great event, and the members of Brits of The Hudson for making everyone feel so welcome — in particular, stewarding the evening drives which made them much more enjoyable.

Next year will be “Mini Meet East Meets West” in Colorado.

Barbara and I are big fans of the MINI JCW Team.  Last year we traveled to races in Watkins Glen, N.Y., Mosport in Canada, Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., and Road Atlanta in Georgia to see our favorite team in action.  This year, due to attending Mini Meet East, we have only been to Lime Rock in July. 

The MINI team has to be the friendliest and most fan-oriented team in IMSA racing.  We see more fans hanging around the MINI paddock than at any other team, even the WeatherTech big boys.  This year, same as last, MINI USA sponsored a MINI corral area where for a few bucks you had an exclusive parking area just for MINIs, a breakfast and lunch and soft drinks and coffee, paid for by MINI USA — and some of the best hillside seating to watch the race, on the end of the main straight with views of Big Bend and beyond.  Big thanks must go to Tonine McGarvie from MINI USA who coordinates the team events.  Tonine also held a prize raffle for MINI fans in the paddock.  Barbara won a big bag of MINI goodies.

The MINI JCW Team competes in the ST class of IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.  The Lime Rock race was a two-hour event, but there are three other events on the schedule, at Daytona, Watkins Glen, and a newly-added “Encore” race at Sebring, that are four hours in length, testing the MINI race cars to their limit. 

The cars in ST (for “Street Tuner”) are basically the same as the MINIs you can drive every day.  They are MINI Cooper JCW models, with racing tires, racing brakes and a fuel cell instead of a gas tank for safety. The interior is taken out and a roll cage installed along with fire and safety equipment and a team two-way radio.  But the engine and drivetrain is pretty much street-spec with a race exhaust. 

The sad news this year is that the ST class is going away for 2019 as IMSA specs change.  Where our favorite MINI Team will be competing is up in the air at the time of writing.  It may be in the Pirelli World Challenge series with MINI Coopers, or in the TCR (“Touring Car”) class in the IMSA series with a bigger MINI or something different.  We shall have to wait until the end of the season to find out.  After three years of ST class racing, we have grown very fond of “our” team.  MINI fans are like that.

We were sitting in the MINI corral hillside, with our old Motorola police surplus radio programmed to listen to the team radio frequencies, wearing David Clark surplus headsets, and enjoying some fantastic weather for a race. Listening into the communications is fun.  Keeping what you may hear confidential is just plain gentlemanly. 

We had been keeping our fingers crossed that the plague of broken CV joints (axles) that ended the runs of some of the cars in previous races this year would not happen again. 

Before the race, I spoke about this with the team manager, Luis Perocarpi. He explained it was the rubber boots that kept ripping and causing the grease to leave the CV joints, causing them to snap.  For some reason it only happened this season, leaving the team scratching their heads.  Perhaps it was the stress of racing or the heat build-up from the brakes — or even a mid-year production change by MINI to the rubber boot composition?  But for Lime Rock, all three cars had brand new MINI axles installed, and that seemed to do the trick.  Thinking about this as a MINI JCW owner, we would almost never experience this failure in a street-driven MINI as it would never be stressed for two or four hours straight at top speeds.

The team had never won at Lime Rock.  Last year some difficulties kept them off the podium.  But this year was simply grand.  After a hard-fought two-hour race, MINI #73, driven by Mike LaMarra and Mat Pombo, took 1st place in ST, and MINI #52, driven by Colin Mullen and Mark Pombo, took 3rd place.  MINI #37 came in 4th, driven by Nate Norenberg and Derek Jones. 

Luis was thrilled!  The bubbly was being sprayed at the Winner’s Circle!  The fans surrounding the podium all got to take pictures holding the trophies and with the drivers and team. 

Yes, this team is friendly and approachable. They take time to talk with fans in the paddock before the races and during the Grid Walk right before the start and then after the race at the Winner’s Circle.  I tend to believe that MINI fans are the best in IMSA, too. 

Come to a race, meet the team, have fun!  The last race is at Road Atlanta in October.  Why not fly down and enjoy yourself?  We might do it again this year.  And with MINI’s lead in the Manufacturer’s Championship after Lime Rock, they are the favorite to take the series this year at Road Atlanta.

P.S.:  A few weeks later at Road America in Wisconsin, the team finished 2nd (#73 car) and 3rd (#37 car).

NEWTON, Mass., July 6-8 — The Goulds’ 23rd Microcar Classic weekend ran like a well-oiled machine, not to mention a well-oiled driveway, garage floor and street.

Friday afternoon the rain cleared out and we had great weather all weekend. Saturday it was in the low 70s, the perfect temperature for a caravan of 40 microcars and minicars to make the 120-mile round trip drive between Newton and the summit of Mount Wachusett. Sunday at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum (LAAM) was hot and sunny, with a good turnout of cars and the public.

NEMO was out in force, with eight classic Minis and two Mokes on the lawn of the Museum. A couple from Florida trailered their classic Mini to Newton and participated in all the weekend events.

Every year there are surprises, and this was no exception. Dmitry Bykhovsky, general manager of AlphaCars in Boxborough, Mass., brought four Russian cars his shop has for sale, Lada being the only brand I had heard of. My favorite was a 1962 Moskvitch 407. Passengers complimented the comfortable ride and spacious interior. Coincidently, while descending Mount Wachusett, the Moskvitch encountered a black bear. Is it just me or is there something funny about the Russian car encountering the bear?

Other new and unusual cars included a 1935 Austin Seven, a Westfield kit car with a Miata drivetrain, an Autozam AZ-1 gullwing kei car, a nice green-and-white BMW Isetta and a 1947 Crosley sedan. The Autozam was built by Suzuki and sold by Mazda. Now that the model is 25 years old it can legally be imported to the US.

At the summit of Mount Wachusett a community access cable TV crew greeted us. They videoed our arrival and departure and interviewed Jon Chomitz and Charles Gould. On Sunday, a different cable TV crew was on the field at LAAM. Wendy Birchmire, Alex Daly and I were interviewed about our classic Minis.

NEMO member and first-time attendee 6-year-old Nuala Barker had been asking her father Iain about the microcar event for months, knowing that she would get to ride in the cars rather than just hanging out at the show. Nuala took lots of rides, held several tea parties in the Robbins’ VW camper van, petted many dogs and had her face painted. She invited people to take rides in Iain’s classic Mini and enjoyed riding in the wayback of my ’68 Mini Traveller. It is safe to say that Nuala had a blast.

It was great fun to watch the Austin Seven give rides around the Museum grounds on Sunday. Many NEMO members gave rides in their cars. Bruce Vild responded to a special request for a classic Mini when other members were taking a break to cool down both the cars and drivers.

When awards were handed out for the Mini class, Wendy Birchmire took 1st for her 1990 Mini Domino Pimlico convertible, Bruce Vild’s 1967 Austin Mini 850/1100 received 2nd, and Bob Brownell took 3rd place with his 1963 Austin Mini Cooper S.

In the Minicar class, 2nd place was awarded to Elizabeth (and Michael) Crawford’s 1933 MG J2. Six-month-old Camden Crawford picked up the trophy with his mother and promptly started teething on it.

Many thanks go to the Gould family and all the volunteers that helped with car repairs, food preparation, clean-up, registration and vending. Thanks also to Kate Lane for providing visual proof of the bear sighting. Kate is a Microcar Classic regular and is writing a children’s book inspired by the event.

BOSTON, Mass., June 30 — Despite the 90° weather forecast, I joined MINIs of Boston on their annual Summer Rally through Boston, Lexington and Concord. If this were a rally for classic Minis (no air conditioning) it would be a different story! A highpoint of the rally was a tour of the US Coast Guard Base in Boston. We had to submit an application for permission to enter the base.

My husband (who hates hot weather) and I arrived at the Base at about 7:45 a.m. and had our IDs checked at the gate. We passed inspection because they let us in and directed us to the wharf where a lot of MINIs were already parked. Owners were doing their usual inspection of other cars and chatting with fellow enthusiasts.

At 8 a.m. the USS Constitution (which is anchored across the water from the Base) fired off one of its cannons. The ceremonial “Morning Colors” (hoisting and lowering of the flags) was then conducted on the Base. The MINI assemblage removed their hats, most of which were emblazoned with MINI logos.

Our tour of the Coast Guard Base began shortly thereafter. The 270-ft. Seneca, a famous class medium endurance cutter, is berthed there. Josh Amato arranged for us to get a guided tour of the vessel. We broke into small groups, had our IDs checked again and boarded the cutter. We viewed the space where Jayhawk helicopters land and then entered the ship. It has air conditioning, which was good news on such a hot day.

Our group of 20 started on the bridge, where the captain, helmsman, quartermaster and lookout work. We learned about the cutter’s twin V18 diesel engines and that the Seneca can travel at 22mph. We descended three steep, narrow stairways down to the officers’ dining room and the mess hall. I had forgotten how claustrophobic I am, but remembered quickly. The thought of 100 people (86 enlisted men and 14 officers) being on the cutter for extended periods of time shocked me. I couldn’t stay on the Seneca for a half hour without having an anxiety attack.

The Seneca’s jobs include homeland security, enforcing fishery laws, enforcing drug laws, search and rescue missions, and alien migration interdiction (illegally entering the country by sea). Though the Seneca was commissioned in 1987, she recently went out on a 70-day, 15,000-mile deployment, combating international drug trafficking and performing migrant interdiction operations. The ship’s crew, along with an armed helicopter crew, intercepted five vessels carrying cocaine from South America bound for the United States. The interdiction of these vessels resulted in the apprehension of 15 suspected narcotics traffickers, and approximately 3.5 tons of cocaine with a street value of nearly 63 million dollars!

We returned to our cars and found it was hot enough to fry an egg on their bonnets! We split into groups of 10 cars and set off through Boston’s North End. Some cars got stuck at red lights while others whizzed through the narrow, winding streets. We motored by Paul Revere’s house, Boston Common and then on to the Fenway Park area and a short stop to regroup.

After a tour of Back Bay (yes, we did a bit of circling around), it was on to the dreaded Storrow Drive. I say “dreaded” because it is difficult for me to follow the group when everyone spreads out into different lanes. No need to worry, we made it to Panera in Cambridge unscathed. A rest stop was certainly appreciated by this time.

After briefly cooling off, we drove on to Lexington to view historic sites along the Battle Road. A photo stop and a quick look at the Old Manse in Concord put us right on time for our lunch reservation.

At 12:15 p.m., 40 hungry MINI owners arrived at the picturesque Colonial Inn in Concord. There we were able to purchase well-needed cold beverages and lunch from a varied menu. At the restaurant we resumed our earlier conversations. All over the dining room, addicted MINI owners discussed their favorite MINI topics. I got pointers on opening the convertible top on my car. Now I know why the car displayed a strange message about the top not being totally open.

Sharing information is an important part of a rally! The drive and camaraderie made venturing out in the heat wave worthwhile.

The patient is a 46-year-old with breathing difficulties, low energy, and problems retaining bodily fluids. Diagnosis: major organ failure. Prognosis: terminal.

Well, that’s how it started, anyway, with Phil’s purchase of a 1972 Mini 998cc Mk3 Super Deluxe. Even before the deal was done we knew the engine likely had issues with smoke and emissions, as the “for sale” photos showed that a previous owner had disconnected the crankcase breather hose and blocked it with a half inch bolt. What we didn’t realize is that it was also leaking oil from the differential seals, most of which deposited itself onto the garage floor at a friend’s house after a 20-mile drive.

Fortunately, a plan was afoot. Iain had recently removed a good 1380cc A+ engine from his 1967 Cooper S Mk1, so a deal was done to buy the engine and ancillaries and use them to resurrect the 1972 Mk3. (Cue the opening scene from The Six Million Dollar Man, “We have the technology, we can rebuild him,” etc., etc.)

In addition to upgrading the engine, something would need to be done about the brakes. Twin leading shoe drums might have been adequate (barely) for a 998cc engine with 38bhp, but they would never be a safe match for the 90bhp-plus of a 1380 — and besides, these brakes were not exactly in factory prime condition.

The Dunlop D1 alloy wheels were looking rather tired, with big chunks missing in places. They also suffered from an unsympathetic refurbishment courtesy of a rattle can of silver paint. The wheels stuck out much too far from the side of the car, neither safe nor aesthetically pleasing. The tires were good, though, and could be reused on new wheels.

It was time for Phil to get busy with his credit card and start ordering in some parts.

As with all Mini projects, it’s best to have a goal in mind so the project doesn’t drag on interminably. June 2nd was chosen as the completion date, so that the car could be driven to “British by the Sea” in Connecticut on the 3rd. Phil picked up the engine, exhaust, headers, tools, and a box of miscellaneous parts from Iain, and was ready to start work.

Iain immediately went on vacation for two weeks in Europe trying to forget that he’d talked himself into fixing up yet another Mini (unsuccessfully, as it turns out). While in the UK he picked up a few of the harder-to-find components and brought them back as hand baggage.

It was early May, and with parts ordered from the usual UK motor factors, it was Phil’s turn to do the vanishing act for a week in Chicago. By mid-May we had a looming deadline, a large pile of parts, and a long, long way to go.

Phil stripped the drum hubs, exhaust and most of the ancillaries off the car during weekday evenings, and on weekends Iain drove the 100 miles or so to help with reassembly. First thing was to pull the old engine and separate it from the remote gearbox. The gearbox was in good condition and could be resealed and reused. As with most US Minis of that era, the gearbox had been previously replaced with one from an ADO16 Austin America, a very robust unit more than up to the challenge of a 1380.

However, before the gearbox could be installed, it had to be cleaned. It was caked in engine oil and accumulated road grit, literally up to half an inch thick in places. With no access to a parts washer or even running water, we scrubbed off the mess by hand using rags and wire brushes. It was a very, very long couple of hours, making for quite blistered hands.

Finally, the gearbox was ready to mate with the replacement engine. Being a race-build MED engine, the 1380 had been drilled and tapped for 5/16” crankcase bolts rather than the standard 1/4”. An attack with an electric hand drill quickly solved that problem by re-drilling the holes in the alloy gearbox casting — there was no going back now!

The primary oil seal, differential oil seals and all gaskets were replaced with new premium items from Mini Spares. We used Permatex aviation form-a-gasket to ensure a good seal on the gaskets, then proceeded with final assembly of the power unit and reinstallation into the car.

A long 10 hours after starting, it was very late in the evening and we were tired. A misaligned oil filter dumped a pint of Miller’s best Mini 20/50 on the garage floor. When everything was finally ready, a flat battery prevented starting the car that night. Still, we had accomplished a lot, so the next visit should be plain sailing.

Phil got the tires swapped to the new wheels (a nice shiny set of Minilites) and prepared the car for installing disc brakes. The new wheels and brakes are Cooper S-spec (10 x 4.5” deep offset wheels on 7.5” discs) so they fit properly within the bodylines of the car, a very nice upgrade. The exhaust, a Pico straight-through double-chrome center box, was also fitted. We changed the rear brake hydraulic cylinders to the smaller bore used on the Cooper S so the car would retain correct front to rear balance. Oh, and a new battery.

By now it was Memorial Day weekend, just one week before the BBTS deadline. This was the last chance to get the car on the road. Phil focused on the exhaust and rear suspension while Iain worked up front on the discs.

What should have been a simple swap soon became complicated, as the CV joints would not separate from the drive shafts. After some thought, we removed them with extreme prejudice, using an angle grinder to cut the balls out of the CV. The problem was the internal circlip had jumped out of its groove and jammed on the inner race, a simple fix (of course, both sides had the same fault).

Finally, the car was down on all four wheels and ready to be started. After torquing the head, setting the valve clearances and double-checking the ignition timing, it was “go time.” The twin SU HS2 carbs that Iain had refurbished (see May article) were deliberately set to run rich for start-up, and amazingly the engine fired up and idled on first turn of the key. Success!

A quick run down the road confirmed we had very little in the way of brakes, and the front wheel alignment was very toe-out, but at least the car was moving under its own power. In fact, the toe-out was so severe that Phil decided to utilize his AAA Plus towing privileges and had the Mini flat-bedded to his local mechanic, who upon seeing the situation had no choice but to put off all his waiting customers and get the car on the lift pronto. He freed up the stubborn tie rods and got the alignment set. There was even time for an additional brake bleed.

Now all that remained was to balance the carbs dynamically, set the mixture, and head off to British by the Sea. Not necessarily in that order.

Epilogue: Phil’s car stalled out at a gas station on the way to BBTS due to running over-rich and flooding. Fortunately, he was able to get it restarted and made it to the show.

We balanced the carbs right there on the show field. Phil disconnected the carb linkages, and I used a piece of spare fuel hose as a listening tube to get the airflow at an even hiss by ear, referring to the diagram in my original 1967 Mini Cooper Driver’s Handbook! Then we warmed it up and set the fuel mixture on both carbs, again by ear, using the SU lifter pin to tickle the carb pistons up and listen for the change in revs. Phil then locked the linkages and reassembled the air cleaners.

Dave Black suggested using the plug insulator color to confirm the settings. Phil sent me a photo of the spark plugs last week after a hot run, and it was a nice brown/beige color just like the photo in the Haynes manual, so we must have got it fairly close. Not bad without any proper measuring equipment!

I normally write articles about the trials and tribulations of restoring and maintaining my classic 1967 Morris Mini Cooper S 1275. But I am also the owner of a 2009 MINI John Cooper Works R56 as my daily driver. What follows is a bit of a “compare and contrast” for some common maintenance tasks on both models.

Other than the vastly increased complexity required for modern computerized engine management, the most obvious difference between servicing these two cars is the recommended service intervals. As always, the mantra to follow is air, oil and water.

Air

Replacing the engine air filter on both eras of car is trivial. Unscrew the top of the air box (one or two wing nuts on the classic, three Torx screws on the modern) and replace the paper element (or re-oil if using K&N). Change the filter about once a year for normal highway use in New England, or every 3 or 6 months if you live in the desert or go rallying on the back roads. Elapsed time, 5 minutes.

Oil

The classic Mini uses the same oil for its engine and gearbox, and the Morris 1967 handbook recommends a conventional oil change every 3,000 miles/3 months, or 6,000/6 if using multi-grade. In practice I suspect most of the 5.3 million classic Minis built only got an annual service, at best.

BMW recommends 12,000 miles/12 months as the oil service interval, but the onboard computer on my Gen2 MINI seems to recommend service every 15,000. That is far too long, in my opinion generally I change the oil every 6,000/6 months, which is reasonable for a turbo engine.

So in reality, despite over 40 years of progress, nothing has really changed. You service the oil regularly to avoid engine problems. Of course, actually performing that service is a little different.

On the classic Mini, unscrew the gearbox drain plug and remove one bolt to drop the Purolator oil filter (or spin it off using a pipe wrench if your Mini is Mk3 or later). Replace the filter/element, wipe off the accumulated metal shavings from the magnetic drain plug (and worry briefly about where they might have come from), then refit the plug and refill with oil. It’s an easy 10-minute job.

On the MINI, draining the engine oil is just as straightforward, although the gearbox oil is “lifetime transmission fluid” per the BMW sticker (whose lifetime, mine or the car’s?) I suggest replacing it every few years. For a bi-annual service, only the engine oil and filter need to be changed. The oil filter on the MINI is a little harder to access than on the Mini, since it is tucked away underneath the turbo. Unbolt the cooling radiator expansion tank and move it to one side to gain access to the oil filter. In all, about 15 to 20 minutes for drain and refill.

Water

The other regular maintenance task on any car is to flush and replace the coolant and replace the thermostat. Generally I do that once per year when bringing the classic Mini out of winter hibernation, although every couple of years is probably sufficient on the MINI, as alloy generally corrodes less than cast iron.

On both eras of car, draining and flushing the coolant is the same. Place a large kiddie paddling pool under the front of the car and drain the old coolant. On the MINI it is easiest to disconnect the joint in the bottom radiator hose. On the Mini, unscrew the radiator copper drain plug if your car is lucky enough to have one, or remove the left road wheel to gain access, and then disconnect the lower radiator hose via the cutout in the inner wing. There is probably an official pressurization tool for the job, but I just flush the system with a garden hose to wash out the corroded detritus (make sure the heater tap is open on the Mini), then refit the hose/plug and refill with new coolant via the radiator cap.

On the MINI you also need to bleed air out of the screw on top of the thermostat housing. On the Mini you can do the same by loosening the heater tap hose. Both cars take about the same time, 15 minutes or so.

What is definitely a very different task is replacing the thermostat. On a classic Mini the thermostat is located at the top front corner of the cylinder head and is retained by three studs (most A/A+ engines) or bolts (late A+ engines without a bypass hose). It has one inlet (from the head) and one clamped outlet hose (to the radiator). Ideally, the hoses should be replaced at the same time as the thermostat. Generally, the hardest part of the job is getting the alloy thermostat housing off the steel studs, due to the dissimilar metals corroding electrolytically over time. Total time to replace is around 10 to 15 minutes.

For the MINI, the thermostat isn’t listed as a service item in the handbook, but they all seem to start leaking after a few years. I found I had to change mine when doing the most recent service.

An R56 MINI thermostat has no less than seven hoses connected to it. Others have compared it to the Jarvik artificial heart. It certainly looks that complicated (see photo). To make matters worse, it is buried in the engine bay on the side of the block, and several layers need to be removed before it can be unbolted.

First, drain the coolant and remove the expansion tank for access. Next, remove the cold intake tubing and the air box, the turbo air pipes, and the noisemaker from the bulkhead. Finally, disconnect about a dozen engine management electrical connections and lift the ECU loom away from the engine.

Now the seven hoses can be unclamped and the thermostat unbolted. As with the classic Mini it is retained by three bolts, but this time the thermostat housing is made of plastic so there are no bi-metal corrosion issues to be concerned about. Of course, using plastic in such a hot environment could be why it degraded and leaked in the first place. Just sayin’.

At this point you will feel some measure of confidence that the whole endeavor will be successful. Unfortunately, that feeling is likely premature. Inspecting the removed part, you will most likely find evidence of leaks around the O-ring seal of the water pump to thermostat transfer pipe, again made of plastic and prone to degradation.

Unless you have arms like Stretch Armstrong, you will need to remove the inlet manifold and throttle valve assembly for access to the water pump coolant transfer pipe. The passenger side road wheel will need to be removed for access to the lower manifold bolt via the cutout in the inner wing. I guess some things never change.

With the transfer pipe and thermostat replaced, refitting is, for once, the exact reverse of removal. Elapsed time is around 2 hours for disassembly. After refilling and bleeding air from the new housing, allow another 1 to 2 hours for reassembly, depending whether you changed the transfer pipe.

In this case, 40-plus years doesn’t seem so much like progress. But despite what many people say, home servicing is still possible on modern cars — it just takes longer than it used to.

Join us for the MetroFest Arts, Music & Food Truck Festival on Saturday, June 16th, at Bowditch Field in Framingham, Mass. That’s right, it’s a food truck festival with 20 trucks from across New England, plus 130 vendor booths, a climbing wall, a beer, wine and hard cider tasting tent, an electric bike test track, and “Kids Town” with fire trucks, DPW vehicles, a pair of ambulances and a SWAT truck to climb through. And, of course, there will be classic cars from NEMO members and friends.

Admission is free, and it runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bowditch Field is at 475 Union Ave., Framingham, and the link to the event is www.metrowestvisitors.org/explore/MetroFest.cfm.

Contact me at alvis1934@aol.com or (508) 259-6314 about including your classic car at MetroFest. There is space for 20-plus cars this year and participation, as mentioned, is free. Plan to arrive at Bowditch Field around 10 a.m. We will enter the field through the iron gates right at 475 Union Ave. There will be a guide to get you settled in. The event runs until 4 p.m. but if you need to leave earlier they understand and exit access is very simple.

The MINI JCW Team finished 1st and 2nd in their class on what was otherwise a lackluster day for British cars in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race at Mid-Ohio, “the Mid-Ohio 120.”

The two-hour endurance race included cars from the GS (Grand Sport) and new TCR classes along with the ST (Street Tuner) class, where the MINIs were competing against a Porsche and a BMW.

The Mid-Ohio track is 2.4 miles long with 16 turns and many elevation changes and blind corners, perfect for a MINI. It was the first time the team had raced at Mid-Ohio, as the last time IMSA was here was in 2013.

The recently married Nate Norenburg qualified 1st in class in the #37 MINI JCW. At the start of the race, he initially fell back but fought his way to the front before the driver change, with Derek Jones taking over.

The MINI JCW Team has technicians from different local MINI dealers helping out at races as part of MINI USA’s Service Tech Education Program (commonly referred to as STEP). This race had four techs from Cincinnati MINI and one from way down south, Tom Bush MINI in Jacksonville, Fla.

The STEP techs noticed that the #37 MINI JCW had a torn CV boot. They could not fix this and still be competitive, so while Derek was sent back out onto the track, they probably were not surprised when the CV joint (axle assembly) broke with about 30 minutes left in the race. Derek was forced to retire.

This left the race up to the #52 MINI JCW, first driven by Colin Mullan. At mid-point Colin handed the car off to Mark Pombo, who would run a close, bumper-to-bumper race in 1st or 2nd for the last hour with the team’s third car, the #73 MINI JCW.

Number 73 started with driver Mike LaMarra, who swapped positions back and forth with the #52 car, eventually passing his MINI to Mat Pombo (keep your Pombos straight here!). Mat led the race with his brother Mark in the #52 on his tail for some fantastic racing in the last half hour.

The television announcers clearly love the MINI team and the competition between 1st and 2nd was tight. Mat in #73 MINI crossed the finish line inches in front of Mark, bringing home the victory.

Luis Perocarpi, who campaigns the three MINI JCW cars for MINI USA, runs a tight and focused team. Except for the CV joint problem on #37, they had the perfect race. For those of you with a MINI: have you checked your CV joint rubber seals lately?

Mini Meet East 2018 — July 2-5
New Paltz, N.Y.

Have you ever experienced a Mini Meet? If not, there is nothing like it. Mini Meet is a gathering of a great group of people with enthusiasm for having fun with their cute little cars. And Mini Meet East 2018 (MME) is practically next door compared to the previous four Meets.

In 2013, Derick and Lorine Karabec took the lead on organizing MME with NEMO as the host club. When they learned that no other club had stepped up to the plate for MME 2018, they volunteered again to take the lead, with their local club, Brits of the Hudson, serving as host.

MME 2018 will take place in New Paltz, N.Y., from Monday, July 2nd, through Thursday, July 5th. Registration opens on Monday and the event concludes with an awards ceremony banquet on Thursday.

New Paltz is a great little town with a variety of restaurants, boutiques, artisan shops, and a historic district, all surrounded by the beautiful Shawangunk Mountains. Not far from town is the famous Angry Orchard and Tuthilltown Spirits, New York’s first whiskey distillery since Prohibition. This year’s Meet will feature a 2-3 hour organized drive every evening to introduce you to different points of interest in the area.

The host hotel is Hampton Inn, located on South Putt Road in New Paltz, with a negotiated rate of $99 per night, plus tax. This rate is good through June 1st based on availability, so make your reservation today.

Visit minimeeteast2018.com for complete Meet information. Be sure to check back regularly for updates. They are always looking for volunteers. If you would like to get involved, contact Lorine Karabec at wolfelor@aol.com. Hope to see you all there!

Gould’s Microcar & Minicar Classic — July 6-8
Newton, Mass.

When you come back from Mini Meet, catch your breath quickly, because Gould’s Microcar & Minicar Classic returns to Newton, Mass., July 6th through 8th — an entire weekend of microcar and minicar fun! This includes a Friday evening welcome reception, a Saturday drive and ascent of Wachusett Mountain, a stop at the Gould’s Matchbox Motors to view the entire collection, Saturday night barbecue and frozen margarita party, and a Sunday lawn show at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum with optional rides for the public.

A stuffy “park-and-polish” show this isn’t. NEMO is always well represented and we guarantee you will have a great time. See the event website, www.bubbledrome.com/index2.html or Facebook page www.facebook.com/bubbledrome for the full weekend schedule, photos of past events and registration information. You can also e-mail Charles Gould to request a registration packet at chasgould@mac.com.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Apr. 8 — This year we held the NEMO Annual Meeting at the British Beer Company (BBC), a small restaurant chain with 12 locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The BBC features a large beer selection and British pub menu and is popular with other British car clubs.

The Framingham BBC provided us with the “Mad Dog Room” free of charge. Sadly, this location will be closing at the end of April, as the landlord wants to replace the restaurant with a larger building. This is the third time a venue is closing after NEMO held an event there. Hopefully, this is just a coincidence.

We had a great turnout, with 27 adults and one child in attendance. In addition to all the regulars, there were several surprise attendees — Charles and Nancy Gould, the Microcar Classic organizers long-time member Phil Darrell at his first NEMO event, and Kathleen Fitzgerald, Nuala Barker’s mom and Iain’s wife. Four new members were also present — MINI owners Eric and Leslie Wickfield, William Ellis, owner of a nice Innocenti Mini, and Ken Howe, also a MINI owner. Ken joined at the meeting after seeing the event listing on the NEMO Facebook page. To paraphrase Ken, “Beer and British cars, how could you go wrong?”

The parking lot contained two classic British cars, the Goulds’ Nissan Pao, and lots of modern MINIs.

Every year we hold a free raffle of Mini- or classic car-related items donated by members. Faith handed out raffle tickets as people arrived. Prizes were fewer than usual (some years we have too many) and included car parts, books, toys, magazines, Mini tchotchkes, etc.

The meeting started with a social hour followed by an à la carte lunch. People ordered a variety of British and non-British dishes and the food received positive reviews.

Down to Business

Faith Lamprey called the meeting to order by pulling the first raffle ticket. This got everyone’s attention and the best prizes went quickly. After the raffle we moved on to the business portion of the Meeting.

Dave Black provided a financial report. The NEMO bank balance is healthy, with the Holiday Party being our major expense, followed by British Marque subscriptions.

Ken Lemoine gave an Hrach Fund update. The Fund is in honor of founding member Hrach Chekijian and is intended to help young people get involved in the British car hobby. Please contact Ken (alvis1934@aol.com) if you have an idea for a worthwhile project or recipient.

Mini Meet East

Lorine and Derick Karabec provided a Mini Meet East 2018 (MME) update. Their other British car club, Brits of the Hudson (BOTH), is hosting the event. MME will take place in New Paltz, N.Y., from Monday, July 2nd through Thursday, July 5th. Lorine and Derick ran MME in 2013 when NEMO was the host club. They deserve our support and help for taking this on again!

New Paltz is an easy drive, and a lot of NEMO members plan to attend. Classic Minis and modern MINIs are both welcome and BOTH members will participate with other British marques.

Registration is now open. See www.minimeeteast2018.com for additional information. To get involved, contact Lorine Karabec at wolfelor@aol.com or (845) 532-8891.

Other Business

Yours truly provided an update on the NEMO Facebook page, which currently has over 655 likes. We discussed needing more member car photos for the NEMO website. The event photo galleries are updated periodically, but the car galleries are quite out of date. Please e-mail photos to Faith at nemo@auroratechedi.com. Members are also welcome to add photos to the Facebook page in the “Member Cars” album or as a visitor post.

I then led a discussion of the 2018 events calendar. Event listings are updated throughout the driving season. See the website and Facebook page for the latest information. Please let me know about any events you would like to have included.

There was a request from the floor to note whether an event is open to classic Minis, modern MINIs or both. In general, the major British car events welcome both. Most modern MINI events generally welcome classics, though the opposite is not always true.

There were a few other items of note: Wendy Birchmire sold her last “member car” fleece blanket to John Gallagher. The original blanket was the most stolen Yankee Swap gift at the 2017 Holiday Party, so Wendy had some extras made.

Faith gave special recognition to Iain Barker for the great articles he has been writing. The subject of his April article, “Mini Twin SU Carb Conversion,” was shown off by its new owner, Phil Darrell. You do great work, Iain! Phil also bought a 1380cc engine from Iain, and will be installing the engine and carb in his recently acquired 1972 Austin Mini 1000.

People started trickling out around 3:30 p.m. We may try a different British Beer Company location next year, perhaps Franklin, Mass., but are open to other suggestions.

Wow! Josh Amato is setting up a Brewery Rally for MINIs of Boston. I’ve got a brand new MINI (a 2018 Convertible JCW) and I like beer. This could be a fun event! I think I’ll try it. I haven’t driven “Silver” any distance yet and this will be a great way to see how it handles on the curvy roads of Massachusetts.

One of the best parts of the Rally was reuniting with some of my MINI-loving friends. They were there to greet me when I arrived at Panera in Leominster. Despite the chilly day, participants wandered around admiring each car. I always find it amazing that 22 modern MINI Coopers can assemble and no two look alike. Standing out from the crowd were the yellow MINI decked out with Minion decals covering the entire vehicle, and a blue MINI “time machine” adorned with Tardis stickers.

After a quick trip into Panera for some breakfast, we were off. Josh had set up an ingenious Mapquest program for us. All I had to do was go to the link he’d e-mailed and the route appeared on my iPhone. This was a great idea. If I got separated from the group at least I knew which roads they would be traveling.

Following the voice on my iPhone and a Volcanic Orange MINI with a spoiler bar, I figured that I couldn’t get lost. I was able to stay with the pack, but when we arrived at the Wachusett Brewery I had to check my car to make sure it was still intact. I’d misunderstood what a “rally” is, and didn’t expect to be “cruising” at speed on narrow, windy, back roads!

At the Brewery, most of us sat outside around a gas fireplace for warmth. After imbibing small samples of Bella Czech Pilsner (nice) and Hard Cider (horrible), I was ready to fly to the next stop.

We were running late and skipped a stop at the Clinton Dam. My Mapquest program noted the change and kept me driving right along to the Wormtown Brewery in Worcester. It turned out there was a private party present, and thus not enough parking for 22 cars, or seats in the brewery for 38 people. After a quick trip next door to Volturno Pizza, where we found there was a 20-minute wait for tables, we decided to bypass that stop, too. Others agreed with our choice and our little caravan hit the highway.

My new concept of a rally was confirmed when our group motored along with exuberance on the way to Jack’s Abbey in Framingham. After eating some unusual pizza (bacon and mashed potato) and washing it down with some Smoke and Dagger Black Lager (interesting!), I headed home.

My little MINI performed admirably on the trip and I enjoyed the camaraderie of others who have a (slight) MINI Cooper obsession. Now that I know what a rally is, I would like to go on another one!

No, this is not your usual tale of changing a Mini over from single to twin carbs. This is the story of a little winter side project to refurbish a set of twin carbs from an MG and convert them to fit on a Mini.

The great thing about SU carburetors is that they’ve been around pretty much forever, so they are plentiful on the second hand market (eBay). The bad thing is that with so many different types and vehicle applications, it’s easy to buy the wrong model.

So it was that I picked up a much-neglected pair of HS2 carbs off eBay for $120. They came fitted to an ADO16 (actually an MG 1100) manifold, obviously hadn’t been used in 20 or more years, and looked like they’d probably spent most of that time sitting outside in the rain.

From the photos the carbs certainly looked the same as those for a Mini Cooper S. They just needed a good polish and I already had a spare Mini aluminum twin manifold, so it should be a quick bolt-on job, right?

Well, as always, the devil is in the details. I expected I would have to change the main needles (‘M’ for a Mini 1275) and renew the rusted piston springs, but I quickly learned the hard way that the Mini uses half inch wider spacing between the carbs. Further, the Mini manifold is raked upwards at 30° to clear the bulkhead, whereas these were set at 20°. Clearly this wasn’t going to be as straightforward as I had hoped.

Now the SU carb itself doesn’t really care which angle it is running at, but the separate fuel reservoir next to each carb contains a float that operates a needle valve, and that needs to be upright. So the first thing I had to do was order up replacement gaskets with the appropriate 30° offset — orange for the front carb and purple for the rear.

Next up, a genuine SU full rebuild kit from Mini Spares UK, containing replacement butterfly, throttle spindle, choke jet tube, needle valve and seat, plus all the gaskets needed to service a pair of HS2 carbs, basically everything that can wear out over years of use and abuse. The kit comes with clear instructions and is easy to fit using hand tools. Just make sure to get the butterfly the right way around (it has offset chamfered edges) and that the jet tube is centered. The spindle bores were not worn on these carbs, but the kit does come with new bushings just in case.

The classic SU twin carb set-up uses a control linkage, which ensures both throttles and chokes operate together. This consists of two metal rods between the carbs, and an assortment of springs, cams, brackets and clamps. All these parts are identical between the Mini and the MG, except that the two rods need to be half an inch longer for the Mini. I cut some brass rod stock to the appropriate length, and brazed the original steel throttle stop bracket back onto one of the rods using silver solder and a MAPP torch.

The final job was to clean off the remaining surface rust and corrosion with a brass wire brush. I had submerged the bodies in a bucket of carb cleaner for 48 hours prior to disassembly, so it was really just a quick job to brush off the residue. It is important not to scratch the piston or surfaces inside the dashpot, as they are made to close tolerances in order to maintain an effective vacuum seal.

All in, I spent around $150 on parts, plus the original $120 eBay purchase price. At $270 that’s around 1/4 the cost of a new set of carbs. They might not be as shiny as a new set, but should work just as well.

Our Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, April 8th, from 12 noon to 4 p.m. at the British Beer Company, 120 Worcester Rd. (Route 9), Framingham, Mass., (508) 879-1776, britishbeer.com/location/framingham. We reserved the Mad Dog Room, which is in the back behind the bar. The BBC features an extensive beer selection and British pub menu. Food and drink will be ordered à la carte.

An evite was sent to the membership list on March 4th. As of the Marque deadline, 20 people responded yes, with 3 maybe. Another evite will be sent out a week before the meeting. Feel free to join us at the last minute, even if you don’t RSVP.

Mini Meet East 2018 — July 2-5
New Paltz, N.Y.

Have you ever experienced a Mini Meet? If not, there is nothing like it. Mini Meet is a gathering of a great group of people with enthusiasm for having fun with their cute little cars. And Mini Meet East 2018 (MME) is practically next door compared to the previous four Meets.

In 2013, Derick and Lorine Karabec took the lead on organizing MME with NEMO as the host club. When they learned that no other club had stepped up to the plate for MME 2018, they volunteered again to take the lead, with their local club, Brits of the Hudson, serving as host.

MME 2018 will take place in New Paltz, N.Y., from Monday, July 2nd, through Thursday, July 5th. Registration opens on Monday and the event concludes with an awards ceremony banquet on Thursday.

New Paltz is a great little town with a variety of restaurants, boutiques, artisan shops, and a historic district, all surrounded by the beautiful Shawangunk Mountains. Not far from town is the famous Angry Orchard and Tuthilltown Spirits, New York’s first whiskey distillery since Prohibition. This year’s Meet will feature a 2-3 hour organized drive every evening to introduce you to different points of interest in the area.

The host hotel is Hampton Inn, located on South Putt Road in New Paltz, with a negotiated rate of $99 per night, plus tax. This rate is good through June 1st based on availability, so make your reservation today.

Visit minimeeteast2018.com for complete Meet information. Be sure to check back regularly for updates. They are always looking for volunteers. If you would like to get involved, contact Lorine Karabec at wolfelor@aol.com. Hope to see you all there!

Gould’s Microcar & Minicar Classic — July 6-8
Newton, Mass.

Gould’s Microcar & Minicar Classic returns July 6th through 8th, providing an entire weekend of microcar and minicar fun. This includes a Friday evening welcome reception, a Saturday drive and ascent of Wachusett Mountain, a stop at the Gould’s Matchbox Motors to view the entire collection, Saturday night barbecue and frozen margarita party, and a Sunday lawn show at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum with optional rides for the public.

A stuffy “park-and-polish” show this isn’t. NEMO is always well represented and we guarantee you will have a great time. See the event website, www.bubbledrome.com/index2.html or Facebook page www.facebook.com/bubbledrome for the full weekend schedule, photos of past events and registration information. You can also e-mail Charles Gould to request a registration packet at chasgould@mac.com.

Warning: the following article contains science, science fiction and peppermint.

“What goes up, must come down,” said Isaac Newton. Well, in the case of my Mini, that would be the Hydrolastic suspension.

For those not familiar, Hydrolastic was a rather clever system fitted on many Minis from the mid-’60s to early ’70s. It connected the front and rear wheel hubs on each side of the car using metal hydraulic pipes and rubber displacers, in place of traditional suspension springs and dampers. To service the suspension, BMC dealers would de-/re-pressurize the system (between 30” vacuum and 300psi) using two levers on a hand pump manufactured in the UK by the (long-gone) V.L. Churchill Company.

The pumps are a black or blue metal box with two long levers at the front. They look a bit like the arms of a Dalek, the metal-cased evil aliens from the Doctor Who British sci-fi TV series, hence the nickname. One lever draws a vacuum the other lever compresses green Hydrolastic fluid (basically 50:50 water and anti-freeze premix) via two pipes connected to valves on the rear subframe.

Why am I telling you all this, you may wonder. Well, I managed to pick up an old Churchill pump fairly cheaply off ebay.co.uk this fall, and decided to restore it for use with my ’67 Mini.

To be blunt, this pump was knackered.

All these pumps date from the mid-1960s, but this one was in a particularly grim state. It had quite obviously not been used for many years as anything other than a storage shelf. It was covered in oil, dirt and cobwebs. The case was bent and corroded. All the main mechanical parts seemed to be intact, but there was a large split in the plastic fluid reservoir, which someone had obviously tried and failed to reseal many years ago using fiberglass resin.

I stripped it down easily in a couple of hours, minus a few layers of skin from my knuckles. Where a pump once stood on the workbench, now there was a large disorganized pile of what looked like brass and copper Victorian central heating parts.

I had no clue what to do next, but after a quick wire brushing I saw that the metal corrosion didn’t look too bad. The rubber parts were a different story — flexible hydraulic seals that had seen years of service in alcohol and water had been left many more years to dry out, and now looked more like circles made from hard, cracked raisins.

After a lot of searching (hint: “hard black rubber” is not a good thing to Google with safe-search disabled), I found an article on a vintage motorcycle website that suggested an old trick to soak the hardened rubber part in a mixture of alcohol and natural wintergreen oil. Apparently the methyl salicylate compound in wintergreen oil restores the plasticizing elastomers in natural rubber. It also smells like peppermint.

Since new seals haven’t been available for at least 30 years, I figured anything was worth a try. Wintergreen oil is expensive most uses seemed to be for homeopathy and it is sold by the ounce. Fortunately, continuing with my theme of using weird suppliers for Mini parts restoration, I managed to get a pint of methyl salicylate, courtesy of Big Dee’s Horse Tack & Vet Supply Company. I put the metal parts in a bucket of CLR (calcium, lime and rust remover), the rubber seals in a 1:3 mix of wintergreen oil and rubbing alcohol, and decided the best option was to go on vacation to Florida for Thanksgiving and forget about my troubles.

We returned from Thanksgiving vacation to find the Amazon fairies had paid a visit. They left me a package containing a dozen 1/4” BSP (an old, obsolete British Imperial measurement) Dowty sealing washers and a set of new neoprene piston seals. Now I was ready to try and reassemble the plumbing.

First up was the pressure pump, with its obsolete and very custom shaped piston seals. To my amazement, what two weeks ago had been lumps of shriveled hard plastic were now miraculously rejuvenated as supple, usable rubber seals, which smelled faintly like peppermint.

The vacuum pump seal, however, was swollen beyond its original size and cracked into three pieces. Fortunately, this was just a plain rubber seal, nothing proprietary, so it was fairly easy to find a substitute in the seal for the hydraulic piston on a pickup truck snowplow — eBay to the rescue.

With both pumps now able to hold pressure and vacuum, it was time to take care of that “historically repaired” plastic reservoir tank. The old tank was made of some kind of plastic, but of course it predates the introduction of recycling labeling regulations, so it had no material type markings to work from. I tried four different epoxies to fix the cracks in the old tank. JB Weld Plastic Bonder seemed to be the only one, which would adhere to the original plastic. Just in case, I also found a modern five-quart tank of similar design. That is less capacity than the original two-gallon tank, but unless you’re running a 1960s BMC dealership or servicing a fleet of Minis I doubt that would be much of a limitation.

In the spirit of maintaining originality (or maybe just masochism) I decided to use the re-repaired tank, and keep the modern one as a backup. With everything reassembled and a fresh lick of paint on the panels, the Hydrolastic pump was starting to look a lot more like it would have in 1964.

I half-filled the tank with the cheapest 50:50 antifreeze premix I could find, and hooked the hoses up to an old 10” Mini tire to see if the pumps would work. The vacuum side pulled, and held 25” mercury no problem when I put my thumb over the end of the hose. But when hooked up to the tire it was obvious the Schrader valve coupling was leaking in air. Add new Schrader seals to the to-do list.

Worse, the pressure side did not want to work at all. Had all this effort been in vain? No matter how hard I heaved down on the lever, no fluid came out of the hose. Hmm. Time for a beer and a think.

After a while I realized the problem. There is a one-way check valve to prevent the pressure pump from sucking fluid back out of the car on the upstroke. It’s basically a ball bearing floating inside a tube, and some idiot (me) had put it back together upside down. Hey, kids, remember to take photos during disassembly!

With the valve reversed, the pump pushed fluid easily through the hose, up to the spare tire, out the top of the Schrader valve — and onto the basement ceiling. Now I had green antifreeze raining down on my head. That was not part of the plan. Add a second set of new Schrader seals to the to-do list.

Of course, neither of the Schrader couplings has been manufactured for at least 30 years, so there are no service kits available with replacement seals. Fortunately, the nitrogen-filled struts on aircraft landing gear are very similar to the Hydrolastic valves, and are still available. In fact, Amazon has them on next day delivery. So it was trivial to replace them with new parts that would hold pressure.

The only thing left now was to print a new instruction placard for the top panel. The pump is complete and ready to use when I reset the suspension height on my Mini in the spring.

NEMO’s Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, April 8th, from 12 noon to 4 p.m. at the British Beer Company, 120 Worcester Rd. (Route 9), Framingham, Mass., (508) 879-1776. We reserved the “Mad Dog Room,” which is in the back behind the bar.

The BBC features an extensive beer selection and British pub menu. This small restaurant chain is popular with other British car clubs. Food and drink will be ordered à la carte. Take a look at britishbeer.com/location/Framingham.

We will be holding the usual Give-Away Freebie Raffle, so if you have any Mini-related items you would like to donate bring them along. An evite will be sent to the membership list in early March. The British Beer Company is located on Route 9, about 1.5 miles from I-90.

Directions: 1) Take I-90 (Mass Turnpike) to Exit 13, Route 30 West, Natick/Framingham. 2) Bear right on the exit ramp and merge onto Route 30 West (Cochituate Road) toward Framingham. 3) Continue on Route 30 West for about 1.0 mile. 4) Turn left onto Caldor Road (mall service road). There is a McDonald’s on the left corner. 5) Caldor Road ends at a light. Turn left onto Worcester Road (Route 9). 6) The British Beer Company will be on your right, just after you turned onto Worcester Road.

WARWICK, R.I., Dec. 3 — You want me to join you where, at what hour? Oh, the “MINIs Making a Difference” Toy Rally in Warwick. That sounds like a wonderful way to help bring some happiness to children who really need it. But we have to be there at 8 a.m. and it is an hour’s drive from home? I haven’t gotten up before 7 a.m. since I retired, but I can do this. Just get up, get dressed, feed the cats, pack up the presents and get on the road!

On arriving at MINI of Warwick, the first thing I saw was a line of brand new MINIs ready to be someone’s holiday gift. Better stay away from them. My MINI is only two years old and is in fine shape. Those new ones looked so shiny and inviting, however.

There were three lines of modern MINIs and one classic Mini lined up for the rally. Many of them were adorned with Christmas finery. Even though it was a brisk 44°, owners were out inspecting the rally cars. Incredibly, of the 47 cars I didn’t see two cars that looked the same. There were unique paint jobs and clever license plates.

Inside, the dealership provided treats catered by Panera. There were assorted bagels, muffins, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, coffee, milk and orange juice. They even had my favorite, chocolate chip bagels, and cream cheese to smear on them. Yummy!

The dealership also offered a discount on gift items for MINI enthusiasts. I wanted the blue 3D puzzle of a MINI, but decided against it. My friend bought one and I’m sure she will let me play with hers. Thank you, MINI of Warwick, for a perfect start to the day.

Then the presents started flowing in, brought by MINI owners and volunteers. There were bicycles, stuffed animals, games and just about anything a child could wish for. There were over 1,000 presents donated. One enterprising family contributed 170 items. Wow! Apparently all the family members had asked their friends to donate a present. The young lady who brought them to the rally said she wanted to collect even more next year.

At 11 a.m., we were off on the rally to Hasbro Children’s Hospital and the Newport Car Museum. Now that was tricky. Initially my car was sandwiched between two other MINIs. When we got to the highway, everyone spread out and it was difficult to see where to go at the interchanges. Once we got to Providence, local police provided us with an escort to the Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Later, on the drive to the Newport Car Museum, local officers stopped traffic at intersections so our little caravan could stay together.

The people at the Newport Car Museum welcomed us and provided cookies and coffee. There were many docents available to answer our questions. One of the things I really liked was there were no ropes surrounding the vehicles to keep visitors away. The private collection of 50 cars covers six decades of automotive design, from the 1950s to the present. There are separate exhibits of Ford/Shelby cars, Corvettes, Mopars, world cars and fin cars. There are also driving simulations and mid-century modern furnishings.

My favorite cars at the Museum were the 1954 Buick Skylark Convertible and the 2017 Dodge Viper ACR. Although they are quite different, I would be happy to ride in each of them.

All in all, it was a great day. We donated toys to children in need, inspected the other rally cars and were treated to a museum full of awesome vehicles. What could be better?

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Dec. 2 — The NEMO Holiday Party was held at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham, and we had a great turnout — 33 adults and one child! The restaurant provided two adjoining rooms. A large outer room contained the bar, hors d’oeuvres table, small drink tables and the buffet table. Members congregated here for a social hour. We had lunch and the Yankee Swap in the smaller inner room. Feedback on the food and space was positive and we will probably use this venue again in 2018.

The Yankee Swap table overflowed with bags and packages of all sizes. There were several gifts that changed hands many times, including a mysterious greasy paper bag.

The only child at the party was Nuala Barker, our youngest NEMO regular. Yours truly bent the rules and presented Nuala with an un-swappable gift, a Finding Dory treasure chest filled with Nemo and Dory items. Nuala quickly caught on to the Yankee Swap process and instructed her father Iain to steal a plush MINI Cooper.

The hottest gift this year was a fleece blanket printed with photos of NEMO member cars. The blanket ultimately went home with Barbara Neiley, who as the first ticket taker was able to make the last steal. Wendy Birchmire designed the blanket, and her British flag Mini was the largest photo, followed closely by my Mini Traveller. Due to popular demand, Wendy ordered several more blankets for members who held “the gift” ever so briefly.

The greasy bag contained a beautiful hand-drawn sketch of a classic Mini. This also changed hands several times, with Lorine Karabec stealing it near the end of the Swap. Dan St. Croix was the artist, and his work has been popular at other Yankee Swaps.

Another unique gift was a signed photo of Paddy Hopkirk driving a works Mini Cooper S, ORX 777F, to 5th overall on the 1968 Monte Carlo Rally. Iain Barker ordered the photo from Europe, and Nuala provided the handmade wrapping paper. The photo was stolen several times, but Dan St. Croix managed to hold onto it.

Be sure to check the Facebook page and NEMO website for photo albums of the guests and Yankee Swap.

While NEMO members participated in many events this past year, I’d like to give my impressions of three of them that I was able to attend, from British by the Sea to British Legends Weekend.

British by the Sea,
Waterford, Conn., June 4th

This was the 30th anniversary of BBTS and Morris was the featured marque. There were at least eight Morris Minors parked together, along with a 1960 Morris Mini Minor 850 owned by NEMO members Lorine and Derick Karabec. Cooper, their new puppy, accompanied the Karabecs.

The threat of afternoon rain kept many NEMO members away, as I counted only six classic Minis and six modern MINIs. New member Ken Kelly proudly displayed his pristine 2000 Rover Mini. My 1968 Morris Mini Minor Traveller stayed home in a nice dry garage, which was good as there were heavy downpours on the drive home.

The Morris Minors held a special interest for me. In early May I purchased a 1950 Morris Minor Tourer (convertible). It was great to see a wide variety of body styles and model years, and I took lots of photos for comparison with my car. I have never named a car or owned vanity plates, but was inspired to go with “Moyshe” after my great uncle Maurice whose Yiddish name was Moishe. My Morris Minor is in excellent cosmetic shape, inside and out, and I had hoped to drive it to BBTS. However, the brakes and carburetor needed “a little sorting.” In fact, the car needed so much sorting that it is still on jack stands in my garage. Hopefully, Moyshe will be ready in time for the 2018 show.

Weston Antique & Classic Car Show,
Weston, Mass., September 23rd

The Weston Car Show always has a great turnout of British cars. My 1968 Mini Traveller was joined by Wendy Birchmire’s 1977 Austin Mini, Alex Daly’s 1967 Mini Cooper S and Nan Okarma’s 1966 Austin Mini Moke. Other British cars included a 2017 Morgan 3-Wheeler (technically a motorcycle), a 1952 Jaguar XK120 Fixed Head Coupe, a 1962 Jaguar XKE, a 1968 Jaguar E-type, Michael Gaetano’s 1947 Bentley, a 1961 Austin-Healey 3000, a 1960 MGA, a 1964 MGB with a hardtop, a 1980 MGB, and a 1983 Lotus Espirit. The Lotus looked fast standing still and the hatchback was open, providing a good view of the engine.

There was a pair of Datsun 240Zs, one of which looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line. The car sported a pair of SU carburetors and a bright yellow-green paint job.

The American cars included two with retractable hardtops. My personal favorite was a 1957 Ford Skyliner. This is a true “land yacht” with an incredibly long hood and trunk. The Ford was displayed with the roof partially retracted so you could view the Rube Goldberg mechanism and storage box in the middle of the trunk.

There was a good assortment of gratuitous tailfins, muscle cars, hot rods and antique cars dating back to the 1920s. A 1950 Nash Ambassador featured a passenger seat that folded into a bed, and a Stanley Steamer (which attends every year) blew its whistle.

Weston is one of my favorite multi-marque shows. The venue is beautiful with cars parked around the town green and plenty of shade. Keep an eye on the 2018 NEMO event calendar and try to join us next year.

British Legends Weekend Show, North Falmouth, Mass., October 8th

After the horrendous weather in 2016, the Cape Cod British Car Club d a do-over and once again paired classic Minis and modern MINIs in a Concours d’Evolution. The weather forecast kept changing all week and I postponed my decision on attending until the last possible minute. Ultimately, Betty and I drove down Saturday afternoon in my 1968 Mini Traveller.

Thankfully, there was no monsoon this year. Greg Mazza has yet to reinstall the carpets in his Mini after last year’s storm, and the woodwork on my car is definitely the worse for wear.

NEMO members and friends of NEMO volunteered their cars for the Concours. We paired five modern MINIs with classics owned by Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild, Dave and Jean Icaza, Gail Gray and Chris Cole, and yours truly.

In addition, there were two Honda VTEC-powered classic Minis in the Modified class on the people’s-choice showfield outside the Concours. Both modified Minis were respectful to their classic roots, but the Concours prize was given to the Gray/Cole Rover Mini that was a limited edition, high-performance factory model.

Show cars included a large number of MGBs, MG TFs, Austin-Healeys, Jaguar E-types, Morgans and a wide variety of Triumph models. Several less common cars also participated: a 1950 Allard J2, a 1970 Rover P5B Coupe, a 1970 Lotus Europa, a 1947 Bentley, a 1986 TVR, and a 1960s Sunbeam Tiger.

This was my first time seeing an Allard in person and it is a truly unique car. The Rover is quite luxurious and the Lotus is cool and quirky.

By noon there was some intermittent light rain that followed us for most of the drive home. Fortunately the carpets stayed dry, but the driver’s side door pocket was damp. My car is overdue for new window channels and door seals.

[For more photos from these events, courtesy of David, please go to our website Gallery under Events.]

Barbara and I are big fans of the MINI John Cooper Works Racing Team, owned by LAP Motorsports (founded by Luis Perocarpi) and sponsored by MINI USA and others. The team has been competing the last two and a half seasons in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge in the ST class, which is short for “Street Tuner” and basically means that the race cars are MINI JCW cars like ones you can buy in the showroom, with limited modifications. They compete against Porsche Caymans, Mazda MX-5s, BMW 3 Series, Audi A3s and Nissans.

The races also have a larger and faster car class on the track at the same time called GS, for “Grand Sport.” It makes for some exciting and close racing.

In 2017 there were ten races. Barbara and I traveled to three together and I went to the Lime Rock race alone.

The MINI team runs three cars, numbers 37, 52 and 73. Most races are two hours long, with two of the series being four hours long. Two drivers are required and each must be in the car for at least 45 minutes. Races were held in 2017 at Daytona, Sebring, COTA (Texas), Watkins Glen, Mosport, Lime Rock, Road America, Virginia International Raceway (VIR), Mazda Raceway (Laguna Seca), and Road Atlanta.

At the end of the series, which was very close, the #73 car team, Mat Pombo and Derek Jones, came in 4th in the championship, the #37 team 11th and the #52 team 16th overall.

The Manufacturers’ Championship showed MINI in 4th place, an outcome not without controversy. The Road Atlanta race originally ended with the #73 MINI in 3rd place, but an IMSA caution ruling dropped them to 4th. This also changed the close Manufacturers’ series from 3rd to 4th for MINI, an unexpected disappointment.

But overall it was a good season for the JCW team, which is like a big, friendly family. And they have the most fans in their paddock compared to the other teams. At the races we attended, more MINI fans visited the JCW team than fans of other cars.

The season highlights started with the opening race at Daytona, with MINI #73 in 1st place. At Watkins Glen, the first race we attended, #73 car came in 1st, #52 2nd and #37 car 5th. With two cars on the podium, the MINI fans went wild and Barbara and I were in the Winners’ Circle to be sprayed with champagne by team owner Luis Perocarpi. What a great time!

The following week we traveled to Canada to watch the team compete at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, also known as Mosport. Number 37 car came in 3rd, for another podium and champagne. The MINI fans were the loudest and most numerous of any team supporters by far.

I went to the Lime Rock race by myself as Barbara was tied up. MINI had a “car corral” for MINI owners with prime seating trackside for lawn chairs. They teamed up with a local MINI dealer and provided a breakfast and lunch tent.

We skipped the next three races in Wisconsin, Virginia and California, but wanted to be at Road Atlanta for the final race, so we flew down for it.

At the IMSA races, the paddock areas, which house the team “garages” (prep areas), are open to fans. Cars line up in the pits right before the race, which are open for a “fan walk.” This gives fans an intimate peek behind the scenes, a chance to meet the teams and drivers, and an opportunity to watch the cars being worked on.

Tonine McGarvie, from MINI-USA, has a “meet and greet” in the paddock at each race. There are prizes, including a drawing for a “hot lap.” (The manufacturers each have a car on track to give rides.) I was lucky enough to win a hot lap at Road Atlanta, driven by Luis in a street-modified MINI JCW. MINIs are fast! Barbara and I have also won some of the raffle prizes.

The MINI team and sponsors are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet, and the drivers take the time to speak with you. Barb and I have been invited to have lunch at the paddock and were at the barbecue the night before the Road Atlanta race, put on by Katherine and Mike from a sponsor, Steady Returns. You might catch their green turtle logo on the door of the #52 car in pictures we have posted on-line. Nice people.

The MINI JCW Team has had some problems and setbacks, which they have overcome. Next season they will have a car in the TCR class, a new class IMSA is adding to the races, made to European Touring Car standards. It may be a MINI Clubman, and should be even faster than the ST class of cars. More information will be provided in the off-season.

Barbara and I highly recommend that MINI fans watch all the races on the IMSA app or on FS1 cable, and attend as many races as possible in person. They are huge fun and the team is great to meet.

We want to give a big thanks to Luis and Wendy Perocarpi, Rob Ridgely, Tonine McGarvie, drivers Derek Jones, Mat Pombo, Mark Pombo, Mike LaMarra, James Vance, Jay Salinsky and Nate Norenberg, along with Christine Salinsky, Mr. and Mrs. Pombo, and all the other team members and the many technicians from MINI dealers near each track who volunteered via the Service Tech Education Training Program (STEP). Come to a race, you will love it. Go, MINI, and as they always say, #LetsDoThis!

The NEMO Holiday Party will be held at La Cantina Italiana in Framingham, Mass., on Saturday, December 2nd, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

La Cantina is a family-style Italian restaurant and has been in business since 1946. The member cost will be $15 with the club making up the difference. (If your membership has lapsed you can renew at the Party at the six-month rate of $10.)

We need a head count by November 17th. A reminder evite will be sent to the NEMO e-mail list. RSVP to the evite or by contacting me directly, dschwartz1957@gmail.com or (508) 561-3462. Let me know how many people will be attending, the ages of any children you are bringing, and whether you have any dietary restrictions.

We will be holding a Yankee Swap, so plan to bring a wrapped gift. A Yankee Swap means that someone else may take your gift when it is their turn to pick. Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens!

Our Holiday Party is one of our more popular events every year. Hope to see you there!

Directions — It’s La Cantina Italiana, 911 Waverly St., Framingham, MA 01702, (508) 879-7874. Take I-90 (Mass. Turnpike) to Exit 12. Bear right on the ramp and follows signs toward Framingham. Merge onto Rt. 9 East (Worcester Road).

Follow Rt. 9 for about 1.8 miles. You will pass Dunkin’ Donuts followed by Samba Steak & Sushi. Immediately after Samba, take a sharp right onto Winter Street. Follow Winter Street about 1.8 miles.

Due to a construction detour your GPS probably doesn’t know about, turn left onto Fountain Street. After 0.5 miles, Fountain Street curves right and crosses railroad tracks. At the traffic light, take a sharp right onto Waverly Street (Rt. 135). After 0.7 miles La Cantina will be on the right. There is parking behind the restaurant and a large lot just past La Cantina on the left. —DS

Newman’s guide to the Yankee Swap

As most NEMO members know by now, the famous Holiday Party only happens once each year. As such, we need to make it a big one! And for anyone who has been there in the past, the high point is always the Yankee Swap. Our usual rules, not adjusted for inflation, recession, depreciation or global warming, ask that gifts subjected to the swap not exceed a value of $25. And for those attending from Canada, that means US dollars, not those depreciated ones with the Queen on them.

Anyway, I encourage all members attending to take the time to select a gift that will be wanted by all others. You know the one, the one that everyone wants and makes the rounds, passing from hand to hand, until the lucky person who picked first has the last choice of taking the popular gift away from the poor sod who was holding it — or feeling sorry and just taking the last surprise off of the table. Usually that’s something like a used horse blanket.

My daughter Christa used to try various things to hide “the gift” if she ever got her hands on it: hiding it under the table and looking out the window, walking off to the ladies room with it until the Swap was over, or, when she was really young, looking like a little kid who would be horrified if you took it away. All worked well for a while. But she found out fast that the “poor little kid” thing didn’t work with any member who lives within 1,000 miles of the venue. After that she adopted other methods.

So put some effort into picking your gift and let’s get some enjoyment out of the NEMO Holiday Party. In other words, no picking up a gift at Walgreen’s or the gas station on the way there because you forgot. —DN

LOUDON, N.H., Aug. 5-6 — Dave Oliveira drove his 2008 MINI Cooper to 3rd place in its debut outing this weekend in the SCCA New England Road Racing Championship at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Our team name, G.A.B.B. Racing, was inspired by Dave’s German and Brazilian heritage, American home and British car. As a MINI tech, Dave’s professional life is spent working on MINI Coopers. When a co-worker’s 2008 R56 was totaled, he saw an opportunity to build a racecar when everyone else saw a parts car.

Rebuilding the MINI and resolving its issues (it was a high-mileage car) were within the realm of Dave’s experience. The greater challenge was navigating a more than 700-rule rulebook to ensure the transformed car would be allowed on the track.

Much of the work Dave did was to bring the car up to par and restore some of the horses that had left the stable. He picked the SCCA B-Spec class to keep the cost of competing low (an understatement, considering that the car was ready for pick-and-pull!). Dave incorporated numerous modifications, including mandatory safety equipment, donated Megan Racing coil-overs, used Hoosier race tires, a K&N intake, and an individual throttle body (ITB). With ITB, each cylinder gets its own butterfly valve regulating air intake, rather than all cylinders sharing one valve. He also removed the muffler and the A/C compressor.

This was a labor of love and the end result was a race-ready car. Although the car is “just a MINI Cooper,” Dave says, “it is plenty fast and handles like it’s on rails!”

Thunderstorms and rainbows greeted us for the MINI’s initial outing at the SCCA “Track Night in America” event at Thompson Speedway in Connecticut. Team resources were deep on enthusiasm and camaraderie, but didn’t include rain tires. Wet track testing on slicks made keeping the car on the pavement a critical challenge. Despite seeing other cars spinning off the course, Dave (and the MINI) came through unscathed and ready for the next milestone, competing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Meeting the challenge of operating a race team on a shoestring includes borrowing important items from family, friends and friends of friends. We scrambled to arrange for a tow vehicle and trailer just days before leaving for New Hampshire. We ultimately squeezed the MINI into a small enclosed trailer meant for hauling motorcycles and ATVs. Padding was necessary to prevent the trailer from scratching the car. As the MINI marketing slogan says, “not normal”!

The race weekend started and team members quickly focused on the tasks at hand. The first day was damp and difficult (shades of Thompson), but car and driver managed to stay out of trouble, even without rain tires! After qualifying, minor drama ensued when the race steward reported that the car was under weight. Filling the gas tank wasn’t enough, so the team brainstormed ideas and dashed to the city for supplies. We finalized the solution in the aisles of Walmart and Home Depot. Once back in the pits, we quickly mounted 40 lbs. of Gold’s Gym weights in the car. This resulted in thumbs up from the stewards.

The second day was much better, with dry weather, improved lap times, and a lot more confidence in both the car and the driver. Swarms of factory-spec Mazda Miatas jostled for position in the morning and afternoon races. The MINI managed to stay close to the pack and finished 3rd in class, behind two VW Golfs piloted by far more experienced drivers. Our team goal for the first race was to build some experience, gain seat time for Dave, and load an intact MINI into the trailer Sunday night. We achieved these objectives, to the joy and relief of all.

In the post-race, lessons-learned discussion, we noticed that competing drivers and teams were generous with their advice and goodwill. This trait is also common among MINI owners who wave to each other and are eager to chat over social media or in person. Other teams reached out to G.A.B.B. Racing, made us feel like part of the racing family, and contributed to a successful weekend of racing.

When Dave started his career as a mechanic working on tractors at farms in the US and Canada, racing was just something he dreamed about. Now Dave is the driver, manager, and chief mechanic of his own team. He is quick to point out that none of this would have been possible without the support of his wife, Amanda Oliveira, his friends, fellow enthusiasts Dave Blake and me, and the whole MINI community. Their willingness to help Dave achieve his racing dream left him with an appreciation that will outlast his MINI Cooper.

As Dave said, “We are very much ‘not normal’ and it’s been a blast getting the car ready and seeing it on the track.” To view race pictures and videos, search for g.a.b.b.racing on Facebook and Instagram. Go, MINI!

STOWE, Vt., Sept. 15-17 — NEMO members Dave and Barbara Newman were awarded a 1st in class for their MINI Van and were recognized as the Best Attired British Couple. Derick and Lorine Karabec — that’s Derick behind the Newmans — were awarded Most Colorful attire-wise, and also grabbed a 1st in class for their Wolesley Hornet.

October 6-8 — British Legends Weekend, hosted by the Cape Cod British Car Club (CCBCC), North Falmouth, Mass., www.capecodbritishcarclub.org.

October 8 — Kringle Cars & Coffee 2017, Kringle Candle, Bernardston, Mass., 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Free to exhibit, people’s choice awards, inside.kringlecandle.com/events/calendar.

December 2 — NEMO Holiday Party, details and location TBD. Save the date.

The NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners and website, www.nemomini.org, contain additional information.

Four classic Minis participated in the Boston Area MG Club’s (BAMG’s) second Faneuil Hall car show of the season. Iain and Nuala Barker drove their ’67 Mini Cooper S, the Jones family (Garreth, Kallie and their sons) brought two Minis, and I drove my ’68 Mini Traveller. Garreth and Kallie were stationed in the UK and imported their Minis when they relocated Stateside.

Other cars parked on the cobblestones at Faneuil Hall included a variety of MGs, a TR3A, an Austin-Healey 100-6, a Land Rover, and even an early Miata. Many owners invited people to sit in their cars — always a big hit.

BAMG welcomes all British cars to their three Faneuil Hall shows. There is no membership requirement. Be sure to check the NEMO calendar next season as spaces fill up early.

British Car Night at Wings & Wheels,
Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., August 10th

You never know what will show up for a local cruise night. The most unusual British vehicles that showed up here were a Sunbeam Rapier and a London Fire Brigade truck. The Sunbeam had right-hand drive, miniature tail fins and was outfitted for racing. The fire truck was imported many years ago and recently changed hands. The new owner invited kids to sit in the cab and ring the bell.

NEMO member Bob Brownwell drove up from Shrewsbury in his pristine ’63 Austin Mini 850. I brought my ’68 Mini Traveller and was joined by its big brother, a Morris Minor Traveller. Other British cars included MG TDs, a two-tone Austin-Healey, a Jaguar XKE, a Lotus, a Triumph GT6, TR3s and MGBs.

In the non-British category, Roger Fuller brought a beautiful ’89 Trabant station wagon. There was a 1931 Model A Ford outfitted with a period Motorola AM radio. The guts of the radio are mounted in the engine compartment on top of the steering column. The speaker is mounted on the steering column in the passenger compartment, with controls under the dash connected to the radio by small speedometer-style cables.

Wings & Wheels is a weekly, family-friendly cruise night with food available from Nancy’s Airfield Café. This was the third and final British car night of the season. All marques are welcome every week, with the final show on Thursday, August 31st.

Miata Day at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum,
Brookline, Mass., July 16th

A record 176 Mazda Miatas filled both fields at Larz Anderson and it was an impressive sight. For people who can’t spend an entire week at Mini Meet East, NEMO should consider holding a one-day show for Minis and MINIs from around New England.

MACKINAW CITY, Mich., Aug. 5 — “MINI on the Mack” is a parade across the Mackinac Bridge in an attempt to break the English-held world record for largest-ever MINI Cooper parade. I took part.

Arriving at the staging area in St. Ignace was amazing. There were nearly 1300 Minis registered, and it took us nearly 30 minutes to park as they packed us in tightly.

My car, “Surely,” was located between 600 and 700 in the count, and I didn’t leave the site until 55 minutes after the first car. The target speed to start was 22mph, so you left in a cloud of dust as you peeled out of the parking lot.

The whole line was led on the 41-mile route by the St. Ignace Chief of Police. The line of MINIs in front of my car extended more than 25 miles in front and about the same behind. I know, because I saw the first MINIs returning on the opposite side of I-75 when I was 13 miles from the turnaround overpass! For the next 90 minutes we waved and honked horns. A few non-MINI drivers “saluted” us for interfering with their Michigan Upper Peninsula vacation travel, but most waved and asked what we were doing when we were stopped.

One of the highlights on Sunday occurred when the US Customs and Border Patrol Agent asked me why I went to Canada. I explained that I was coming from a MINI Cooper Rally in St. Ignace, and travel through Ontario was the quickest route back to Boston. He asked me if I stopped anywhere in Canada and I said, “Yes, only at the stop signs.” He laughed and waved me on.

There were 1,328 MINIs. Unfortunately, we didn’t break the world record since we needed 1,451.

When I bought ‘KK’ (our 1967 Mini Cooper 1275 ’S’) earlier in the year I was pleasantly surprised how good a condition it was in after 50 years. It looked mostly standard except for later alloy wheels and plastic arches, an M.E.D. 1380cc A+ engine and racing exhaust, K.A.D. quick-shift gearstick and a sports steering wheel.

Since it’s a Mk1, I really wanted to keep the original character of the car, so I decided that my project would be to remove the bolt-on aftermarket parts and do a sympathetic restoration to the original 1960s specification. Or, alternatively, as one of my friends, Kieran, put it: “So you want to undo 50 years of progress, and reinstall the unreliability!”

Fortunately, some of original parts had been retained by the previous owner and were part of the sale, including most of the components that made up the original short engine. That would be my starting point for the restoration.

But first, I needed to know why the engine had been changed. I got no history with the car, but a discussion on theminiforum.co.uk suggested the camshaft certainly wasn’t from a 1275 ‘S’. It had 3/8” lobes and was probably from a 998.

Interestingly, the block was in good condition. It was bored for +20 pistons (1293cc) but with very little wear, so evidently the engine had not run much after last being overhauled. On the other hand, the crankshaft bearings were badly scored and worn, and it looked like the engine might have suffered oil pressure failure.

My best guess is that a Cooper 998 oil pump and camshaft were fitted when the block was re-bored. But why would that cause the engine to fail so catastrophically? Curiouser and curiouser.

After a lot of Googling, I learned that the Mk1 Cooper 1275 ‘S’ block is unique across all Minis ever produced. The design originated from the Cooper Formula Junior engine it uses a peg drive camshaft and 3-bolt oil pump similar to the 998. But the block is deeper due to the larger bore, so its oil pump has a longer driveshaft. Using the wrong oil pump would explain the symptoms, as the shorter pump is known to disengage/shear from the camshaft at high revs, resulting in engine failure.

Now that I had a good idea what was wrong, I set about fixing it properly. I sent the crankshaft out to have the main and rod journals reground, and ordered a correct 510-profile camshaft from Mini Sport UK. With the Mk1 engine being so rare, they were unable to source a peg drive blank, but suggested using the camshaft from a Cooper ‘S’ Mk2. It has the same profile, but uses a spider drive for the oil pump (later used on all 1275cc engines prior to the A+).

The only other major component I needed was a big-valve cylinder head. Fortunately, Mini Mania USA had a rebuilt genuine Cooper 1275 ‘S’-spec AEG163 head available.

All the other engine parts are common to the later 1275 engines, and are readily available as either new-old-stock on eBay or remanufactured from the usual vendors, so the rest of the build was relatively straightforward.

I decided to reuse the +20 pistons since they were in good condition, but I re-ringed them +30 over size, then gapped down with a hand file to the correct tolerance. Basically I made my own equivalent of ‘reclaimer’ rings, which used to be available to repair older engines.

A lick of original MOWOG Green paint to replace the battleship grey that a previous owner had inflicted on the block, sunshine yellow for the fan pulley, and it’s ready to go.

Installation will wait until after the driving season.

September-October 8 — Kringle Cars & Coffee 2017, Kringle Candle, Bernardston, Mass., 2nd Sundays, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, inside.kringlecandle.com/events/calendar. Free to exhibit. People’s choice awards.

September 1-5 — Lime Rock Park Historic Festival, Lakeville, Conn., limerockhistorics.com.

September 3 — Sunday in the Park/Gathering of the Marques, Lime Rock Park (part of Historic Festival), limerockhistorics.com.

September 10 — Connecticut Triumph Register (CTR) British Motorcar Gathering & Picnic, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wickham Park, Manchester, Conn., www.ctriumph.com.

September 15-17 — British Invasion XXVII, Stowe, Vt., www.britishinvasion.com.

September 23 — Weston Antique & Classic Car Show, Town Hall Road, Weston, Mass., 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., www.westoncarshow.com.

September 24 — The “Boston Cup” Concours d’Elegance, Boston, Mass., thebostoncup.com.

September 27-October 1 — MINIs in Foliage, Scotty’s Lakeside Resort, Lake George, N.Y., www.minisinfoliage.com.

October 6-8 — British Legends Weekend, Cape Cod British Car Club (CCBCC), North Falmouth, Mass., www.capecodbritishcarclub.org.

The NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners, and website, www.nemomini.org, contain additional information.

NEWTON, Mass., July 7-9 — There was a great NEMO turnout for the Goulds’ 22nd Annual Microcar Classic. The weekend followed a time-tested format: Friday evening welcome party, Saturday driving tour from the Gould residence in Newton to the summit of Mt. Wachusett in Princeton, stop on the return trip at Matchbox Motors in Hudson to view the Goulds’ collection of micro (and not so micro) cars, Saturday night barbecue, and Sunday lawn event at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline.

Every year brings at least one new, unusual microcar. This year it was a 1956 Fuldamobil S4 owned by Bob Miller. The car is egg-shaped with two suicide doors, a single wiper blade hanging down from the roof, and rear wheels similar to an Isetta.

Other first-time car attendees included a 1933 MG J2, Mini Domino Pimlico, Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite, Lotus 7, SAAB Sonett, Honda N600, Vespa 400, Fiat X1/9, VW Rabbit convertible, and a 2010 Lotus Elise.

Many old favorite vehicles were back this year. There were multiple Citroën 2CVs, Volkswagen Beetles, Messerschmitts, Nash Metropolitans, BMW Isettas, Fiats and S-Cargos. Also returning were the VW Camper Van, Nissan Figaro, Nissan Pao, Subaru 360, BMW 700 Cabrio, Renault Truckette, Triumph TR3 and the Fiat Multipla taxi.

Eleven classic Minis and variants (Mokes, Estates and the Domino) participated in the 120-mile round trip driving tour between Newton and Mt. Wachusett. Michael Crawford deserves special recognition for completing the tour in his 1933 MG J2. There was a passenger in the J2 for the entire trip and Mike had to pass some slower cars to avoid losing momentum going up the mountain road.

Luck was with us on Saturday, since the first major downpour of the day occurred during our lunch stop in Sterling. Many of us made a mad dash to the parking lot to close windows and sunroofs, or put up convertible tops. This was not possible for one of the Mokes or the MG J2, since they did not have tops! The weather cleared by the end of lunch, and after drying off the open cars with towels, most people braved damp clothes and wet interiors to continue the tour. It was sunny at the summit of Mt. Wachusett, with views of the Boston skyline and Mt. Monadnock.

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day for the lawn event at Larz Anderson. The cars paraded from Newton to Brookline and parked by marque or category. There were ten Minis and variants on the lawn, including two Innocenti Minis. Four other Minis participated on Saturday, which may be a record weekend total.

There was a large public turnout and car owners spent over three hours giving rides around the Museum grounds. Kids and adults love the rides and are very appreciative. New NEMO member RJ Rondini gave rides in his Inno the entire time. He could barely walk when it was over. I managed to squeeze eight people into my Mini Traveller: two in front, three in the back, and three kids in the “way-back.”

When awards were handed out for the Mini class, Wendy Birchmire took 1st for her British flag-motif 1977 Austin Mini Cooper. My 1968 Morris Mini Traveller was 2nd, and Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild were 3rd with their 1967 Austin Mini. In the Minicar class, 1st place was awarded to Elizabeth and Michael Crawford’s 1933 MG J2.

As Charles Gould likes to point out, this event is also about the people. There are regulars who have been coming for five to 20 years, plus volunteers that help with car repairs, food preparation, clean-up, registration and vending. The event is also about the friendships that form and the opportunity for a yearly reunion. Nancy, Tiana and Monique Gould are partners in running the weekend, and the attendees want to thank the entire family for another great year.

BROOKLINE, Mass., June 25 — Twelve classic Minis and three modern MINIs graced the show field for British Car Day at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. This was a record number of classics in my four years of attending this event. A bright sunny day with low humidity led to a good turnout for all marques, with overflow vehicles filling about half the lower lawn.

It was great to meet new NEMO member Iain Barker, his charming five-year-old daughter Nuala and “KK,” his 1967 Mini Cooper S. Nuala enjoys riding in the Mini. Her booster seat clips into the front passenger seat (no rear seatbelts), which is a real treat. We look forward to seeing Iain and Nuala at future events. For anyone who has yet to read the July NEMO Newsbeat, I highly recommend Iain’s article, “A Tale of Five Minis.”

A new museum exhibit opened in May, “Super Cars: Origins, Evolutions.” Some of my all-time favorite cars are on display — a 1955 Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing, a 1908 Stanley Steamer Model K, and a 1933 Auburn Boat Tail Speedster. The lawn event season runs through October 22nd. If you attend an upcoming event, be sure to allow time to visit the Super Car exhibit.

There are always some treats at British Car Day and this year did not disappoint. A 1947 HRG 1100 Roadster was one of the rarest cars on the field. Elizabeth and Michael Crawford brought their 1933 MG J2. James Bond himself was sitting in an Aston Martin DB5. (Okay, it was a cardboard cutout.) There was a pair of 1970-71 Marcos GTs, one in pristine condition and the other a daily driver.

I exited the Super Car exhibit through the main Museum entrance into the upper parking lot and walked straight into the biggest Rolls-Royce I have ever seen, a 1966 Phantom V Limousine. (Parking on the grass is clearly for lesser cars.) The Phantom V interior had gorgeous polished woodwork and was decorated with proper details — chauffeur’s cap, crystal decanter and glasses, top hat and gloves, mink stole, silver hair brush set, and, of course, a bottle of Grey Poupon.

The award for Best Mini went to Wendy Birchmire’s 1977 Mini Cooper. Her car, decorated inside and out in a Union Jack motif, is a huge hit with the public and will be the car to beat until something cuter comes along.

Best MG was awarded to the Crawfords’ 1933 J2.

August-October 8 — Kringle Cars & Coffee 2017, Kringle Candle, Bernardston, Mass., 2nd Sundays, 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Free to exhibit, people’s choice awards, inside.kringlecandle.com/events/calendar.

August 5 — Monadnock Berries MINI Cooper BBQ, Troy, N.H., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (food served 12 noon to 1:30 p.m.), monadnockberries.com/events.

August 5 — MINI on the Mack, Mackinac Bridge, Mackinaw City, Mich., www.minionthemack.com.

August 10 — British Car Night at Wings & Wheels, Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., wingsandwheelsma.com.

August 9-13 — MINIs in the Mountains, Steamboat Springs, Colo., minisinthemountains.com.

August 26 — Faneuil Hall British Car Show, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., hosted by the Boston Area MG Club, Boston Mass., www.bostonareamg.com.

August 31-September 4 — Lime Rock Historic Festival, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn., limerock historics.com.

September 3 — Sunday in the Park and Gathering of the Marques, limerockhistorics.com.

September 15-17 — British Invasion XXVII, Stowe, Vt., www.britishinvasion.com.

September 24 — Boston Cup Concours d’Elegance, Boston, Mass., thebostoncup.com.

September 27-October 1 — MINIs in Foliage, Scotty’s Lakeside Resort, Lake George, N.Y., www.minisinfoliage.com.

October 6-8 — British Legends Weekend, Cape Cod British Car Club, North Falmouth, Mass., www.cape codbritishcarclub.org.

The NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners, and website, www.nemomini.org, contain additional information.

I’m new to the New England Mini scene, but I’m not new to Minis. By way of an introduction, here is my story or at least the more printable parts of it.

Mini #1 — Six of One

Truth be told, I never really wanted a Mini. As a TV-obsessed teenager, I watched The Prisoner over and over on VHS. No, what I really wanted was a Moke. But there was a problem: nearly all Mokes were to be found in warm climates, like Barbados or the south of France, whereas I lived in grey, rainy England — just outside of Cambridge, which is about as far from exotic as it’s possible to be. Mokes we did not have.

But Minis, they were “ten a penny.” It seemed like every commuter, housewife or grandma owned a Mini in the 1970s. With that typical wet climate, this meant that by the mid-1980s there were literally thousands of Minis rusting away, just waiting to be handed down to the next generation as “learner cars.”

My father had tuned up Austin A35s and A40s a generation before. Now it was my turn to learn the trade, or at least break things and have to figure out how to put them back together again. So I ended up with a blue Mini 1000 saloon with the same A Series engine as the A35/A40, and almost a Moke.

As a first car, it was nothing particularly special and had front wings made more of filler than metal. But it was transport. It was cheap, and most importantly, it was easy to learn how to maintain it myself. I kept it going for a couple of years, until one particularly rainy day it slid into a ditch. We pulled it out with a backhoe and cleaned it up O.K., although the rear sub-frame took a bit of a battering and it never was quite as agile around corners.

The net result, of course, now that they knew I could fix Minis, was that all my friends started to buy them. Soon I had a good side trade going at the weekends. An engine swap? You supply the parts the labor will be a crate of beer for my troubles. There was something like 11 or 12 cars all told that I kept on the road, in between all the free beer and partying.

Mini #2 — Eric

Meet ‘Eric’, as in ‘Eric the Mini’. He’s a yellow-orange Mini 1000, a particularly nasty ’70s color. That name might not make much sense to anyone these days, but back in 1989 it was topical: a pun on Eric the Viking, a movie released that year, a Monty Pythonesque satire of Viking life.

Eric started life as so many ’70s and ’80s Minis did, as a regular city runaround, nothing special at all. By the time we got hold of him he was rust-ridden and about ready to visit the great scrapyard in the sky. Back then, if a Mini cost more than a few hundred pounds to fix, you junked it and put the spares onto other Minis to keep them going. It would be sacrilege these days, but they really were everywhere in the UK back then.

But we had other ideas. And so it was that Eric was on his side. Not actually to be scrapped, though, the thought was to cut him in half and make an open top ‘shortie’ with just the two sub-frames and one row of seats. The sills and floor pan didn’t look too bad from above, so we started with the roof and set about it with the angle grinder. Ten minutes later, everything rearwards of the A posts was gone, down to the top of the door line and parcel shelf. Immediately of course, he sagged in the middle, so the door locks were removed and the doors were stick-welded to the A and B posts. That fixed it!

Eric was driven (slowly) like this for about six months. We did get pulled over by the police once and they asked us to cover the exposed window corners. Half a tennis ball did the trick and they were happy to send us on our way. When the last 6 months of his MOT (inspection sticker) expired, Eric was 100% recycled. All his mechanicals were stripped, and the remaining bodywork/rust was taken to the ferrous metal yard. RIP, Eric. You lived a good life.

Mini #3 — Albert

As the ’80s turned into the ’90s, taste in Mini modification changed. A 1000cc runaround wasn’t going to make the grade what I was interested in was a fast Mini. Not just a wreck waiting for its inevitable doom, but an actual car that could make me proud.

The MG Metro Turbo was the speed-freak’s choice on the A Series menu. But it wasn’t a Mini and it wasn’t affordable, at least not by me at the time. So the next best thing was a 1275GT. The problem, though, was that I really had no budget. Plus, I hated the Clubman squared-off look. So I decided I would have to make one from the GT spares that littered the local junkyards, plus a good round-nose donor car.

As fortune would have it, a friend had a Mini 1000 that badly needed rust removal. I bought a cheap MIG welder and got stuck in. But as we started cutting into the rust with an angle grinder, inevitably we went further and further back until there was hardly anything left between the doors. Eventually, after some trial and error — and a bit of cross bracing to stop it folding in half (lesson learned from Eric!) — new inner and outer sills were welded in.

Panels cost almost nothing back then, of course it was just time and effort.

Hmm, now the floor was good, but there was still a problem with the roof. The corners were completely rotted-out thanks to British Leyland’s great idea to fill the headlining voids with ultra water-absorbing urethane sponge. A different approach was needed maybe starting from the top and working down would be easier. So I cut out the rot and started welding in plates, then promptly set fire to the interior of the car. This was not going well and after being chastised by the local fire chief a rethink was again required.

In the end, the easiest option was to cut the top off another donor Mini in the junkyard, and butt-weld it through the A, B and C pillars. All measurements were done by eye but it worked out great. A home garage re-spray (another quick learning curve), a 1275GT engine, 12” Denovo wheels, actual disc brakes (oh, the luxury!), and Albert was done. He was my daily driver for more than six years, and even got a temporary engine swap for an ultra-economy 1000cc HLE when I went through University. We lost touch after that, but I hear he went to at least two more universities and lasted at least another 10 years on the road.

Mini #4 — Cynthia

This was the last Mini I worked on before heading to University in 1992. It was done as a thank you to my friend Lawrence who helped me out with countless hours on Eric and Albert. Cynthia was named after “Cynthia Payne” (an English brothel keeper and party hostess), and she was literally a “pain in the ass.”

I don’t know what BMC were doing in the early ’70s, but I think they were either on strike or actively sabotaging their product because this Mini was a mess. Everything broke and needed fixing — headlight switches with contacts that were made of what looked like recycled aluminum foil, bodywork that was barely heaver gauge than a Coke can. Those Mk4 cars were not well made.

But Lawrence had a goal in mind for Cynthia. We would make her right and send her on the London-to-Brighton Mini Run, the annual drive between those two cities in southern England.

Two days before the event everything was under control. Cynthia was running well, the paint on the nice new white re-spray was cured, and she was ready to go. Then I got the phone call from Lawrence, 8 p.m. on the evening before the big day. “Er, mate. I don’t know how to tell you this, but the front wheel just fell off. I’m sorry!”

He was right — it had sheared through the studs on the front right wheel. But fortunately he was only going about 20mph at the time. Regardless, the damage was done — plowing down the road on three wheels, the asphalt made a good approximation of a belt sander and ground the lower ball joint away, as well as making a nice flat edge on the A panel and outer sill.

After a particularly stressful all-nighter, I managed to weld up the panels with patches, slap some filler in to smooth the join, prime and paint in just a couple of hours, while Lawrence set about replacing the front hub with one taken from Eric’s donor parts pile.

Around 2 a.m., we set off for London, slept the night in the car, got up at 7 a.m. to pop-rivet the grille back on the front, and took our place in the parade. We even made the Concours d’Elegance at Madeira Drive on the Brighton seafront, and we met John Cooper himself that day, as a bonus!

Mini #5 — KK

I moved from England to America in 2001 and Minis went out of production. Not that you’d have noticed in Boston, since the last legal Minis imported were from 1968. But still I’d see one from time to time on the roads around Cambridge, Mass., and there was an emptiness with life not being quite so “Mini-ful.”

Eventually, I bought a 2009 MINI JCW. A fine car, and still my daily driver, but not really a Mini, is it.

More time passed. I got married and had a daughter. From time to time Lawrence would post links to Facebook for Minis he thought I should import from the UK. But importing newer cars was impossible due to US safety regulations, and older cars that were worth the effort didn’t become available.

Of course there are plenty of Minis in the States with Honda VTEC engines and newer cars with VIN swaps, mostly in rust-free California. But still, if I was going to do this, I was going to bide my time and do it properly, find something really worth the effort.

Little did I know that years of lurking on eBay were about to pay off. About a month ago, up popped a Mini 1275 Cooper S, a 1967, on eBay. Yeah, I thought the same thing — another fake. The car was advertised on eBay using photos that were at least a year old, with very little verifiable information including an invalid VIN number from a seller who lives out of the country, had a zero eBay rating, and only joined a few days previously.

There are many, many 1275 S fakes built up from later body shells. There are also quite a lot of genuine ’60s Mini Coopers that have been upgraded to Cooper S spec. The seller was out of the country so the car wasn’t available for viewing, and all I had to go by were a few photos. All the alarm bells were ringing. But still, what if it were real?

I took a gamble. The first two bids didn’t hit the reserve, but with my final limit I was in with a chance. The auction closed at 3 a.m., a sleepless night for me, but I won. OMG, what had I done! But after e-mailing a few times with the seller and doing some background searches, it all checked out. Still, I was waiting a nervous week for shipping and paperwork to clear.

And what d’ya know, it’s the real deal! A quick trip to the RMV using a “year of manufacture” license plate (KK), and she’s on the road and ready for her first adventure in Massachusetts. Sure, she has a 1380 fast-road engine instead of the original S engine, but that gives me something to work on for the next few years. I plan on rebuilding the original engine to get the car back to factory spec eventually. (I got the ‘S’ EN40B crank and block as part of the deal. They need a lot of work.)

Well, that’s my story. Weather permitting (KK is a sunny day car only!), my 5-year-old daughter and I plan to be at the Larz Anderson British Car Day on June 25th (still in the future as I write this). Best regards!

July 9-October 8 — Kringle Cars & Coffee 2017, Kringle Candle, Bernardston, Mass. Second Sundays through October, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, inside.kringlecandle.com/events/calendar.

July 7-9 — Gould’s Microcar Classic, Newton, Mass., www.bubbledrome.com/index2.html.

July 9 — Microcar Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events.

July 13 — British Car Night at Wings & Wheels, Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., wingsandwheelsma.com.

July 16 — Codman Estate Antique Auto and Classic Car Show, Lincoln, Mass., www.historicnewengland.org/events-programs/Antique%20Auto%20Shows.

July 22 — Show of Dreams, Hudson, N.H., hosted by British Cars of New Hampshire (BCNH), bcnh.org/blog/show-of-dreams.

July 22 — Faneuil Hall British Car Show, Boston, Mass., 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., hosted by the Boston Area MG Club, www.bostonareamg.com.

July 22-23 — Misselwood Concours d’Elegance, Beverly, Mass., www.endicott.edu/Concours.aspx.

August TBD — Monadnock Berries MINI Cooper BBQ, Troy, N.H., monadnockberries.com/events.

August 5 — “MINI on the Mack,” Mackinac Bridge, Mackinaw City, Mich., www.minionthemack.com.

Mini Meet East (MME) 2017 is hosted by the Central Ohio Mini Owners, and will take place in Columbus, Ohio, June 29-July 2.

As my husband Derick and I prepare for this year’s Meet and decide which Mini to take, we take a moment to reflect on previous Meets and one of our favorite events, the Funkhana. For those of you unfamiliar with a Funkhana, it is a timed event for a driver and navigator. There is an obstacle course that usually reflects the geographic region where the Meet is held. The event tests the driver’s skills, with multiple tasks along the way that must be completed by the navigator — and sometimes also the driver!

MME 2016 was held in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which is 25 miles west of Knoxville and was a production site for the Manhattan Project. The organizers used the Manhattan Project as a theme for the Funkhana. The event started with a drive to the bar to mix a Manhattan, virgin or a stiff one. The choice was yours because you had to drink it before moving on to the next task. After that were a ring toss, a pizza delivery and lastly a whitewater rafting trip around your car.

Participants often make multiple runs through the course, switching drivers and navigators. Drivers are often looking for navigators and vice versa so there is ample opportunity for those who want to take the challenge.

The Funkhana became one our favorite events in 2008 when we attended our first MME in Bethel, Maine, which was hosted by NEMO. I remember Faith asking us if we were going to participate in the Funkhana. Derick and I asked, “A funk what?” We did it, placed 2nd in our class, and had a blast. We haven’t missed a Mini Meet East or Funkhana since, and look forward to it every year. It is fun for both the participants and spectators.

I wonder what the Central Ohio Mini Owners have in store for us at the 2017 Funkhana?

Once again, I took off the time from work to watch the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. The race this time was held at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, on May 5th.

Two classes run in the Conti — Grand Sport (GS), with bigger, faster cars, and Street Tuner (ST), with smaller, lower-horsepower cars. Before the COTA race, the IMSA season standings showed MINI JCW Team car #73 in 2nd place, the Team’s car #37 in 13th place and the Team’s car #52 in 16th place.

The IMSA live video feed was good and the weather appeared to be perfect for racing. The event began with #73 driver Derek Jones winning the ST class pole position (1st place on the grid) during qualifying. Car #37 was 8th and car #52 12th on the grid.

Texas was not kind to the Team this year. The #37 car, driven by Mike LaMarra and James Vance, was sidelined by engine boost problems and finished 14th. The #73 car was fast in practice and had some very exciting early laps in the race, competing against Mazda Miatas and Porsche Caymans. However, #73 was later slowed by wheel speed sensor problems and finished 10th. The top finisher for the MINI JCW Team was car #52, driven by Nate Norenberg and Tyler Stone, coming in 7th in the ST class.

Race team owner/manager Luis Perocarpi expected better results after #73 took the pole and had not anticipated mechanical problems. Such is life in the racing world.

We wish the team better luck in the July 1st race at Watkins Glen International. The great news for Barbara and me is that we will be at Watkins Glen in person and the week after that at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. We will see the Team race live at both venues and report back.

NEMO members attend the better-known New England cars shows and related events, many of which welcome both classic and modern Minis. Below are descriptions of a few events I have attended and highly recommend. Some are local cruise-ins and others are large, well publicized shows. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Visit www.nemomini.org for the full events calendar.

June 4 — British by the Sea, Connecticut MG Club, Harkness Memorial Park, Waterford, Conn., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is the show’s 30th anniversary and Morris is the featured marque. There are typically more than 350 vehicles, with a large turnout of Minis/MINIs, plus cars that are rarely seen at smaller shows.

June 8 — British Car Night at Wings & Wheels, Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., 5 to 8 p.m. This is a family-friendly cruise night with food available from Nancy’s Airfield Café. There is usually a plane or two interspersed with the cars, with more on the runway. Food sells out, so plan to arrive early. British cars will be grouped in the featured section, though other marques are welcome. British cars are also featured on July 13th and August 10th.

June 8-11 — British Motorcar Festival, Bristol, R.I. If you can’t make it to the British Invasion in Stowe, Vt., this event is the next best thing. It is presented by the same group as the British Invasion and follows a similar format. If you can only attend for one day, make it Saturday and try to arrive by 9 a.m. Be sure to see the full schedule on their website.

June 18 — 15th Annual Father’s Day Breakfast Cruise, Holliston Historical Society, Holliston, Mass., 8 to 10 a.m. Free to all cars and motorcycles of interest. This show features a little bit of everything, including Brass Era American cars, muscle cars, British cars, hot rods, European cars, etc. Paul Saulnier has been known to bring Mini Mouse, his ’64 Morris Mini Van hot rod with a rear mounted V8 engine. The pancake breakfast is always excellent. The show starts and ends early, so there is plenty of time for other Father’s Day activities.

June 22-24 — 4th Annual Vintage Motorsports Festival, Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Conn. I attended the Saturday race in 2015 (along with several other NEMO members) and had a great time. Be sure to arrive early so you can walk through the pit areas and chat with the owners. You can get very close to the race action and see open roadsters leaning through the turns. Bring earplugs for the muscle car races.

June 25 — British Car Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All British cars are invited to attend regardless of make, model or year. This show fills the upper lawn near the Carriage House and about half the lower lawn. Arrive by 8:30 a.m. for the best chance of parking on the upper lawn with other Minis/MINIs. Last year there were five Minis and at least ten MINIs in attendance. A new museum exhibit recently opened — Supercars: Origins, Evolution.

July 7-9 — Gould’s 22nd Annual Microcar & Minicar Classic, Newton, Mass. An entire weekend chock full of microcar and minicar fun, featuring driving tours, a Friday evening wine/microbrew and hors d’oeuvres reception, a Saturday drive and ascent of Wachusett Mountain, a stop at the Gould’s Matchbox Motors to view the entire collection, an eclectic Memphis Barbecue and frozen margarita party, and a Sunday show at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum with optional rides for the public. This is clearly not some stuffy “park-and-polish” type car show on a hot asphalt parking lot. NEMO is always well represented and we guarantee you will have a great time. See the event website for details, www.bubbledrome.com/index2.html.

July 22 — Faneuil Hall British Car Show, hosted by the Boston Area MG Club (BAMG), Boston, Mass., 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For the past few years, BAMG has welcomed NEMO’s Minis at their Faneuil Hall car shows. This is a really unique venue and people don’t expect to see a group of classic British cars parked on the cobblestones between Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. See the BAMG website for details. The show is limited to 15 cars, so be sure to register early.

Other events of interest include:

June 16-17 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H. Details at www.minisontop.org.

July 22 — “Show of Dreams,” hosted by British Cars of New Hampshire, Hudson, N.H. Details at bcnh.org.

July 22-23 — Misselwood Concours d’Elegance, Beverly, Mass. Details at www.endicott.edu/Concours.aspx.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., Apr. 9 — Barbara and I drove to Rochester on Saturday and stayed overnight so we could be up bright and early for the rallye from MINI of Rochester to Torrey Ridge Winery. Our group of over 100 MINIs and one 1964 classic Mini Cooper S met up with hundreds of other MINI owners from all over the Northeast and Canada. We bought wine and cider at Torrey Ridge, and then caravanned to the track at Watkins Glen.

We paid our $25 donation at Watkins Glen and entered the racetrack for three laps on the long course. A pace car kept speeds under 100mph. There were 378 MINIs and over 500 people! Last year they had 208.

The MINI JCW Racing Team brought one of their racecars and the huge trophy the team had won at Daytona in January, having placed 1st in the Street Tuner (ST) class in IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race (see details in the February British Marque). Barbara and I actually got to hold the trophy and have pictures taken with team owner Luis Perocarpi, and Tonine McGarvie from MINI Headquarters.

Our 2016 MINI Cooper S with JCW modifications (all decked out in team decals, including number 73) was wonderful to drive on the track. It ate up the turns and burned up the straights. The car is a joy to drive, with simply awesome brakes. It’s fast. The extra 20hp from the JCW modifications and the track-use exhaust give it some go!

The organizers, along with MINI of Rochester and Towne MINI of Buffalo, put on an after-party at the famous Seneca Lodge, free for the first 450 people who signed up. The race transporter truck brought the racecar to the party, where it was displayed inside a tent. There was great food and raffle prizes, with MINI giving out hats, antenna balls, shirts and other swag. Everyone had a great time.

Barbara and I stayed overnight at the Seneca Lodge and then had a nice eight-hour drive home the next day. The weather was in the 70s all three days of our trip.

A big thank you goes to the organizers and sponsoring dealers for putting on such a great event. It is a winner! An event well worth going to — and there were even two classic Minis out of the 378 participating cars! Check out the MINIs at the Glen Facebook group.

Bonaire is a small Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela. It is about 24 miles long by 3 to 5 miles wide, with the tiny island of Klein Bonaire a half mile off the west coast. Bonaire is known as the shore diving capital of the Caribbean with easy access to over 80 snorkel and scuba diving sites, most of which have a coral reef within several feet of shore.

We rented one of the ubiquitous double cab white pickup trucks so we could travel at our own pace. A vehicle with high ground clearance is required in order to drive the dirt roads in Washington Slagbaai National Park on the north end of the island. Our truck was a GWM Wingle 5, built by Great Wall Motors Company, China’s largest producer of sport utility vehicles. The Wingle engine is a 30-year-old Toyota design.

While driving to dinner our first night I spotted a classic Fiat 500 parked in a small town square. The car remained in the same spot for several days, and my wife Betty humored me when I asked to pull over to take pictures.

A few days later we saw two people trying (unsuccessfully) to get the Fiat started and I had to stop again to meet the owner. He told us that new cars are very expensive on Bonaire, so he bought the car in Italy and spent $1,500 having it shipped over in a cargo container. He claimed to have the only classic Cinquecento on Bonaire. I considered making an offer and shipping it home in the overhead luggage bin.

At the end of the week the Fiat was still in the same parking space, with a ’60s vintage Volkswagen bus pickup truck several spaces over.

One morning while driving toward the capital city opposite direction. From a distance it looked like an MG TD or Morgan Plus 4, but as we got closer a large Citroën double chevron was visible on the grill. An on-line search turned up pictures of similar late ’30s Citroën roadsters.

There were some interesting modern vehicles, none of which are legal in the US. Tiny micro-vans were popular with the locals. These were very narrow with tall roofs and could have done duty as clown cars in the circus. Some wore Suzuki badges while others had no identifiable markings.

One of the best snorkel sites in Bonaire is Wayaka, located on the west coast of the National Park. We were told to allow a minimum of a half-day to drive through the Park, which was surprising given the small size. The short driving route is only 15 miles and the long route is 21 miles. I wanted to take the long route, but within the first two miles Betty vetoed that idea. Initially the dirt road was flat and smooth. As soon as we reached the first hill it became clear why high ground clearance vehicles were mandatory. During the rainy season the steep mountain roads had washed out. What remained were huge boulders, deep ditches and scattered smaller stones.

For us the drive was a bone-jarring experience, though I imagine this was an off-roader’s idea of a good time. The amazing snorkeling spot made it all worthwhile. Our trusty little truck acquitted itself wonderfully, never lugging in first gear at 5mph on the steepest hills.

Most days we snorkeled from shore at two or three different sites. One day we made a picnic lunch and took the water taxi to Klein Bonaire. This tiny uninhabited islet is another top snorkeling spot. We walked south along the beach for half a mile, put on our gear and swam about 25 feet off shore to the edge of the reef. Then we did a drift dive where the current slowly brought us back to our starting point. We saw our only sea turtle on this trip.

We also booked a snorkel trip on the Sea Cow, an old Venezuelan fruit vessel. The boat is painted in a white and black cow pattern and has a horn that sounds vaguely like a cow mooing. The Sea Cow visited two sites off the coast of Klein Bonaire and guides identified a wide variety of fish and coral. The owners of the Sea Cow transport passengers to their dock in a 1983 Land Rover, which also sports a white and black cow pattern paint job. This was the only classic British car we saw in Bonaire, though we did see one modern MINI.

Betty and I are hoping NEMO members can help us solve a mystery. One day we were having lunch at a beach shack restaurant at Lac Bay on the southeast coast. We were sitting in the shade watching windsurfers on the bay. A couple walked by on the beach, backlit by the bright sun, and the man said, “Hello, Schwartzes.” This happened very quickly and we had no idea who they were! Since Betty doesn’t go by Schwartz we assume that the man knew me, perhaps through the British car hobby or NEMO. If the mystery man was a NEMO member, please let us know!

We have snorkeled at three other spots in the Caribbean, in Florida, Hawaii and on the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, Australia. Bonaire is at the top of our list and the car spotting was an unexpected surprise.

May 3-7 — MINIs on The Dragon, Deals Gap, N.C. and Tenn., www.minisonthedragon.com.

May 18-May 21 — A MINI Vacation in Vegas, Silverton Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev., www.amviv.com.

May 21-October 8 — Kringle Cars & Coffee 2017, Kringle Candle, Bernardston, Mass., second Sunday of the month (except in May, when it is the third Sunday), 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Free to exhibit, people’s choice awards, inside.kringlecandle.com/events/calendar.

June 4 — “British by the Sea,” hosted by the CT MG Club, Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford, Conn., www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html.

June 8-11 — British Motorcar Festival, Bristol, R.I., www.britishmotorcarfestival.com.

June 16-17 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H., www.minisontop.org.

June 22-24 — Vintage Motorsports Festival, Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Conn., www.thompson speedway.com/events/.

June 25 — British Car Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., larzanderson.org/events lawn-events.

June 29-July 2 — Mini Meet East, Columbus, Ohio, Holiday Inn Columbus North I-270 Worthington, 7007 N. High St., Worthington, Ohio, http://www.mini meeteast2017.com.

June-August — Wings & Wheels at Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., Thursdays 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., wingsand wheelsma.com.

July 7-9 — Gould’s Microcar Classic, Newton, Mass., www.bubbledrome.com/index2.html.

July 9 — Microcar Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events.

NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I., Mar. 5 — We had a good turnout for the NEMO Annual Meeting, with 21 adults and two children. The past two years were standing room only at Faith and Bruce’s house, so this year we held the meeting at The Pines restaurant. The Pines seated us in a comfortable private dining room. We ordered the Family Style Chicken dinner (soup, rolls, salad, pasta, chicken, French fries and ice cream), a specialty at many northern Rhode Island restaurants.

It was great to meet Lisa and John Mastrandrea and their daughters. They are regulars at Mini Meet East and are often seen in Funkhana photos with Derick and Lorine Karabec. Several new members were also present as well as all the usual suspects.

Every year we hold a free raffle of Mini- or classic car related-items donated by members. Faith handed out raffle tickets as people arrived. Prizes included die-cast cars, magazines, a coffee mug, a Union Jack umbrella, books, a MINI jacket and a can of Monty Python’s Holy Grail beer.

The meeting followed our usual format, with a social hour followed by lunch. The roast chicken and side dishes were very good, and the quantity of food was far more than we could eat.

Faith called the meeting to order by pulling the first raffle ticket. This got everyone’s attention and the best prizes went quickly. Paul Berton took home the MINI jacket, and Barbara Neiley was seen guarding the Holy Grail beer.

After the raffle we moved on to the actual business meeting. Dave Black provided a financial report. The NEMO bank balance is healthy, with the Holiday Party being our major expense.

Ken Lemoine told a heartwarming story about a Hrach Fund donation. An uninsured MGB owned by a 17-year-old named James Nifong was lost in a fire. James was restoring the MGB with help from Kurt Steele and members of the Boston Area MG Club (BAMG). About a month after the fire, BAMG members found another MGB and worked tirelessly over four weeks to make the replacement car roadworthy in time for Christmas to present to the heartbroken James. The Hrach Fund, intended to help young people get involved in the British car hobby, supplied a new convertible top.

For the complete story, see Ken’s article on page 22 in the January/February British Marque. Be sure to have a box of tissues handy.

Yours truly provided an update on the NEMO Facebook page, which currently has over 506 likes.

I then led a discussion of the 2017 events calendar. Several members recommended additional events: Kringle Cars & Coffee, MINI on the Mack, and MINIs in Foliage. See the NEMO Calendar of Events for more information.

Mini/MINI events are listed on the NEMO website and the Facebook page, which are updated throughout the driving season. I also made a plea for newsletter articles covering events I don’t attend or on any other topics of interest to club members.

There was a proposal for a trip to a drive-in theater in Saco, Maine, for a screening of The Italian Job or Pork Pie. We also discussed looking into a private screening at the Mendon Drive-in as this is closer to home for many NEMO members.

Bruce Vild requested more member car photos for the NEMO website. The event photo galleries are updated regularly, but the car galleries are quite out of date. We also need more member car photos on the Facebook page. You are welcome to post photos to the Member Cars album on the NEMO Facebook page or create new albums.

People started trickling out around 3:30 p.m. and the meeting ended by 4:30 p.m. The consensus was The Pines will be a good venue for next year.

April 9-October 8 — Kringle Cars & Coffee 2017, Kringle Candle, Bernardston, Mass., second Sunday of the month (except in May, when it is the third Sunday), 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Free to exhibit, people’s choice awards, inside.kringlecandle.com/events/calendar.

May 3-7 — MINIs on The Dragon, Deals Gap, N.C. and Tenn., www.minisonthedragon.com.

May 18-May 21 — A MINI Vacation in Vegas, Silverton Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev., www.amviv.com.

June 4 — “British by the Sea,” hosted by the CT MG Club, Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford, Conn., www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html.

June 8-11 — British Motorcar Festival, Bristol, R.I., www.britishmotorcarfestival.com.

June 16-17 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H., www.minisontop.org.

June 22-24 — Vintage Motorsports Festival, Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Conn., www.thompson speedway.com/events/.

June 25 — British Car Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., larzanderson.org/events lawn-events.

June 29-July 2 — Mini Meet East, Columbus, Ohio, Holiday Inn Columbus North I-270 Worthington, 7007 N. High St., Worthington, Ohio, http://www.mini meeteast2017.com.

June-August — Wings & Wheels at Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., Thursdays 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., wingsand wheelsma.com.

July 7-9 — Gould’s Microcar Classic, Newton, Mass., www.bubbledrome.com/index2.html.

July 9 — Microcar Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 3 — The NEMO Holiday Party was held once again at the Chateau Italian Restaurant in Westborough.

We had a good turnout with 28 adults, but no children. Lorine and Derick Karabec were the long-distance travelers, driving in from Ulster Park, N.Y. The Party began with a social hour and hors d’oeuvres, followed by a buffet lunch and the ever-popular Yankee Swap.

There was some very creative packaging including a greasy paper bag and some cleverly disguised British food (digestives and spotted dick sponge cake), which drew the biggest laugh of the day. Other gifts of note included an Italian Job framed print, a pencil sketch of a classic Mini, a gingerbread house with a Mini in the garage, and a Watkins Glen race poster.

The hot gift this year was a crystal Mini at about 1:32 scale. This changed hands many times but was ultimately taken home by Bruce Vild.

Be sure to check the Facebook page and NEMO website for photo albums showing all the guests.

Sometimes, having a day off from work can change your life. Like the day I learned that skiing is not my sport. Or the day when a Honda 90 motorcycle, some wet railroad tracks and undeveloped skills taught me that motorcycle driving isn’t for me, either.

Since I had Veterans Day off, I decided to skive off the domestic tasks and go visit Barbara at work at South Shore MINI in Rockland, Mass. Around noontime I dropped in and after helping myself to coffee and cookies I looked across the showroom, and saw it. The 2016 MINI Cooper S with a JCW package, all done up in the MINI JCW Team livery — although the car is BRG and not red like the racecar. It was the car Phil Wicks drove at the South Shore MINI Track Day in Palmer last summer. It had a little less than 500 miles on it, and a big tag proclaiming “Sale.” What I saw was a sign that said, “Buy Me, Dave.”

So I talked with Barbara. And then with the Sales Manager. They had to move three other cars out of the way so I could take it for a test drive. A few minutes later, I was at the long straight at the old South Weymouth Naval Air Station, doing a touch over 100mph, braking for the roundabout. Flick right, flick left, flick right and onto the next stretch. You can see other cars for a mile there, especially multi-colored ones with LED roof racks.

Back to the dealer. How much to trade it for my old 2009 Honda Odyssey? That much? A few days later, it was ours.

So what’s it like to drive the most modern of MINI Coopers?

There are millions of combinations of options and, in theory, no MINI is the same as another. Ours is a 2016 MINI Cooper S Hardtop two-door with a 2-liter BMW engine built in Germany. The car is built in Cowley, UK. Before the John Cooper Works (JCW) kit, it had 189hp and 207ft-lb of torque. It has the kit options, which means it is a “partial” JCW (the “full” JCW is a different model). The engine modifications give it another 20hp.

The Pro Tuning Kit includes a really nice two-mode exhaust, with “Track Use Only” activated by Bluetooth buttons. Then the exhaust just about doubles in volume and drops in tone. And when you are in Sport mode and back off the gas quickly, it belches and burbles just like our classic 1275 Mini. It has to be heard to be appreciated.

The car has other options — a Sport Package with Dynamic Dampers, meaning the shocks are adjusted hundreds of time each second by the computer, which makes this MINI stick to the tarmac like no other. It also has 17-inch wheels with very sticky tires. And all the lights are LED. Then there is the JCW leather steering wheel: pure pleasure to the touch. And automatic headlights that come on when it gets dark, two moon roofs, an auto dipping mirror, Bluetooth phone, and Sirius radio.

If I were Jeremy Clarkson, I’d tell you that the car would save the environment, keep pedestrians from harm, and keep the poor roads of New England from getting worse. Here’s why: in the Green mode the car sips gas and the engine shuts off when you come to a stop. The loud exhaust alerts pedestrians at intersections and crosswalks. And since the car is only 3,000 lbs. and has those dynamic dampers, it doesn’t pound at the roads. So you can drive a sports car that saves the earth like a Prius. Of course, I shut off the Green mode, go right into the Sport mode with the exhaust open, and the comparison to a Prius goes right out the window.

This car is fun to drive. Put the pedal down on a straight stretch of road and before you know it, you have rowed through all six gears and are doing 120 in about 15 seconds. I wish we had an Autobahn.

Barbara’s 2012 MINI, the previous model, is a whole lot of fun to drive and was my “track car” at Palmer this last summer. It feels a lot like a classic 1275. The new 2016 feels more like a BMW 3-series, just half the size, with great handling and a sturdy feel. But before you think I race around town screaming around corners, I have found that my usual “Captain Slow” street driving is very comfortable in this car.

The heated seats are great. And the traction in snow and rain is very good it climbs our icy driveway better than the van it replaced. Driving it in the summer will be great, too. I can’t wait.

I love the new MINI. But now that I have no tow vehicle for trailering classic Minis to faraway shows, maybe next year it will be time to buy a used Mercedes motor home. Change is good. Even Barbara agrees. And I have a huge smile on my face each time I get into the car.

Being a mega MINI fan, I took the afternoon off work on Friday, January 27th, to watch the four-hour BMW Endurance Challenge IMSA race live from Daytona. It’s easy to hook your laptop up via an HDMI cable to your big screen TV. There is great commentary, no commercials and no cuts, so it is the next best thing to being there. I watch from www.imsa.com, as the IMSA app has much lower resolution.

When I asked my boss for the time off, he said what’s up, and I told him. I expected a strange look, but he said, “Sounds like fun for you!” and off I went. He sees my BRG MINI Cooper S in JCW Team livery in the parking lot every day and of course thinks I am nuts.

The three team MINIs are in the ST (Street Tuner) class in IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, and the Daytona session was known as the BMW Endurance Challenge. In ST the MINIs racing against Porsche Caymans, Mazda Miatas, Nissan Altimas and similar cars. The team had not had a 1st place finish in the last two seasons and this was the first race of 2017.

The MINI JCW (for John Cooper Works) Team is run by Luis Perocarpi’s LAP Motorsports and sponsored by MINI with Tonine McGarvie from MINI HQ. They are two of the nicest people you will ever meet. So here I was, 1,300 miles away, when I really wanted to be there!

The three team cars are #37, #52 and #73. If you are a MINI fan, think of the 1960s when Minis were winning Monte Carlo and other rallye events year after year and you will note the significance of the numbers.

I won’t go into the details of the race, but after four long hours, the last ten minutes I was standing in my TV room, jumping up and down yelling as loud as can be, “Go, MINI, go!” And after four hours, the ST class 1st place winner was MINI #73, beating out the next three Porsches by less than two seconds. Imagine that, after 14,400 seconds of racing, the win was decided by less than two! Amazing, and the first class victory for the MINI JCW Team.

You can watch the race on-line at the team website, www.minijcwteam.com/news/article/imsa-continental-tire-sportscar-challenge-2017-bmw-endurance-challenge-at-d.

March 5 — NEMO Annual Planning Meeting & Luncheon, The Pines, 1204 Pound Hill Rd., North Smithfield, R.I., (401) 766-2122, 12 noon to 4 p.m.

May 3-7 — MINIs on the Dragon, Deals Gap, N.C. and Tenn., www.minisonthedragon.com.

May 18-21 — A MINI Vacation in Vegas, Silverton Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev., www.amviv.com.

June 4 — British by the Sea, CT MG Club, Waterford, Conn., www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html.

June 8-11 — British Motorcar Festival, Bristol, R.I., www.britishmotorcarfestival.com.

June 16-17 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H., www.minisontop.org.

June 29-July 2 — Mini Meet East, Columbus, Ohio. Host hotel: Holiday Inn Columbus N, I-270 Worthington, 7007 N. High St., Worthington, Ohio, http://www.minimeeteast2017.com.

After lunch I took a stroll around the grounds. There were so many truly exquisite cars that I was overwhelmed. Walking by the Baby Boomer cars (with appropriate Boomer music playing) made me realize how creative the show organizers were. The highly polished cars of the ’50s and early ’60s and their owners were serenaded by Elvis, Pat Boone, The Platters and other artists of the time period. Look at that shiny 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special (1st place in Boomer Class) and that 1958 Chevy Impala (2nd place in Boomer Class), and all those other great, trendy cars! I could imagine them cruising through the drive-in on the way to the sock hop.

I am always attracted to the big old Stanley Steamers and vehicles of that era, but this time I was drawn to a totally different vehicle. One car in particular was obviously put there for me to covet. It was even decked out in my favorite shade of blue. The Allard J2X MkIII was gorgeous! I wanted to take it home with me. Not going to happen. Oh, well.

The awards came at the end of the show and they didn’t drag on forever. Someone must have realized how tired the car owners would be at the end of a long, hot day. Owners of outstanding cars were rewarded with trophies, silver bowls and the like. Well deserved in my book.

As soon as the award ceremony concluded we paraded out of the event. People lined the roadway and waved. I grinned and waved back.

I chose to take the quick route home via the highway. As I drove along I thought about how glad I was to have taken the risk of submitting Austin to the show committee. No one laughed at our presence, I had a wonderful time, and I met a bunch of super car enthusiasts.

NEMO’s Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, March 5th, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

The club has outgrown Faith and Bruce’s home, so this year the meeting will be held at The Pines Restaurant, 1204 Pound Hill Rd., North Smithfield, R.I., (401) 766-2122.

The Pines has a separate dining room that accommodates 30 people. We ordered the Family Style Chicken Dinner (soup, rolls, salad, pasta, chicken, French fries and ice cream) for $18 per person, including tax and tip. Family Style Chicken is a specialty at many northern Rhode Island restaurants and The Pines does this traditional meal very well.

We will be holding a Giveaway Freebie Raffle so if you have any Mini-related items you would like to donate, bring them along. An evite will be sent to the membership list in early February.

March 5 — NEMO Annual Meeting, 12 to 4 p.m. The Pines Restaurant, North Smithfield, R.I., www.thepinesrestaurant.com.

May 3-7 — MINIs on The Dragon, Deals Gap, N.C. and Tenn., www.minisonthedragon.com.

June 4 — British by the Sea, hosted by the Connecticut MG Club, Waterford, Conn., www.ctmgclub.com/BBtS.html.

June 8-11 — British Motorcar Festival, Bristol, R.I., www.britishmotorcarfestival.com.

June 16-17 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H., www.minisontop.org.

June 22-24 — Vintage Motorsports Festival, Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Conn., www.thompsonspeedway.com/events/3rd-annual-vintage-motorsports-festival.

June 25 — British Car Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events.

June 29-July 2 — Mini Meet East. Host hotel: Holiday Inn Columbus N I-270 Worthington, 7007 N. High St., Worthington, Ohio, http://www.minimeeteast2017.com.

June-August — Wings & Wheels at Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., Thursdays 5 to 8 p.m., wingsandwheelsma.com.

July 7-9 — Gould’s Microcar Classic, Newton, Mass., www.bubbledrome.com/index2.html.

July 9 — Microcar Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events.

BOSTON, Mass., Sept. 25 — Well, I have a new-to-me, classic Austin Mini Cooper and I think it is really cute. I wonder how others will feel about it. Will they look at its 1975 body with its Union Jack painted on the roof and accompanying striping on the boot and bonnet and think it is too flashy? Will they appreciate that the inner door panels also have the British flag and the headliner does, too? How can I find out if others like my little car as much as I do?

Wait, there’s an on-line link to nominate cars for the Boston Cup Classic Car Show. If I submit my little right-hand-drive beauty, will the recipients of my e-mail and pictures laugh when they view them? Ben Franklin said, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” and he was so wise. I’ll give it a try.

I smile broadly when I receive notice that “Austin” (yes, the Mini has that name) will be included in the show, which will take place at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common. How will my Mini look beside those elegant Cords, Packards, Jaguars and other classic cars?

So the show organizers wanted me there at the crack of dawn. That is usually the time that retired folks like me go to bed, not arrive at a car show. I worried about getting lost driving back roads in the dark and was concerned that once at the Boston Common, I wouldn’t be able to locate the show entrance.

It turned out the event was so well orchestrated that there was nothing to be concerned about. I should have known that from all the informative e-mails I had received.

Once I got near the Common (no, I didn’t get lost) there was a large sign directing me to the entrance. Hey, I’m going into a car corral. This is going to be different. No little kids will be able to get their sticky fingers on Austin and no one will be begging to get in the car to have their picture taken. I’m not sure if I like that or not.

Soon a staff member directed me to my assigned place with other cars arranged by “country of origin” and “year of production.” I spotted a placard with my name and Austin’s information on it waiting for us. Yes, I’m going to like it here!

Luckily, Austin was new enough that it didn’t have to be seen beside the remarkable, award-winning 1965 Aston Martin DB5 (Best of Show — European) or the 1965 Ford GT40 (yes, it is British and it took 1st place in British Class), or the 1933 MG J2 Roadster (2nd in British Class). These were all so regal and Austin is just “cute.”

Then I opened my goody bag. OMG, I got a Boston Cup cap and pin, a backup phone charger, and many other useful items. My husband also got a bag and his was filled with cloths. There must have been a dozen, one for everything that a car owner would need for washing and waxing, detailing, etc. Nice!

Other than my husband, there was no one I knew well on the field. Too bad we were unable to attend Friday night’s private reception at Shreve, Crump & Low or Saturday’s cocktail party at the Ritz Carlton. They must have been sophisticated events where we could have met other exhibitors.

My concern about not knowing anyone changed in minutes. British cars drove in and parked near Austin and everyone had a cheerful greeting. Many other folks were anxious to get acquainted as I munched on a donut and drank coffee graciously provided for the exhibitors when we arrived. Later in the day my friends from the MINIs of Boston group stopped by to visit. Then there were all those other people who wanted to chat about Austin. Many were British and had stories to tell of their own Mini Coopers. Some people took pictures and I felt like a celebrity.

I knew just how upscale this affair was when invited to dine in the exhibitors’ area. What other show provides a lunch with beer and wine, elegant cheeses, pâtés, fancy sandwiches and other delectables?

NORTH FALMOUTH, Mass., Oct. 7-10 — Mini was the featured marque this year at the Cape Cod British Car Club’s British Legends Weekend (BLW). The venue was the Sea Crest Beach Hotel and all events except the Saturday driving tour were based at the hotel.

The weekend culminated in a Sunday car show featuring a “Concours d’Evolution.” South Shore MINI provided five different new MINI models, which were paired up with the closest matching classic Minis. All of the classics were owned by NEMO members.

The weather forecast leading up to BLW changed every few days. A hurricane moving up the coast threatened to hit New England but was then expected to head out to sea. After the forecast improved, Betty and I made plans to take Monday off and spend an extra day on the Cape. My ’68 Mini Traveller was invited to participate in the Concours so we were committed to the car show rain or shine.

We drove down Saturday afternoon and arrived at the Sea Crest in time for the roundtable discussion with Dave LaChance, the editor of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car. It was fun hearing Dave’s stories about unusual cars he has driven or ridden while on the job. I was amused to learn that Luke Vancraeynest’s 1981 Trabant was featured in the December 2016 issue of Hemmings. NEMO members who attend the Microcar Classic are well acquainted with Luke’s Trabi.

It rained Saturday night and we awoke to a heavily overcast Sunday morning. The Sea Crest restaurant overlooks Silver Beach and the ocean, and we could see the wind was strong, with white caps breaking offshore. But Dave Icaza took an early morning swim in the ocean (must be the surfer dude vibe). The Jacuzzi and heated pool were more appealing to the rest of us.

The car show took place in the Sea Crest parking lot with several tents off to one side. The show started at 9 a.m., as did the rain. As the day progressed the wind picked up and there were heavy downpours. The tents leaked and were taken down early. It was nice to have the option of going back to our room to change into dry clothes and shoes. About 40 cars participated in the show, less than half the usual number.

Barbara Newman drove down for the day in “Buffy,” her 1960 Morris Mini. She encountered heavy rain and water leaked in, soaking the front carpets. Buffy was paired up with a MINI Cooper S hardtop in the Concours.

Wendy Birchmire drove down from Needham for the entire weekend in her 1990 Mini Domino Pimlico convertible. The Domino is a Mini-based fiberglass kit car that resembles the design of a traditional steel-shelled Mini. Pim was paired with a MINI Cooper S JCW convertible.

The wood trim on my Mini Traveller is in rough shape and I have tried to avoid getting it wet. Oh, well, at least I didn’t need to worry about a leaky convertible top. My car was paired up with a MINI Cooper S Clubman, which was huge in comparison.

The other Concours participants trailered their cars up from Connecticut. Mark Fodor’s 1963 Austin Mini Cooper track car was paired with a MINI Cooper S JCW wearing the #73 livery of the MINI JCW Racing Team Dave Icaza’s 1969 Austin Mini Countryman was paired with a MINI Cooper S Countryman ALL4.

Bruce Vild and Greg Mazza also drove their classic Minis to BLW, but were not in the Concours.

The awards ceremony took place on the front porches of several hotel rooms, with participants scattered across the porches. Winners dashed through the rain to pick up their trophies. My car received the “Best in Concours d’Evolution” award, which was quite a surprise given the high quality of the other classics. There is a trend in the hobby that values preservation over restoration, and my car is an un-restored daily driver. Perhaps the judges were in a hurry to get out of the rain and change into dry clothes.

Gail Gray and Chris Cole also stayed over until Monday, and we all drove down to Woods Hole in my Mini for dinner Sunday night (they didn’t want to drive their TR3 convertible in the torrential rain). The front windshield fogged up and I had to pull over, pop the bonnet and manually open the heater control valve. Chris commented that other owners of classic British cars would find this completely normal. Much to our relief the defroster was reasonably effective. At the end of dinner we noticed the wall and ceiling in the restaurant were leaking.

The puddles were not too deep on the drive down, but it was raining really hard after dinner and the wind was much stronger. Visibility was dreadful and there were deep puddles and tree branches to dodge on the way back to the hotel.

The classic Mini owners had a difficult drive home on Sunday. Wendy e-mailed about driving blind. Her side curtains and windscreen fogged up, suitcases blocked part of the back window and the wind was howling. At least Pim’s heat worked.

Dave Newman had to wet-vac Buffy’s floors and pull up the carpets to dry them out. He plans to replace the 57-year-old door seals.

Bruce reported that the “coastal storm” was not restricted to the coast. He and Faith drove home in a downpour lasting all the way to Harrisville, but the Mini never skipped a beat. No water leaks either, as he replaced the door seals about four years ago. This is a good winter project if your car still has the originals! According to Bruce, the job should only take a few minutes.

On Monday we awoke to a cold, sunny day. As folk singer Garnet Rogers wrote, “Hallelujah, The Great Storm Is Over.” We packed up the car and were relieved when the engine started right up. There is something to be said for new silicone ignition wires.

A Google search for breakfast turned up Betsy’s Diner, a classic ’50s diner on Main Street in Falmouth. This was a great find and very popular with the locals. We had a fun chat with the owner after he saw my British car T-shirt and matched it up with the Mini in the parking lot. The food was great and ’50s décor was a lot of fun.

The next Google search was for bicycle rentals. Our plan was to ride the entire Shining Sea Bikeway, which runs along the shore between Falmouth and Woods Hole. The closest shop was Corner Cycle on Route 28, about a mile from the diner. We pulled into the parking lot and did a double take at the classic Mini parked next to the side door. I had never seen this car before. It was ’90s vintage, had Massachusetts license plates and was painted blue with white hood stripes and Union Jack roof.

In a pleasant small world coincidence, Corner Cycle is owned by NEMO member George Sykes. We spent a long time talking classic Minis. George had previously owned a ’71 and his current car is a ’92. George proudly showed off the engine compartment, which was pristine and full of shiny details. George is another satisfied customer of Dave Black’s Mini Barn.

The bikeway is a few blocks from Corner Cycle. We rode all the way to the northern end, then back down to the southern terminus in Woods Hole. The terrain varies from flat to a gentle grade and passes by salt marshes, a cranberry bog, West Falmouth Harbor, several ponds, a farm and the ocean. The total length is 10.7 miles, and we covered about 20 miles. It was a beautiful ride and we stopped for a leisurely lunch in Woods Hole at Pie in the Sky, a café and bakery.

Riding the three miles back to Corner Cycle was the toughest part of the day. We returned the bikes and said goodbye to George. Hopefully he will attend some future NEMO events.

The drive home was uneventful. After unloading the car I checked for water infiltration. The carpets were damp on the right (driver’s) side, as were the door pockets and rear seat pockets. Water had entered through the sliding windows and a small hole at the bottom right wheel well where a piece of body filler fell out some time ago. I had forgotten about the hole and believe this is why the carpets were wet.

I already have new rear door seals to install and plan to patch the hole in the fender well. The rain also did a job on the woodwork, which desperately needs to be stripped and re-varnished. I suppose it is also time to replace the window channels and door seals. Or I could just avoid driving in the rain.

The NEMO Holiday Party will be held at the Chateau Italian Family Restaurant in Westborough, Mass., on Saturday, December 3rd, from 12 noon to 4 p.m.

This is the same venue as last year and the Party was very well attended. The club will pay half the cost of the buffet for members with a reduced cost for children. If your membership has lapsed you can renew at the Party at the six-month rate of $10.

An Evite was sent to the NEMO e-mail list. RSVP to the e-vite or by contacting me directly at dschwartz1957@gmail.com or (508) 561-3462. Let me know how many people will be attending, the ages of any children, and if you have any dietary restrictions.

We will be holding a Yankee Swap so plan to bring a wrapped gift (try to keep the cost below $25). A Yankee Swap means that someone else may “take” your gift when it is their turn to pick. Warn your kids so they don’t get upset if this happens! You get to pick a gift for every gift you bring. Please, no more than one gift per person or the Swap will never end.

Our Holiday Party is one of our more popular events every year. Hope to see you there! The Chateau’s address is 95 Turnpike Rd. (Route 9), Westborough, and the phone number is (508) 366-5959. Take I-495 to Exit 23B and merge onto Route 9 West toward Worcester. Follow Route 9 West for about 2 miles. The Chateau is on the right and the parking lot entrance is immediately after the intersection of Route 9 and Route 30. The on-ramp from Route 30 crosses the parking lot entrance! —David Schwartz

Since joining NEMO in 2013, I have often heard about the annual fall pilgrimage to the British Invasion in Stowe, Vt. Between the oil leaks and the worsening smell of burning oil, neither my ’68 Mini Traveller nor its owner was ready for the 220-mile drive in each direction. Thanks to an engine rebuild last winter at Dave Black’s Mini Barn, this year was different. In early April I asked my wife, Betty Lehrman, if she would be willing to spend a long weekend at the British Invasion. I played up all the fun activities and people, promising there would be more to do than viewing endless rows of cars. Thankfully Betty agreed, so I made reservations at the Arbor Inn where many other NEMO members stay.

As British Invasion weekend approached, Betty asked, “Do we have to drive the Mini?” I replied, “Of course we have to drive the Mini. That is part of the full British Invasion experience.”

We arranged to caravan with Ken Lemoine, Brett Lemoine and Kurt and Linda Steele. I assured Betty I would not be insulted if she wanted to ride partway in Ken’s 2000 Aston Martin DB7 or the Steeles’ 2003 Jaguar XJ8. Brett drove his 1966 MGB GT, which is also more comfortable than an early Mini. Our group left Framingham at 9 a.m. and we met up with another MGB in Leominster.

Ken was a great trip leader and took us on state highways for almost the entire route (MA 117 and 140, NH 140 and 12, VT 103 and 100). This was a popular route to Stowe, as we encountered many other British cars along the way. We stopped for lunch in Ludlow, Vt., and arrived at the Stowe Special Events Field around 3 p.m. to pick up our British Invasion registration packet.

I felt like a Project Mercury astronaut exiting the capsule as I climbed out of the Mini. To her credit, Betty spent the entire drive in the Mini.

After checking in at the Arbor Inn we headed back to the Events Field for the Registrants’ Reception and then off to Main Street in Stowe for the block party. The scene was total chaos with dozens of cars trolling for parking. We decided to park on a side street and just enjoy wandering around. People who scored spots on Main Street arrived very early or waited in alleys for Main Street to be closed off, at which point everyone speed-parked at an angle on both sides of the street. It was amazing there were no accidents. We admired all the cars, watched people take photos with the “Queen,” chatted with a few NEMO members, and met up with Vermonters Gail Gray and Chris Cole for dinner.

There was a big crowd in the Arbor Inn dining room for Saturday morning breakfast. Most tables seated four, so Nathalie and Bert St. Onge from New Brunswick, Canada joined us. They have attended numerous Mini Meets and are friends with Dave and Barbara Newman.

Betty and I were wearing Doctor Who T-shirts at breakfast when Lorine Karabec stopped by and mysteriously whispered about a group costume. The mystery was solved when we drove onto the show field and saw Lorine standing near her car wearing a Tardis dress. The Tardis is a time machine fashioned after a British police box on the long-running Doctor Who TV series. Lorine was later awarded “Most British” in the attire competition.

When I pre-registered for the British Invasion it was not obvious which class Mini estates belonged in, but a quick trip to the registration tent settled it and I parked my car next to the Icaza’s 1969 Countryman and the Karabec’s 1962 Countryman.

The sheer number of cars on the show field was overwhelming, so my strategy was to concentrate on unusual models and cars I had never seen in person. The Singer club put on a great display with six cars, men in white mechanic’s uniforms and a reproduction racetrack booth. All cars were roadsters, with two-seater prewar cars and four-seater postwar cars. I was not familiar with Singer roadsters and was especially taken by the cars from the early 1950s.

Another of my favorites was a black 1935 Austin Seven two-door saloon, which led me to comment, “Honey, I shrunk the Model A.”

The Car Corral contained a 1949 MG YT four-seater convertible. I had no idea MG made a roadster that seated more than two. There was a 1950 MG YA saloon on the show field supported by jack stands. The owner showed me the hydraulic system under the bonnet that was hand pumped to extend the four jacks bolted to the chassis.

Many cars have a story to tell. Betty and I were admiring a 1960 Austin-Healey BN7 and saw a matching two-tone blue and white toy car perched on the tonneau cover. It was a “Barbie Car” from the 1960s with Ken at the wheel and Barbie in the passenger seat. The owners drove down from Canada — and their names are Barbara and Ken. They bought the toy car and painted it to match their real Austin-Healey. Over the years, toy Barbie has owned over 100 cars, which have become quite collectible.

Another wonderful story was posted on a large sign in front of a 1933 MG J2. Not every girl can say that she received a ’33 MG on their 33rd birthday! One year ago, Michael Crawford came home, looked at his wife Elizabeth and said, “So, I think I did something stupid today.” “I’m sure it’s not the first time. What did you do now?” “I think I just bought a prewar car, sight unseen.” Knowing that he had been searching for 15 or more years for a prewar MG, she was unsurprised to hear this news. She even laughed and said, “Oh, good, is it my birthday present?” And sure enough, just in time for her 33rd birthday, the J2 adventure began!

My knowledge of old Land Rovers comes from watching Wild Kingdom in the 1960s. I had no idea Land Rovers were produced in such a variety of body styles. Land Rovers even participated in the Concours d’Elegance, with four receiving awards. The people’s-choice Motorcar Show featured Derek Chace’s rather intimidating military 1989 Land Rover Defender. My favorite Land Rover of all was the kid-sized electric vehicle driven all over the field by Derek’s two young sons.

Mini was a featured marque and there was a huge turnout of both classic and modern cars. An original-owner 1980 Austin Mini towed a matching trailer made from the boot end of another Mini. Each Mini paint scheme was unique, with polka dots, two tones, hood stripes, pin stripes, contrasting fender flares and a checkerboard roof. Two classics were in the Concours, including the Newmans’ 1960 Morris Mini named Buffy. Barbara Newman wore the height of 1960s fashion and looked like a vintage advertisement as she posed for pictures with her car. When the awards were handed out, Buffy won 3rd place in the Special Interest class and Barbara won “Most Colorful” in the attire competition.

NEMO members and friends received awards in all the Mini classes — in #4, Dave and Jean Icaza’s 1969 Austin Mini Countryman was 1st, and Derick and Lorine Karabec’s 1962 Austin Mini Countryman 2nd #5 was won by Antonio Sapata’s 2006 MINI Cooper S in #6: 1st, Mark Fodor’s 1960 Austin Mini Cooper took 1st and in #7, Chris Cole and Gail Gray’s 1999 Rover Mini Cooper grabbed 2nd. In Sunday’s Competition of Colors, Derick and Lorine’s ’62 Countryman won Best White Motorcar.

After a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast we headed back to the show field to see the Tailgate Picnic Competition. There were five participants in the tailgate event with some elaborate displays, the best of which overflowed from the trunk of a 1954 Bentley. Cars were parked on the field by color, but the number of cars was down considerably from Saturday. The threat of rain led many to an early departure. Betty and I also wanted to beat the rain, so we said our goodbyes and were on the road by 12:30 p.m. We did not caravan on the drive home and even took the highway to save time. Betty was no longer worried about breaking down. —DS

Take 2

The man wanted to go to Stowe for the British Invasion. He really wanted to go. He had been talking about it for years. “It’s in the mountains. You love the mountains.” And although I had enjoyed several car shows, I was not anticipating 1) another whole weekend talking cars and 2) the ride up to Vermont in the 1968 smelly, noisy, bumpy tin can — um, classic Mini.

I was particularly not happy about the prospect of large trucks blowing by us on the highway. Actually, terrified is a better descriptor. And 5-plus hours in those seats? Would I ever recover?

But a good marriage is made of compromises. And he managed to fix the oil leak. And put in new shocks (thanks, Dave Black). And when he said we would be driving up with other British car owners, I was a bit more enthusiastic. Or at least less scared. I made sure I had a good book to read.

The trip up took all day but was actually fun. The air was crisp. The car didn’t smell. I sat on a nice pillow. Ken Lemoine led us and three other cars. He took it slowly on the back roads. We followed Brett Lemoine’s red MG the whole way. There was very little traffic and lots of attention from the locals whenever we stopped.

As we pulled into Stowe, I realized I’d never been there when there wasn’t snow on the ground. The Green Mountains framed every view, with vistas (and smells) of farmland and the blue, blue sky. We followed the others into the parking lot for the huge show field, registered, and took note of the various vendors (and real bathrooms!) for the next day.

We checked in at the Arbor Inn, which was filled with Invasion participants, and one confused couple who were celebrating an anniversary. They had gotten engaged there years ago.

That evening we headed for the block party in Stowe Village. Hundreds of British cars were already parked for blocks along Main Street, so we pulled into a side street to park. And then another side street. And one more. British cars were everywhere. From Rolls-Royces and Bentleys to Triumphs, MGs, Minis, Singers and Jaguars, they filled the streets all around the downtown area. At 6:30 p.m. Main Street was closed to traffic, and drivers maneuvered to park on a diagonal to fit yet more cars in the street. The rock band blared, and the street filled with running children, dogs, and groups of people of all ages inspecting the cars.

We arranged to meet Mini owners Chris Cole and Gail Gray for dinner, and ducked into a 1950s-style diner just a block from the main drag. Over hamburgers and salads we talked about everything and anything. They live in Vermont but we had gotten to know them during several Cape Cod British Car Club shows. I learned that Chris had been a strawberry farmer for many years. Of course he knew so much about motors and fixing cars. Farmers need to be self-sufficient and clearly he enjoys understanding how things work and how to fix them.

The next morning brought a lovely breakfast of eggs, toast with homemade jam, and maple-glazed bacon at the Inn. We all drove down to the field and David managed to figure out which was the correct category for our Traveller. About 600 cars eventually pulled into the field, including some beautiful Jaguars (I love the lines of the ones from the ’50s), a rather scary gun-filled, camo-colored Land Rover, and lots of old and new Mini/MINIs. The Concours d’Elegance included beautiful Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Jaguars, and even the Newmans’ modest classic Mini. The rows and rows of cars and the huge, blue sky rimmed with mountains made the people look very small.

Along with the cars, there were some memorable costumes. The “Queen” was in attendance in a lovely blue suit and hat, waving and smiling despite the heat. She (Michelle Dickson) told me she was on the board of the organization and had been playing the monarch and presiding over the festivities for several years.

Barbara Newman channeled Twiggy in a psychedelic mini-dress with white go-go boots and a matching headband to match her classic Mini. Dave Icaza accentuated his surfer-dude Mini vibe with a requisite hat and (his usual) ponytail. Lorine Karabec wore a fitted Tardis dress and matching hat. David wore a red fez, bow tie and a Doctor Who shirt (yes, I allowed this). These went with the Doctor Who paraphernalia he displayed on the car. The Brits and American geeks love the references to the show and how the Minis are “bigger on the inside,” like a Tardis time machine. (Okay, I admit it, I wore a Doctor Who shirt, too.)

A Ladies Hat Competition, held in the main tent, included a wonderful Alice in Wonderland-themed hat, a hat with teacup, saucer and spoon perched on a doily, and a rhinestone cowboy hat with little cars traveling around a British flag track. The Most Humorous winner was an Austin Powers hat, which topped a full costume with a papier maché car as a carefully balanced headpiece.

The size of the field (and number of cars) was overwhelming, but we managed to find some good barbecue for lunch in between viewing the cars. The attendees were enthusiastic and happy to talk all things Mini many folks enjoyed sitting in our car to experience its roominess. At the end of the day we met up with a group of NEMO members at Junior’s Restaurant. Lorine and Derick Karabec, Mark Fodor and Chantal Brefort, Ken and Brett Lemoine, Dave Black, Greg Mazza, Barbara and Dave Newman, John Gallagher and Canadians Bert and Nathalie St. Onge enjoyed Italian food and mostly car talk into the evening.

The next morning was cold and dreary. Breakfast was a leisurely affair on the porch no one was in a hurry to get to the field. Antonio Sapata and his girlfriend had enjoyed driving over the pass between Stowe and Smuggler’s the night before in a modern MINI. And as the rain threatened outside the windows, Antonio described driving a topless MG Midget on the New Jersey Turnpike as it filled with water during a torrential rainstorm.

Once we straggled down to the show field, we joined the cars organized by color. A tailgate contest featured only a few participants, but the food (some on platters with candelabras) looked impressive. In the early afternoon we said goodbye and headed back to Framingham, Mass.

The rain held off as we headed home, stopping at a vintage diner in Quechee, where we ran into the woman with the Alice in Wonderland hat. In Troy, N.H., we stopped at a farm stand run by Monadnock Berries, and had a long chat with the son of the owner, a Mini enthusiast. (Monadnock Berries hosts a MINI Cooper barbecue every August.) Although the berry season was over, we sampled a very credible selection of beers at their nano-brewery.

We arrived home in time for supper. And as we peeled ourselves out of the car for the last time, David thanked me for coming along. “We don’t have to go every year,” he said. “Yeah, that’s good,” I replied. But if the weather is nice, and I have a good book, you never know, I might not mind going again. —BL

MINI Takes the States (MTTS) is an event run by MINI-USA every other year for loyal MINI owners. This year’s event kicked off in Atlanta, Ga., on July 9th, went up the East Coast, over to Michigan, and then cross-country to Palm Springs, Calif., ending on July 23rd. Called “Track to Track,” the tour stopped in 15 cities over 15 days. The entire trip totaled 4,397 miles, not including getting to the start and back home afterwards. No other car company puts on a trip like this!

The small entry fee goes to charity. You pay for gas, lunch and hotels. MINI provides a morning “Rise and Shine” breakfast each day, and on most nights hosts an event that includes dinner. The route is mostly back roads, connecting lots of historic and interesting areas. There is a daily “Surprise and Delight” stop along the route.

Most days there are five to six hours of driving, not including stops. The usual routine is get up early, Rise and Shine at 6:30 or 7:30 a.m., depart about 9 a.m. Surprise and Delight is around the midway point, then back on route, check into the hotel, go to the evening event, then back to the hotel and get up early the next day to start all over again.

It is 100% fun and you do get into a routine. If you are a MINI owner (or a classic Mini owner) you have to try it once! Some go all the way, though many jump in for just some of the legs.

First, we needed to get to the start. Barbara found a group running a pre-MTTS event called “MINI Takes Florida.” Their last stop was Tom Bush MINI in Jacksonville. Since there were special T-shirts and stickers for that event, Barbara signed us up. Our plan was to arrive in Jacksonville the last night of the Florida event and join the group on the trip to Atlanta.

We spent two days driving our MINI ClubVan from Massachusetts. We were too late for the group dinner, but made it to the Meet and Greet breakfast, saw some old friends and made new ones.

Then it was time for the hundred or so MINIs to depart. We wanted to take a picture of our Woody ClubVan outside of Tom Bush MINI in order to match the photos from the MINI-USA Surfboard Tour in 2013. We had a route chart, so we waited for the parking lot to clear, quickly took a picture of the car in front of the building, and then got on course. Or so we thought. I took a left out of the parking lot, but the rest of the group had taken a right. So after seeing no MINIs at all on the highway, I plotted out where they would probably stop for lunch and triangulated a course to intercept the group in northern Florida, near the Georgia line. After hours of driving, and trying to convince Barbara that my pilot training and map reading would prove their worth, we pulled into a little town and hunted around for the group. And there they were, in the middle of lunch at a nice little restaurant!

When we came in, some MINI people Barbara knew invited her to share their food, sit a spell and enjoy! I went outside to the car and found a Fire Department truck next to our Woody. No problem, just another MINI owner that had never seen a ClubVan and wanted to talk. So we did, for the next half hour, until Barbara and the group came out ready to continue on to Atlanta. My lunch consisted of those little orange crackers with cheese and a bottle of water.

We arrived just southwest of Atlanta, checked into a hotel near the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and got some grub at a steakhouse. Then we spent a while talking to other MINI owners and some people from M7 who make accessories for MINIs.

The next morning we got to the Atlanta Motor Speedway at 6:30 a.m. for the start of MTTS. We had breakfast, got a bunch of free stuff, marveled at the sight of over 2,000 MINIs in the parking lot, and then sat in the stands for the treat of the day. High above the track was an aircraft with three parachute jumpers. In front of the announcer, on the racetrack, were two MINI convertibles with their tops down. The first jumper landed near the announcer. The second and third jumpers each landed in the convertibles! Woo hoo! Then we all got a fast lap with our cars on the track and we were off!

The drive to Charlotte took us through the Surprise and Delight stop — a visit to Ridgeway, S.C., a town with a population of 328, now swelled by thousands of MINIs. We stopped at Laura’s Tea Room and The World’s Smallest Police Station. Charming town, which we recommend you visit someday. The evening event was a great dinner courtesy of MINI-USA and a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte, N.C. It’s an excellent venue with a very interesting display of historic racecars.

The next morning we started off at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 7:30. After breakfast, we got to take one fast lap on the banking at Charlotte before heading to Richmond. This was a “bucket list” thrill for me! The ClubVan is not the fastest MINI, but it did us proud, taking the straights at 100 mph and the high banking at 85. What a thrill to actually drive on the high banking that I only see on television! It was too bad Barbara couldn’t drive, but the lap was only 7/8 of the track and they made us exit. We would have liked to stay all day and just lap the track!

About halfway from Charlotte to Richmond, the Surprise and Delight was Sadler’s Truck Stop in Emporia, Va. It is a huge, huge truck stop with shops, but not somewhere I would visit again. That night, with no planned event, we stayed at the hotel in Richmond and ate at an old-fashioned diner next to the hotel. Neither the diner nor the hotel is recommended.

Rise and Shine was at 7:30 a.m. at Richmond International Speedway. Seeing a pattern here? Now you know why it was called “Track to Track” this year. After a small breakfast, we had a short lap on the track and then were on to Baltimore. Surprise and Delight was at the Belmont Farms Distillery in Culpeper, Va. This country distillery produces corn mash whisky, moonshine and vodka and has a nice gift shop, a tasting room, a distillery tour and only two bathrooms, with over 1,000 MINI drivers all looking for them. Nice place to visit, when traffic is light.

After checking into our hotel in Baltimore, we headed over to the B&O Railroad Museum. What a great place to visit! The buffet and open bar put on by MINI-USA were super! This was an enjoyable place to see lots of old trains, models and exhibits, and listen to the tour guides talking about working on steam trains. We highly recommend visiting the Museum.

Tuesday, July 12th, found us meeting up for the Rise and Shine breakfast at the Camden Yards Sports Complex near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. What? No racetrack? Oh, well, with a motorcycle escort out by the Baltimore Police, we were off to Pittsburgh!

The Surprise and Delight this time was a stop in Orrtanna, Pa., at Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum. This is a little penny candy shop, which highlights the owner’s collection of elephant models and statues. We each received a carton from MINI-USA to fill up with fudge, candy and nuts for the trip ahead.

The route to Pittsburgh was on some of the most hilly and twisty two lane roads you will find! But getting stuck on a 15° grade hill with a truck in front doing 10 mph and not being able to pass was not fun. As soon as the crest of the hill came, a conga line of hundreds of MINIs passed the truck and we were off.

We passed through Gettysburg, Pa., en route and saw the Civil War battlegrounds. Late in the afternoon we stopped in Shankstown, Pa., at the 9/11 Flight 93 National Memorial. We saw the field where the plane crashed. This is a very sad place. Even 15 years later, I cannot get over what happened on that day.

We continued on to Pittsburgh. The nighttime event in Pittsburgh was at Highmark Stadium, across the river from the city and with excellent views of the rivers, bridges and skyline. We were fed a very nice buffet and there was music. We watched some soccer training, and spent much time in the parking lot looking at the MINIs and meeting their owners.

This is one of the friendliest groups of people ever and they all want to show you their cars! Not one MINI we saw on the trip was the same. In fact, the only other ClubVan on the event was the one owned by our friends Jackie and Ian from Florida, whom we met on the 2014 MTTS. With only 50 ever imported into the USA, that meant that 4% of all MINI ClubVans were there!

(Oh, yes, that is the reason I took math in school.)

Wednesday morning found us up bright and early at the Meadows Casino and Horse Racing Track. This was the only “track” we didn’t get a lap on, although I was ready for some dirt track action between the horses out for practice that morning.

It was a sad morning for Barbara and me as we said goodbye to our friends and to the MINI-USA staff. We were going to Watkins Glen, N.Y., for a few days before traveling home. The rest of the group had another 10 days and 3,340 miles to go to complete the journey, ending in Palm Springs, at a private BMW-owned track, of course!

We had driven 1,200 miles to Florida, then 300 miles to Atlanta, then 1,057 miles on the route and then another 400 miles to Watkins Glen and home to Massachusetts. We had the time of our life! Maybe someday, we can afford the time and money to go coast to coast.

The next MTTS is in 2018. We are ready!

BOSTON, Mass. — The Boston Area MG Club (BAMG) has run a series of British car shows at Faneuil Hall for the past nine years. Weather permitting, the shows are held in June, July and August, with the final show of the season featuring people’s choice awards. BAMG is the exclusive car club of Faneuil Hall and this year I heard the story of how that came to pass.

Nine years ago, the new marketing staff at Faneuil Hall e-mailed 50 to 60 car clubs throughout New England looking for a group that was interested in putting on a car show. BAMG was the only club to respond. They organized their first show with only three weeks’ notice and it was a smashing success. Other clubs have subsequently approached Faneuil Hall and were told to contact BAMG.

To date, BAMG has organized a Jaguar show, a hot rod show, a motorcycle show and a Tutto Italiano on behalf of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. The Tutto Italiano featured cars and motorcycles valued at over $5,000,000. This was the only show where the vehicles were cordoned off from the public.

BAMG welcomes owners of all British cars to participate. Club membership is not a requirement, nor is owning an MG. For most shows, cars are parked on the cobblestones between Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall. Due to space limitations there is only room for 15 cars, though a few special cars have been squeezed into an overflow spot off to the side.

What makes the Faneuil Hall shows unique is the interaction with the public. Car shows are attended by people with an interest in cars and the audience is self-selecting. At Faneuil Hall there are thousands of tourists from all over the country and all over the world. They don’t expect to see a classic British car show in front of a tourist venue and are always pleasantly surprised. Speaking with people from the UK is especially fun. They love to talk about similar cars their family owned, the car they learned to drive on, the modern MINI they currently own, etc.

This year I attended the June and August shows with my ’68 Mini Traveller. In June, my Mini was parked next to Tom Austin’s 1962 Morgan Plus 4 and Kurt Steele’s 1969 Rover 2000TC. There was a great selection of MGBs, an MGA, a Triumph TR3A, Nels Anderson’s 1963 Land Rover, a modern MINI convertible and even a first generation Mazda Miata. The Land Rover was ready for safari (as was Nels) and sported a large toy lion on the roof. As unsuspecting tourists passed by, Nels operated a remote control in his pocket and the lion roared.

There were a lot Argentinean soccer fans in town for the Copa America quarterfinal at Gillette Stadium. Several stopped by admire my Mini and pose for a picture. The Morgan and Rover 2000TC received a lot of attention, too, as these are not well known in the US.

In August, cars were parked between the South Market building and Faneuil Hall. This was a great location that provided some shade throughout the day. NEMO member Wendy Birchmire attended with her latest acquisition, “Austin,” a ’77 Mini Cooper decorated inside and out with a British flag motif. Austin has right hand drive and Wendy had only owned him a few weeks, so I had to convince her to attend. I knew the paint scheme would be a huge hit and it was. Lots of pretty young women struck fashion model poses next to Austin, reminiscent of Mini advertisements from the 1960s.

In addition to Minis and MGBs, there was a Jaguar V12 convertible, ’67 Triumph TR4, ’63 Land Rover, a Lotus Eclat and Steve Sutter’s bright yellow ’74 Mini Moke.

The 1st place people’s choice vote went to Wendy’s Mini Cooper. Second place went to Michael Chiusano’s 1970 chrome bumper MGB and 3rd to Carl Jay’s 1972 MGB. Paul Seeberg kept us entertained all day with a seven-hour-long classic rock play list.

When the show ended, Faneuil Hall security guards created an aisle through the crowds so the cars could exit. We felt like celebrities as people stood four deep, waving, taking pictures and shooting videos as the cars drove away.

See the BAMG website (www.bostonareamg.com) for photos of all three Faneuil Hall shows. NEMO members should watch the event calendar for the 2017 Faneuil Hall shows. BAMG is happy to have Mini owners join the fun. After all, MG stands for Morris Garages, so our classic Minis are related.

October 7-9 — British Legends Weekend hosted by the Cape Cod British Car Club, North Falmouth, Mass., www.capecodbritishcarclub.org.

December 3 — Annual NEMO Holiday Party, Tuscany Room, Chateau Restaurant.

The NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ NewEnglandMiniOwners, and website, www.nemo mini.org, contain additional event information.

NEWTON, Mass., July 8-10 — Every year, usually the weekend after July 4th, Charles and Nancy Gould and their daughters Monique and Tiana open up their home to microcar and minicar enthusiasts from around the country, Canada, and even overseas. After a day of drives and some last-minute wrenching, the activities culminate in a show at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum, the Microcar Classic.

For NEMO members, this is one of the highlights of the year. Our participation has led to a separate Mini class at the LAAM show, and this year, when it came to trophies, NEMO swept them all: David Schwartz was 1st, yours truly 2nd, and Ken Lemoine 3rd.

As usual, some mighty un-usual cars showed up: several Citroëns (not necessarily “micro” although the 2CVs did have small engines), an assortment of 1990s retro cars from Nissan that were never imported into this country (such as a lovely Figaro), and a 21st century microcar, a Corbin Sparrow. The collection of Minis included a Moke, a van, two handsome estates, and of course a handful of classic coupes.

Go to the NEMO website and check out the photos in the gallery. And make your plans to attend next year!

PALMER, Mass., June 20 — South Shore MINI and South Shore BMW of Rockland, Mass., held a Track Day at Palmer Motorsports Park (PMP).

PMP opened in 2015 and is the first private racetrack in the state. The course is 2.3 miles long, 40 feet wide with 190 feet of elevation change. The track was cut out of an old rock quarry and is super smooth. It has flag stations and pit areas just like a real racetrack. It is not a spectator track and is available for track rentals and private memberships. PMP is just minutes from Sturbridge and the Mass Pike.

Barbara and I decided to take her 2012 MINI Cooper S to Track Day. She recently had a set of super sticky Continental summer tires installed and the techs at South Shore MINI (where she works) checked out the car tip to tail. It made a super Track Day car, smooth and predictable for fast driving.

Track day was arranged by a company called Hooked on Driving in association with the Phil Wicks Driving Academy, featuring the famous driver, Phil Wicks, for the MINI side of the event. After the organizations, track and instructors were introduced, there were separate BMW and MINI classroom sessions.

Safety was priority #1 and rated helmets were required. I brought ours thinking Barbara and I would share.

Track flags were taught and we were told to keep an eye out for the flag stations as they really help you on the track. Then we had a general discussion of all the corners, types, on-camber, off-camber, uphill, downhill, permitted passing areas and more. The biggest point was that this was not a racing school. It was a defensive driving course.

We only remembered some of the discussion at first, but after ten or so laps on the track it all came together.

In this school, the driver being passed must point their hand out to the left or over the top of the roof to the right to tell the other driver it is O.K. to pass. They call it pointing. No point, no pass. Drivers were black flagged for violating this safety rule. Black flag means to stop in the pits, you are done. In real racing, no pointing is done, but the driver being passed is expected to keep “their racing line” for safety, and the passing car goes around.

The first 20-minute track session got underway for the BMW crowd in their rear-wheel-drive, high-power cars. The five MINI drivers then received 20 minutes of intense classroom instruction from Phil Wicks at the whiteboard.

Phil started his career in racing in the 1960s — see his website for details (www.minidriving.com). What I knew of Phil was that he drove the red Mini for the stunts in the 1969 movie The Italian Job, and that he races a classic Mini and has been involved with the new MINI racing series. He is a great person to meet, as is his wife Norree, who handles the business end.

As the day went on, conversations with both of them were even better than the driving. Phil Wicks is Mini history and knows all the famous people involved. Every spare minute I could get was spent speaking with Phil and Norree. Wonderful people!

Then it was track time for the MINI group. My instructor, Steve, went over safety rules again. We turned off the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) and carefully entered the track, staying inside the white pit line until it was O.K. to move out onto the track line.

The first few laps were spent learning the curves and apexes, learning brake, shift, turn and power, and learning to look where you want to go, not where you are. This means when you are at the apex you are already looking at the next corner as you lower out. We had five 20-minute sessions during the day, all with an instructor. Each time we drove faster and faster by being smoother and smoother. Slow is fast, as they say.

Driving a front-wheel-drive MINI is very different from a rear-wheel-drive BMW. Phil taught us why. He also taught about weight transfer and the fact that every car pivots around its middle. Understeer or “pushing” is dealt with differently in a front-wheel-drive MINI.

At the lunch hour break the track was open for instructor laps, and I asked Phil if he would take me for a ride in Barbara’s MINI. Wow, all I can say is the man is fast (three laps, very fast). And the MINI is, too. Barbara says she can never sell that car, now that Phil Wicks has driven it!

Since I was driving Barbara’s MINI, she got stuck driving the company MINI Countryman S ALL4 for four out of the five sessions. She felt uncomfortable in the car, as the Countryman is probably the worst model to do a Track Day in (unless the track is covered in snow or dirt), so on the last session, we swapped cars. She had been wearing the Hooked on Driving helmet all day, so she kept it on. Her confidence and speed went way up when she finally got into her own daily driver. She drove much faster in fact — a good track car can do that. Barbara’s instructor was a racing driver and said afterwards that her transformation was dramatic.

In the final session I had the Countryman ALL4. It rides on all-season tires. These tires are crappy in all seasons and not grippy at all compared to the Continentals on Barb’s car! But I ventured onto the track with my instructor in the passenger seat talking on the intercom. I had already been up to 110 in the short straights in the MINI Cooper S and took it easy for a couple of laps until I learned how the Countryman handled, auto-magic tranny and all.

In comparison to a “normal” car such as a Camry or Accord, the Countryman handles much, much better. However, it is not a car I would recommend for a Track Day. The DSC never really shuts completely off. I was doing some good, though not great, lap times, and sliding the car though the corners well, so well that the instructor said “Well done!” quite a few times. The brakes were very good. It’s just that once you have driven a MINI Cooper S with sticky summer tires, the Countryman feels like drifting a motor home through the corners.

In between sessions we received classroom instruction from Phil Wicks. Every MINI driver got better and better as the day went along. They showed more confidence and awareness, and were very safe on the track as they learned the speed that is possible at 8/10th of the capability of their car. The afternoon track sessions were sometimes a mix of BMW models and MINI models at the same time. Nobody could keep up with the MINI Cooper S in the corners. The BMWs would power away in the straights. Then the little MINIs would be up their exhaust again in the corners. Then a quick pass out of the corners and the BMWs would pass at the end of the straights. Over and over again, like magic.

The next time Phil Wicks has a class in the Northeast, we are going! And we recommend that you do as well. It is fun, informative, and you will be a better defensive driver after the course.

If you take a glance at our Events Calendar, you’ll see three events listed that really deserve more than a three-line description. Not that the others don’t, but these events have always attracted NEMO members and continue to do so for good reason. So here is an “expanded” listing to tempt you to try them if you haven’t been, and to remind you if you have:

September 16-18 — British Invasion, a/k/a “Stowe.”

Most NEMO members don’t need a British Invasion reminder as they have been attending the event for many years. However, people may not know that this year Mini is a featured marque! Dave Newman made dinner reservations for 20 at the new Italian/Mexican restaurant that took over the space formerly occupied by Gracie’s. The initial reviews have been good.

September 25 — The Boston Cup.

The Boston Cup soars into its 5th year September 25th on the Boston Common. Held at the country’s oldest public park, this is the only free major downtown car show in the USA. Arrive early in the day for the best views. Last year there were over 25,000 people between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Among this year’s invited British vehicles will be a rarely seen 1903 Dickenson Morette, a 1933 MG J1, a Vincent Black Shadow, a 1950 Rover 75, a 1959 Aston Martin, the last Triumph Dove, an original GT40, and an Ultima GTR. The cars will be arranged by year of manufacture.

Over 100 world class and rare vehicles will be displayed, including Ettore Bugatti’s supercharged Type 57 and a matching new Veyron, plus early Ferraris and an F40. A special “Boomers World” exhibition will debut as well. Those present at 2:30 p.m. will get to hear and see these machines fire up and exit the Common. Don’t miss this Top 10 event — visit www.thebostoncup.com for more pictures and information! See you there.

October 7-9 — British Legends Weekend.

The Cape Cod British Car Club is presenting its 16th British Legends Weekend (BLW) and has pulled out all the stops. Imagine a car show at a four-star seaside hotel overlooking Buzzards Bay, complete with sandy beach, fine dining, upscale accommodations, pools, a spa and close proximity to great shopping!

BLW always has a good NEMO turnout for both classic and modern Minis. The 2015 car show featured seven classic Minis, four of which were Vans or Estates. Keith Hartinger trailered his pristine 1964 Austin Van up from Plant City, Florida. Jean and Dave Icaza drove their 1969 Austin Countryman up from Connecticut. David Schwartz and Betty Lehrman drove their 1968 Mini Traveller down from Framingham, Mass., and Steve and Joyce Aoyama of Marion, Mass., brought a Mini Traveller VTEC conversion.

For 2016, South Shore MINI is presenting a MINI “Concours d’Evolution” as part of the Sunday afternoon car show. South Shore MINI plans to provide five new MINI models, which will be paired with vintage Minis.

So check your oil, gas up, fire up and join us for the 16th Annual CCBCC BLW at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel in North Falmouth, Mass. Go to the club’s website, www.capecodbritishcarclub.org, for registration forms and other details.

BRISTOL, R.I., June 11 — This year marked the second running of the British Motorcar Festival at Colt State Park on the coast of Bristol. The four-day festival is presented by the same group that runs the British Invasion in Stowe, Vt. I decided to make a day trip to Bristol since the British Motorcar Festival promised much of the same flavor a lot closer to home.

Activities on Saturday included the judged Concours d’Elegance, a People’s Choice Car Show, meeting the “Queen” and a Ladies Hat Competition. I arrived at 9:30 a.m. and was pleased to be directed to a parking space within 100 yards of the entrance.

A row of vendors was just inside the gate, with NEMO members Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild occupying the corner space. There were vendors selling diecast vehicles, British tchotchkes (knickknacks), clothing and vintage car parts. One dealer had a huge variety of used and new old stock electrical parts. They had very reasonable prices on original glass turn signal lenses and chrome trim rings. (Too bad I bought reproductions a few months ago.)

At around 10:15 a.m. the “Queen” (played by Michelle Dickson) made several tours around the show field in a Rolls-Royce stretch limousine from the early 1930s. The bonnet and open top chauffeur’s compartment were longer than many entire cars. The Queen’s arrival was followed by a cannon salute.

My plan was to make a first pass around the show field and Concours area, concentrating on rarely seen and unusual cars. Later I would make a second pass to view the more common cars. This proved to be a good strategy when at 12:30 p.m. a severe thunderstorm warning was announced. I had just enough time to view the Concours cars before owners drove off to safer grounds.

The show featured several Bentley and Rolls-Royce automobiles spanning the 1930s through at least the 1980s. After the “Queen’s” limousine, a 1933 Rolls-Royce 20/25 really caught my eye. The car hadn’t run since the 1970s and underwent a five-year restoration that was completed in 2014. The owner created a custom hood ornament using a model of a Spitfire airplane. This was a tribute to RJ Mitchell, the British rngineer who designed the World War II fighter plane. Mitchell also owned a Rolls-Royce 20/25 and worked with Henry Royce at bringing the Rolls-Royce “mighty Merlin” engine together with the Spitfire.

The Festival featured many rare and unusual cars. One of my favorites was a 1963 Daimler Dart (SP250) owned by Ron and Laura Cavallaro. This was a beautifully restored car in white with a red interior. The Dart is powered by a 2.5 liter hemi-head V8 engine that produces 140hp. A second Daimler Dart was displayed in the Concours Preservation Class.

There was a gorgeous 1960 Triumph Italia 2000 GT Coupe in the Concours area and a ’61 on the People’s Choice show field. The ’60 was parked next to a Triumph TR3, which I now understand contributed the chassis and mechanical components to the Italia. Michelotti designed the Italia’s body and it has the graceful lines shared by many Italian cars of that era.

There were many vintage Jaguars on display and I jumped at the offer to sit in an XK150. The closest I will come to owning one is the 1:18 scale diecast XK120 I bought for my wife.

I have a soft spot for the Morris Minor 1000 and spent a long time chatting with Chuck O’Neal and Debra Chiacu, the owners of a nicely restored convertible. Their car was upgraded to a 1275cc twin-carburetor engine coupled to a Datsun 5-speed transmission, making it much easier to drive on the highway.

There were two classic Rover Minis and one modern MINI in attendance. Chris Cole and Gail Gray from Vermont brought their ’99 Mini. Chris and Gail are known by many NEMO members through the numerous British car shows they attend each year. The other classic was a ’98 and I told the owner about NEMO just as he was leaving. The one modern MINI fled ahead of the storm and I was not able to meet the owner.

The British Motorcar Festival is well worth attending, even if just for a day. Perhaps next year we can organize a bigger NEMO turnout.

BROOKLINE, Mass., June 26 — The weather on Sunday, the 26th, was sunny with blue skies, which drew a large turnout for British Car Day at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. The Museum staff did a good job organizing cars by make and model until the upper lawn filled up around 9:30 a.m. Cars continued arriving until after 10 a.m. and also filled half of the lower lawn.

I counted five classic Minis, including a 1990 Mini Cooper RSP (Rover Special Production) owned by Jane Wilkinson. Jane is the original owner and moved from England to the United States about 15 years ago. She was not able to import her Mini because it was too new. So Jane parked the car in her parents’ garage and waited (impatiently) until the Mini was 25 years old and qualified as an antique. She imported the car in late 2015 and had it serviced a few months ago in time for the New England driving season. I gave Jane a NEMO membership application and hope we see her at future British car events. Her parents are very happy to have their garage back.

The Minis were parked in the center of the upper lawn with no relief from the sun. Fortunately, I brought a 10’x10’ tent canopy for shade. I arrived shortly after fellow NEMO members Wendy Birchmire and Alex Daly. We pulled our cars forward a bit and had plenty of space for the canopy. They elected me to bring the canopy to future car shows.

There were at least ten MINIs present, including a group from the Nutmeg MINIacs that caravanned up from Connecticut. The MINIacs spent a while chatting with Wendy, Alex and yours truly. They enjoyed trying our “little” Minis on for size and were amused by my 1968 Mini Traveller’s Tardis theme (from Doctor Who — a small blue box that’s bigger on the inside).

The show was people’s choice and my car won in the Mini class. It pays to have a sense of humor. People love the “Actual Size” decal, “Maximum Capacity 28 Clowns” magnets and Doctor Who decorations.

Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild presented Alex Daly with the British Marque Favourite award. The award recognizes owners who exemplify the spirit of the British car hobby. Alex was a child when he started attending NEMO events with his father. He is the second generation owner of the 1962 Mini Cooper 1380 he and his father worked on together.

August 6 — Monadnock Berries MINI Cooper BBQ, Troy, N.H., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (food noon to 1:30), monadnockberries.com/events.

August 6 — Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car Show, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., www.hemmings.com/events/Saratoga.

August 11 — British Car Night at Wings & Wheels, Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., 5 to 8 p.m., wingsandwheelsma.com.

September 1-5 — Lime Rock Park Historic Festival, Lakeville, Conn., limerockhistorics.com.

September 4 — Sunday in the Park/Gathering of the Marques, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn., limerockhistorics.com/marques.

September 11 — 10th Annual Car-B-Que, Washington Depot, Conn., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Kerry Washay).

September 16-18 — British Invasion XXVI, Stowe, Vt., www.britishinvasion.com.

September 24 — Weston Rotary Car Show, Town Hall Road, Weston, Mass., 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., westoncarshow.com.

September 25 — The Boston Cup Concours d’Elegance, Boston, Mass., 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., thebostoncup.com (Ken Lemoine).

October 7-9 — British Legends Weekend, Cape Cod British Car Club, North Falmouth, Mass., www.capecodbritishcarclub.org.

The NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners, and website, www.nemomini.org, contain additional information and links to the event websites.

FONTANA, N.C., May 11-14 — MINIs on the Dragon (MOTD), an annual gathering of MINI owners featuring drives and social events in the mountains of western North Carolina and Tennessee, is headquartered at Fontana Village Resort in Fontana, N.C., near Robbinsville and Bryson City. The name comes from a section of Route 129 that is known as the “Tail of the Dragon,” an 11.1-mile road with 318 turns (twisties). The southern terminus of the road is at the Tennessee border with Deals Gap, N.C., about nine miles from Fontana Village.

MOTD 2016 was the 14th annual meeting. This was my first MOTD as well as my first MINI rally.

I took delivery of my MINI the Friday after Thanksgiving 2015, a 2016 four-door hardtop “S” that I named “Surely.” During my first month of ownership I learned about MINI events around the US and decided to attend MOTD.

Being new to the world of Miniacs, I relied on blogs and forums for guidance. The more I read, the more enthusiastic I became about attending MOTD. My wife Diane agreed this would be a fun 11-day vacation, although she wasn’t as passionate as I was about the Miniac aspect of the trip. I registered during the opening minutes of MOTD registration and was able to sign up for all my first choices for drives and events.

I spent the three months leading up to MOTD preparing for the trip and buying supplies. The most important items were a handheld FRS two-way radio with extension microphone and detailing necessities to keep Surely looking her best.

Diane and I left home on Friday, May 6th, and made stops in Baltimore, Roanoke and Lake Norman, N.C., before arriving in the Fontana area on Tuesday, May 10th. During our trip south we enjoyed some incredible drives on Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We even got to see a mother bear and her cub cross Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

We arrived in the Fontana area and checked into our hotel in Nantahala. We then drove the 25 miles over to Fontana Village to get a feel for our daily drive and check out what was happening at the main MOTD site. I hooked up with a couple of other MINIs heading to Fontana and got my first taste of driving the twisties on Moonshine 28, as well as a sense for the term “spirited pace.” There were already more than 100 MINIs present and a lot of set-up activity around the vendor alley area.

Fontana Village Resort is located about 3.5 miles from the Fontana Dam on the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina, just south of the Tennessee border. The resort has approximately 200 rooms between the lodge and the cabins set on the heavily wooded property. With 625 MINIs and 893 people registered for MOTD 2016, many participants stay off-property in the surrounding area. During the four days of the event you will see groups of MINIs driving everywhere in the area, so there is plenty of opportunity to do the friendly MINI wave.

Fontana Village was constructed in the early 1940s to house the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers building the Fontana Dam as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Fontana Dam is the largest dam east of the Mississippi River, at a height of 450 ft. The Appalachian Trail crosses the Fontana Dam as the trail heads north to Clingsman Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The popularity of the Dragon for driving enthusiasts has resulted in a business market based at the southern terminus in Deals Gap. Two establishments sell a wide variety of Dragon-based souvenirs. Four different photography companies take photos at five key corners to capture the drivers as they enjoy the Dragon.

On Tuesday evening, Diane and I were stopped at a gas station after dinner when fellow NEMO members Skip Tannen and his wife Barb drove up to the pump next to us. They had just arrived in the area on the way towards Fontana. We had never met in person, but the Mass plates and car descriptions we had exchanged helped us recognize each other immediately. It was a great coincidence that the first people we met in North Carolina were fellow NEMO members!

We participated in the Dragon safety briefing, which included two runs on the Dragon. I highly recommend the safety briefing for anybody attending the Dragon for the first time. I got some valuable safety insights, and it gave me the opportunity to make my first runs on the Dragon at a moderate pace in a group instructional setting. The safety leader used the FRS radios to talk us through the runs and highlight some of the unique features of the road and terrain. I also got to make some new friends whom we would spend time with over the next three days.

We did a total of eight runs (four north and four south) on the Dragon over the four days. Many MOTD drives are one-way, so the symmetry of four up and four down was purely coincidental. It is hard to adequately describe the thrill of driving 318 turns over 11.1 miles in about 17 minutes. One drive leader who has driven Minis for over 50 years depicted it best when he said you need to be glancing one turn ahead to be prepared for what’s coming.

During the second day of the event, we joined about 20 MINIs on a sunrise drive in the Smoky Mountains. At the first rest stop we all pulled in at a scenic overlook on the Foothills Parkway, parked side-by-side and got out. Being an avid photographer I grabbed my digital SLR and immediately walked to the edge of the overlook to take photos of the panoramic view. The smoky mist was hanging over the rolling mountain landscape. After taking several photos I looked around and realized I was alone. Everyone else had stepped behind the line of MINIs to take photos of the scenery with the MINIs in the foreground. Only a new Miniac and first-time MOTD attendee would make this mistake!

We also made numerous drives across portions of the Moonshine 28, endured a wheel-gripping, white-knuckle ride on the Wayah Road to Franklin, and enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise drive on the Dragon, Foothills Parkway and the Great Smoky National Park. We saw some incredible scenery during the events, including stops at Bridal Veil and Mingus Falls, sunset on Clingmans Dome, elk feeding in the lower meadows of Smoky Mountain National Park, and scenic drives through the Smoky Mountains.

One of the shorter planned drives was a featured event, the Friday Morning Dragon Parade. It was a mindblowing experience.

One hundred and thirty MINIs lined up in single-file formation on the lower Fontana Dam road. We proceeded on the eight-mile drive to Deals Gap along the banks of the Little Tennessee River and entered the Dragon for a spirited drive. All I could see and hear were MINIs in front and in back of Surely as we snaked our way through the 318 turns.

At the northern terminus in Tennessee we barely slowed as we circled around in the small parking lot and headed back south on the Dragon. This circle-back maneuver let every driver see and wave at all of the other cars in the Parade as we completed our first run and began our second run heading south.

In addition to the drives and dinner events, MOTD provides a great setting for meeting new friends and socializing. During the four scheduled days and the days that bookend MOTD, you can spend every waking moment watching and breathing MINI culture. During the daylight hours you can browse vendor alley and buy almost any MINI product imaginable. You can have your MINI upgraded in the tent garages. Or you can walk around or sit on the restaurant deck and watch all of the different MINIs moving through the MOTD venue.

Many participants organize informal drives to visit the many local attractions. I recommend signing up for at least one drive each day. You will quickly make friends and your schedule will become as full as you want.

My four days at MOTD 2016 were fun-nomenal! I am already making plans to attend MOTD 2017. I made many new friends in the MINI community, learned about and joined the League of Extraordinary Miniacs (LXM), and got to observe and learn some great customization and performance tips. Even after leaving MOTD, I made a new MINI friend at a rest stop in southern Virginia.

And last but not least, Surely had her first true test of driving and earned her “Dragon” wings.

[Contrib. Ed. note: The Shaffers covered 3,700 miles in 11 days. Bob did all the driving and Diane went on every MOTD drive. —DS]

WATERFORD, Conn., June 5 — Faith and I left Harrisville, R.I., at about 8 a.m. and ran into heavy rain on the way down, but it stopped just outside of Waterford. It was foggy, then cloudy during the show, but did not again rain until shortly after 1:45 p.m. and then was very light. Thankfully, we were pretty much packed up by then.

Everyone we talked to encountered rain on their drive, except for John Mastrandrea, who lives in Westerly, R.I. The rain apparently did not reach southern coastal areas.

Five new MINIs and three classic Minis were present at British by the Sea. In the classic category, Dave Black and Greg Mazza were there in Dave’s car John Biagioni from BMCNE was there in his blue Mini and Tom Judson had his yellow, newly pinstriped van. We picked up one new NEMO member, James Potticary, who drives a 2006 MINI, and have the strong possibility of a couple joining us as well.

Turnout overall was down considerably, not even 100 cars instead of the usual 300 or more. There were six or seven other vendors present. About ten or so MG T-types came to the show straight from their nearby Gathering of the Faithful (GOF), tops down.

July 8-10 — Gould’s Microcar Classic, Newton, Mass., www.bubbledrome.com (Charles Gould and family).

July 10 — Microcar Classic at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., 12 to 4 p.m., larzanderson. org/events/lawn-events/2016-lawn-event-schedule/ microcar-classic.

July 9-23 — MINI Takes the States (MTTS), www. minitakesthestates.com.

July 14 — British Car Night at Wings & Wheels, Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., 5 to 8 p.m., wingsandwheelsma.com.

July 17 — Codman Estate Antique Auto and Classic Car Show, Lincoln, Mass., 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., www.historicnewengland.org/events-programs.

July 23 — British Cars of New Hampshire’s Show of Dreams, Hudson, N.H., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., www.bcnh.org.

July 23-24 — Misselwood Concours d’Elegance, Beverly, Mass., www.endicott.edu/Concours.aspx.

August 6 — Monadnock Berries MINI Cooper BBQ, Troy, N.H., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (food 12 to 1:30 p.m.), monadnockberries.com/events.

August 6 — Hemmings Sports & Exotics Car Show, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., www.hemmings.com/events/saratoga.

August 11 — British Car Night at Wings & Wheels, Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., 5 to 8 p.m., wingsandwheelsma.com.

The NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook. com/NewEnglandMiniOwners, and website, www. nemomini.org, contain additional information and links to event websites.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — What would make a Mini-crazy couple drive 400 miles to spend 12 minutes on a race track? How about 225 MINIs and 350 enthusiasts on the world famous track at Watkins Glen! So in mid-April Barbara and I set off for upstate New York to attend “Minis at the Glen.”

We left Kingston, Mass., early on a Saturday morning for Vienna, N.Y. Sunday morning at 10 a.m. we met up with the other cars and owners at Torrey Ridge Winery, about 15 miles north of the Village of Watkins Glen. Of the 225 cars, most were new MINIs, with a few classic Minis and one Moke. The Winery was great and we bought some of their stock for consumption at home.

Minis at the Glen was coordinated by Rob Louden of MINIs of Western New York and co-sponsored by Towne MINI of Buffalo and Rochester MINI.

After an hour or so of admiring the other MINIs and making lots of new friends, we motored in a convoy to the famous Watkins Glen International racing circuit, which had just undergone a total rip-down and repaving.

We lined up in the paddock area, paid our donation of $25 for three “parade” laps, and were let out onto the track. There were 75 MINIs to a group, with a Corvette pace car up front. Rules were no passing the pace car or anybody else. The speed limit was 70mph or whatever the pace car set. We were driving our MINI Club Van named “Woody Cooper” and were the only people on the track in a delivery truck. As Sabine Schmitz said to Jeremy Clarkson on a Top Gear episode, “I do zat lap time in a van!” And we did.

The track was super smooth. With the 70mph limit I didn’t need to touch the brakes until there was a “caution” halfway round. After that, we did 70 even through the esses. Of course, competition cars do 120 through the esses, but we were artificially limited in speed. The MINI handled superbly, as we were on sticky summer tires (notice my “perfect” line in the picture!).

My greatest thrill was realizing a dream of actually driving on the Watkins Glen track. Visions of all the races I had watched on TV went through my head. Cross off a bucket list item!

In July we are going back for the ten-lap deal. I learned that if we had traveled on Friday and been at the track on Saturday (the day before the Mini event), we could have done 10 laps for a $50 donation. Next year, we are going early! It was a bunch of fun, and Barbara also wants to drive it next year. I plan to bring my portable air pump and run 40psi in the tires instead of 35psi (maybe even 45psi). I’m still excited just writing this article about the event!

After the track time we dilly-dallied around the track for an hour and bought a bumper sticker with an outline of the track that said “I drove it,” plus a few shirts and such. This meant we missed the free meal and raffle sponsored by Towne MINI and Rochester MINI held at the Seneca Lodge in town. Drat! Next year we go straight to lunch. Instead we checked into our hotel room at Seneca Lodge, went downtown and shopped. We found a “historic” shop that sold posters of Watkins Glen Historic Events including some posters that featured classic Minis. We then had dinner on the waterfront. Very nice! On Monday, after a great night’s sleep dreaming of racing at the track, we were off to home.

This is an event for the classic Mini owner and MINI owner. Next year, we will promote it to NEMO members, as I know you would love it. And next year we are going on the Friday so we can lap on Saturday, meet up with the MINI groups on Sunday, and lap and celebrate some more!

WOODSTOCK, Conn. — Anyone who has ever followed a service procedure in a Mini workshop manual has encountered numerous variations on the phrase “reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.” This often appears after a complex multi-step disassembly, inspection and repair or “renewal” process. In reality, reassembly is rarely a simple case of reversing disassembly.

Workshop manuals don’t mention the hours spent degreasing, sandblasting, cleaning parts on a wire wheel and painting hundreds of parts prior to reassembly. According to Dave Black, a Mini engine and transmission contain 524 parts. This includes everything except the carburetor, manifold and alternator. Plus there are all the parts from my Mini Traveller’s front suspension, wheel hubs and shift tunnel. After we cleaned each batch of parts Dave spray-painted almost every external part, including all the nuts, bolts and washers. Only the aluminum parts were left in their natural color.

When the block and head were back from the machine shop, each received a coat of Morris engine green as did the rocker cover and timing chain cover. All the front suspension parts were painted black. The nuts, bolts and washers were painted to match the parts they hold together. My rocker cover never had the metal manufacturing plates, but of course Dave had both the Morris and patent badges in stock. These are now riveted to the rocker cover and add to the authentic look of the engine. For another special detail, Dave painted the dipstick yellow.

Dave works quickly and with each trip I made to The Barn another major component was complete. He rebuilt the front wheel hubs as soon as the new backing plates arrived. I was present when he reassembled the constant velocity (CV) joints. These are a key component to the Mini transverse engine packaging and were much smaller than I expected. Six large ball bearings fit into a cage that has splines for the driveshaft. Assembling the CV joint is like putting together a metal puzzle.

Dave installed many new parts in the block, including pistons in the next size, bearings everywhere, cam followers, timing chain and water pump. The crankshaft and camshaft were polished and reused. During disassembly we discovered the reason oil fouled the second clutch in two years. The primary gear was deeply scored, allowing oil to leak past the two-year-old rear main seal. So the engine also received a new primary gear, clutch disc and both front and rear main seals.

When the cylinder head was disassembled, Dave stored the valves in the order they were removed so he could reinstall them in their original locations. When the head was reassembled the valves were lapped in using a special tool from the UK. The valve spring compressor was larger than I expected and it was interesting to see how the valve stem, oil seal, spring, cap and clip fit together.

During my three years of ownership the transmission never shifted smoothly. It had a slight chink going from second to third and was difficult to shift into first or reverse. Sadly, I was not at The Barn to witness the transmission rebuild, a job definitely not suited for amateurs. Dave discovered the baulk rings (synchro rings) were damaged and replaced all four. I was present to help reinstall the block on top of the transmission. Even without the head, a fully assembled block is surprisingly heavy.

Around mid-January the reassembled engine was running smoothly in Dave’s test stand. I was determined to solve the common exhaust leak problem at the joint between the standard cast manifold and my original style exhaust system. A number of Mini and Morris Minor forum posts suggested inserting a small copper strip in the joint, so we gave that a try. With the poorly designed stamped steel exhaust clamp, the joint still leaked. We finally achieved success with an old cast iron clamp from Dave’s parts collection.

During a 15 minute run on the test stand The Barn started filling with smoke. Initially I thought the engine was burning oil. However, the smoke was coming from the face of the front muffler, not the tailpipe. Another mystery solved! Three years of smelling burning oil in the passenger compartment was from leaking oil landing on the front muffler. A quick cleaning with a wire brush and no more smoke.

Installing the new steering rack went smoothly and is much easier to do without the engine or subframe in the way. The rack is held in place by two U-bolts in the engine compartment and four nuts in the passenger cabin under the carpet near the bottom of the firewall. I decided to replace the steering column upper plastic bearing and lower felt bearing since there was a lot of play at the base of the column. Fitting the felt bearing was very difficult as was installing the pinch bolt that attaches the steering column to the rack pinion gear. After numerous failures at lining up the bolt with the slot in the pinion gear I asked Dave to give it a try. Of course he quickly succeeded.

When the front subframe was back from the welding shop I made a trip to The Barn to apply a coat of POR-15. This is a paint that chemically bonds to metal and forms a hard coating that won’t chip or peel. It is nasty stuff to work with, so I followed the manufacturer’s precautions and wore long neoprene gloves, eye protection and an organic vapor respirator mask. If you get the stuff on your skin it will be there for many days. The subframe had been sandblasted which provided a textured surface for good adhesion. I bought a pint can, the smallest size available. Once the can has been opened the paint only lasts for a few days. With all the nooks and crannies it took several hours to paint the subframe using a brush. POR-15 takes at least four hours to dry, so I flipped the subframe over and propped it on small wooden blocks to paint the underside.

A week later I was back at The Barn to help Dave bolt the front subframe to the car. He had already installed new rubber cones and all the suspension components. The POR-15 looked great and really was rock hard. There were a few small spots I had missed, so Dave touched them up just before we started. This turned out to be a bad idea since we got wet POR-15 all over our hands (it did take a week to wash off completely.) The wet paint would not have made such a mess, except we discovered the lower control arms were installed on the wrong sides and we had to swap them around.

On my next Barn visit I expected to help reinstall the engine, but Dave got ambitious one evening and did it himself. We still needed to attach all the ancillary bits, since the engine won’t fit with the manifold, starter or alternator present. The engine looked like new but the starter and alternator were covered with rust and paint overspray. So it was back to the sandblaster and wire wheel for a quick cleaning.

There was a minor oops when installing the ignition coil. Previously the coil was bolted to the left corner of the cylinder head on a regular length stud instead of the correct long stud. No worries. Dave put on his blacksmith apron, fired up the Bernzomatic torch and reconfigured the coil mounting bracket. The coil is now attached to the alternator bracket and looks similar to earlier engines that had the coil mounted on top of the generator.

After attaching the clutch slave cylinder and manifold, it was time to deal with the exhaust system. This required several adjustments and a new exhaust hanger to get sufficient space between the downpipe and rubber driveshaft couplings. The final steps were bolting on the gearshift housing, complete with new half moon rubber seal, and attaching the choke and throttle cables.

Now it was time for the moment of truth, starting the engine. Stay tuned for the next chapter!

On Friday, June 24th, Thompson Speedway in Thompson, Conn., is featuring a British Car Corral as part of their 3rd Annual Vintage Motorsports Festival. The Corral is for displaying vintage cars, not for sales. They are offering parade laps around the track for the first 30 Car Corral participants to sign up. The cost for joining the Car Corral is $10.

It would be a lot of fun to have a large NEMO group participate in the British Car Corral and take a parade lap together. There is no limit to the number of entries in the British Car Corral, but the parade lap is limited to the first 30 registrants.

There are also Car Corrals for BMW and Porsche. Because the Festival participants are vintage cars, the modern MINI may not qualify for either the British or BMW Corral. If you want to participate with a MINI, I suggest contacting Thompson Speedway before registering, at (860) 923-2280.

Racing starts at 9 a.m. and the parade lap is at lunchtime. The main gate, paddock and garages open at 7 a.m. Plan to arrive well before the races start so you have time to wander around the paddocks to check out the cars and chat with the owners. Bring earplugs if you plan to watch the muscle car races.

Last year I arrived at 8 a.m. and spent an hour wandering around the paddocks before the races started. This was my first time attending a vintage race and at Thompson you can get really close to the action. Very few people sit in the bleachers. Instead they stand around the perimeter of the track, on a bridge, or on a hill that provides a view of about half the track.

Later I met up with NEMO members Dave Black, Greg Mazza and Paul Gingras who arrived in time to see Dave Reid race his heavily modified Austin Mini Cooper. Sadly, Dave Reid’s Mini had a mechanical problem after only a few laps and had to be towed off the track.

Additional details on the Vintage Motorsports Festival and Car Corral are available on the Festival webpage, www.thompsonspeedway.com/events/3rd-annual-vintage-motorsports-festival.

WOODSTOCK, Conn., Dec. 12–Mar. 6 — It is difficult to believe I have only owned my ’68 Mini Traveller for three years. Based on the number of trips to Dave Black’s Mini Barn it seems like much longer.

On my very first visit in the spring of 2013, Dave gave me a scare when he mentioned rebuilding the engine and told me how much to budget. On subsequent visits when I inquired about various repairs, Dave replied, “We’ll fix it when we do the engine.” Over the course of three years the list of deferred work grew quite long.

Although the engine in my Mini ran well and usually started right up, the oil leaks and burning oil smell in the passenger compartment grew much worse during the 2015 driving season, so I knew it was time for a rebuild.

I asked Dave if I could help him and he generously agreed. Over the course of three months I made at least 16 trips to the Barn on weekends and evenings. The Barn gained a mascot a couple of years ago when Dave and Joanne adopted Shadow, a Schnauzer-Terrier mix. Shadow’s favorite game is chasing a rubber ball around the Barn and generally being in the middle of the action.

Dave reserved me a spot on the Barn schedule and I drove down to Woodstock on December 12th. With Dave working topside and me under the car, we had the engine out of the car very quickly. In slightly less than two hours the engine was fully disassembled on the workbench. This included everything except disassembly of the transmission. I suspect the job would have taken even less time without my help. The pistons were still warm and Dave said, “Its heart is still beating.”

With the engine out the next steps included removing the steering rack, suspension components, wheel hubs and front subframe. There was a cracked weld at the top of the left subframe tower where the rubber suspension cone sits and we learned the steering rack needed replacement on my first visit to the Barn. I spent a while beating on a pickle fork to get the ball joints apart. The left side came apart with a moderate effort, but the right side would not budge. Finally I asked Dave to take a crack at it. He hammered even more aggressively (I was afraid of breaking something), and didn’t have any luck either. We sat there for several minutes discussing next steps when with a loud bang the right ball joint came apart. Add a set of new front ball joints to the parts list.

The front subframe is only held on by a few bolts and came out very easily. However, removing the rubber cones and aluminum trumpets was a major production. The lower arm suspension pins have an unusual offset shape and were also a challenge to remove. Despite a lot of aggressive hammering with a pry bar, the rubber cones and trumpets came out as a single unit. The aluminum had welded itself to the rubber. Dave clamped the rubber cones in a vice and spent a long time hammering away before eventually separating the cones. The aluminum survived unscathed and was much tougher than I expected. We decided to replace the rubber cones, as they were definitely the original set.

Last spring we discovered the front brake adjusters were rusted solid and the edges were rounded over, making it virtually impossible to adjust the brakes. This was also a good time to replace the brake back plates and rebuild the wheel hubs. (Is anyone sensing a theme here?)

Dave delivered the engine block to a machine shop for a thorough cleaning and to be bored out by .020” for the next-size pistons. A previous owner had broken an engine steady bolt off in the block and subsequently broken off a bolt extractor or tap trying to repair the damage. They also buggered up the other engine steady mounting hole with a metric bolt. Happily, the machine shop was able to fix the damage by installing HeliCoil thread repair inserts. The shop also polished the crankshaft and camshaft, which we were able to reuse. Dave brought the subframe to another shop to be sandblasted and welded.

With everything apart we took inventory and ordered replacement parts from Seven Enterprises and Mini Spares. Now it was time for the really dirty work, cleaning off grease and dirt in the parts washers, sandblasting paint and rust in the blast cabinet, and wire brushing hundreds of nuts, bolts, washers and other small parts on a wire wheel. Sandblasting was actually fun and an order of magnitude faster than using a wire wheel mounted in a drill. It also does a better job and made it easy to clean all the nooks and crannies.

I was in the habit of simply replacing rusty small parts, but learned the error of my ways. Dave believes the strength and quality of original nuts, bolts and washers exceeds that of modern replacements. In addition, since the parts came off the car you know they fit. I spent about six hours cleaning parts on a bench grinder fitted with a fine wire wheel and I am sure Dave spent even longer. Dave does the job this way regardless of whether you help out. If you try this approach at home, be sure to use a fine wire wheel with .008” diameter wire strands. A coarse wheel will damage your parts.

While waiting for the block and subframe work to be completed and new parts to arrive, I decided to deal with rust in the engine compartment. This required hours of scraping with wire brushes, abrasive pads and coarse sandpaper, followed by cleaning with a mild solvent. I researched several rust reforming products and decided to use Permatex Rust Treatment. This is applied with a brush and gave much better results than a similar Rust-Oleum product. I debated repainting the entire engine compartment in black, but found a Chrysler engine blue that was close to the body color. Not a perfect match, but better than the rust, two shades of blue, red primer and black.

When painting the engine compartment I kept staring at the open end of the remote gearshift housing which was full of sand and grease. The half moon rubber seal must have been missing for years and I decided to remove the housing to give it a good cleaning. The car was up on jack stands so I had easy access to the bolts at the rear of the housing. The car was also at a perfect height for Shadow the Barn Dog to walk under. I was lying on a mechanics creeper when Shadow walked up, blocked my view of the bolt I was loosening and started licking my cheek. Fortunately, Shadow and I had become good friends.

With the housing removed, Dave surprised me by suggesting completely disassembling it. This proved easier said than done since the shift lever was stuck in place. We placed the entire unit in the “dirty” parts washer for another day.

On my next Barn visit Dave had a mystery for me. There on his workbench next to the cleaned and reassembled shift housing were the skeletal remains of a small bird. Neither of us could figure out how the bird got inside, but it shouldn’t happen again as I replaced the missing rubber seal.

Stay tuned for Part 2 in the June issue, “Reassembly is the Reverse of Disassembly.”

Last month we published the events calendar agreed to at our Annual Meeting but neglected to provide links to the proper websites. Here it is again, with those links:

May 11-15 — MINIs On The Dragon, Deals Gap, N.C. and Tenn., www.minisonthedragon.com.

June 5 — British by the Sea, CT MG Club, Waterford, Conn., www.ctmgclub.com.

June 9-12 — British Motorcar Festival, Bristol, R.I., www.britishmotorcarfestival.com.

June 17-18 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H., www.minisontop.org.

June 19 — Father’s Day Car Show & Pancake Breakfast, Holliston, Mass., 8 to 10 a.m., www.holliston historicalsociety.org (Paul Saulnier).

June 23-25 — Vintage Motorsports Festival, Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Conn., www.thompson speedway.com/events/3rd-annual-vintage-motor sports-festival.

June 24 — British Car Corral & Parade Lap at Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Conn., link above.

June 25 — MetroFest Arts, Music & Food Truck Festival, Bowditch Field, Framingham, Mass., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., www.metrowestvisitors.org/explore/MetroFest.cfm (Ken Lemoine).

June 26 — British Car Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., larz anderson.org/events/lawn-events/2016-lawn-event-schedule/british16.

June 30-July 3 — Mini Meet East, Oak Ridge, Tenn., www.MME2016.com.

June-August — Wings & Wheels at Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., Thursdays 5 to 8 p.m., wingsandwheelsma.com.

July 8-10 — Gould’s Microcar Classic, Newton, Mass., www.bubbledrome.com (Charles Gould and family).

July 10 — Microcar Classic at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass., 12 to 4 p.m., larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events/2016-lawn-event-schedule/microcar-classic.

July 9-23 — MINI Takes the States (MTTS), www.minitakesthestates.com.

July 17 — Codman Estate Antique Auto and Classic Car Show, Lincoln, Mass., 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., www.historicnewengland.org/events-programs.

July 23 — Show of Dreams, British Cars of New Hampshire, Hudson, N.H., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., www.bcnh.org.

July 23-24 — Misselwood Concours d’Elegance, Beverly, Mass., www.endicott.edu/Concours.aspx.

The NEMO Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners, and website, www.nemomini.org, contain additional information and links to the event websites.

HARRISVILLE, R.I., Mar. 6 — A record number of members turned out for the NEMO Annual Meeting, with 25 attendees, including hosts Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild. Five new members were present and several long-time members attended their first Annual Meeting. From our experience using an Evite for the Holiday Party, I anticipated a capacity crowd at the Annual Meeting. When I checked in with Faith, she replied, “the more the merrier,” and asked a few people to bring extra folding chairs. The crowd overflowed from the living room into the kitchen.

I took advantage of the nice weather to pick up my ’68 Mini Traveller at Dave Black’s Mini Barn. My car wintered at the Barn for an engine rebuild and other work. Ken Lemoine gave me a ride to the Barn and we drove to Harrisville in a three-car parade with my Mini safely tucked between Dave’s truck and Ken’s Jaguar. We paid homage to The Italian Job in Faith and Bruce’s driveway, with red and white MINIs parked in a line with my little blue Mini.

Faith handed out tickets for a free raffle as people arrived. Members contributed prizes including die-cast cars, magazines, a steering column lowering bracket, a coffee mug, service manuals on CDs, etc. The meeting followed our usual format, with a social hour from noon until 1 p.m. followed by a potluck lunch. The food was especially good this year. My personal favorites were Bob Shaffer’s lasagna and Derick Karabec’s handmade chocolate bars molded in the shape of a classic Mini.

The meeting came to order at 2 p.m. when Faith pulled the first raffle ticket. After the raffle we moved on to the actual business meeting. Dave Black, the “keeper of the money,” provided a financial report. Our bank balance is healthy, though it is down slightly from last year since NEMO picked up the entire cost of the Holiday Party.

There was a discussion of the Hrach Fund, which Ken Lemoine established last year in memory of legendary NEMO member Hrach Chekijian. Since none of the newer members had had the privilege of meeting Hrach, several people told stories about him and Bruce passed around some photos. The Hrach Fund will be used for children’s activities at NEMO events and aims to get young people involved with Minis. Dave Black added Ken Lemoine as a signer on both the NEMO and Hrach Fund bank accounts.

Yours truly led a discussion on NEMO membership and Internet presence. NEMO has between 71 and 78 members, depending on whether you count family mailing addresses or individual e-mail addresses. The Facebook page has been very active this year, with 291 Likes. The MINI USA website links to the Facebook page, which helped the club pick up several new members. The NEMO Google group has 87 members and is very active thanks largely to the efforts of Dave Newman. (Where does he find all those photos and stories?) Sending out Evites to promote the Holiday Party and Annual Meeting definitely boosted attendance at both events. We will continue to list Mini/MINI events on the NEMO website and on the Facebook page.

I handed out an event calendar consisting of car shows, vintage races and other events popular with NEMO members. Several car shows on the list are run by members. Jay Cady was unable to attend the Annual Meeting, but he is looking for members who would like to participate in track nights at Thompson Speedway or Palmer Motorsports Park. Contact Jay (jaycady@gmail.com) for the details.

MINI Takes the States (MTTS) is back this year and at least two members plan to drive “MINIs on the Dragon” in North Carolina. See the events calendar for more information.

The final discussion was about whether to provide a password-protected e-mail directory of members on the NEMO website. People were concerned about security or increased junk e-mail and wanted an opt-out feature. Ultimately the e-mail directory was voted down. Contact information for Faith Lamprey, Dave Black and me is available on the NEMO website and membership form. We can help you get in touch with other members, or you can post on the Google Group and Facebook page.

Thanks once again to Faith and Bruce for volunteering their house!

May 11-15 — MINIs On The Dragon, Deals Gap, N.C., and Tenn., www.minisonthedragon.com.

June 5 — British by the Sea, hosted by the Connecticut MG Club, Waterford, Conn.

June 9-12 — British Motorcar Festival, Bristol, R.I.

June 17-18 — MINIs on Top, Mt. Washington, N.H.

June 19 — Father’s Day Car Show & Pancake Breakfast, 8 to 10 a.m., Holliston Mass. (Paul Saulnier).

June 23-25 — Vintage Motorsports Festival, Thompson Speedway, Thompson, Conn.

June 25 — Family Friendly Car Show, Bowditch Field, Framingham, Mass. (Ken Lemoine).

June 26 — British Car Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass.

June 30-July 3 — Mini Meet East, Oak Ridge, Tenn.

June-August — Wings & Wheels at Minute Man Air Field, Stow, Mass., Thursdays, 5 to 8 p.m.

July 8-10 — Gould’s Microcar Classic, Newton, Mass. (Charles Gould and family).

July 10 — Microcar Day at Larz Anderson Auto Museum, Brookline, Mass.

July 9-23 — MINI Takes the States (MTTS), www.minitakesthestates.com.

July 17 — Codman Estate Antique Auto and Classic Car Show, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Lincoln, Mass.

July 23 — Show of Dreams, hosted by British Cars of New Hampshire, Hudson, N.H., 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

July 23-24 — Misselwood Concours d’Elegance, Beverly, Mass.

August TBD — Monadnock Berries, MINI Cooper BBQ, Troy, N.H.

August 6 — Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car Show, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

September 1-5 — Lime Rock Historic Festival, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn.

September 4 — Sunday in the Park/Gathering of the Marques, Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn.

September 11 — 10th Annual Car-B-Que, Washington Depot, Conn., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Kerry Washay).

September 16-18 — British Invasion XXVI, Stowe, Vt.

September 24 — Weston Rotary Car Show, Town Hall Road, Weston, Mass., 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

September 25 — The Boston Cup Concours d’Elegance, Boston, Mass., 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Ken Lemoine).

October 7-9 — British Legends Weekend, hosted by the Cape Cod British Car Club, North Falmouth, Mass.

Visit www.nemomini.org and www.facebook.com/NewEnglandMiniOwners for more.

Theresa Condict, the Director of Marketing at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in Thompson, Conn., has invited NEMO to participate in their 3rd Annual Vintage Motorsports Festival, June 23-25.

The event takes place on their historic 1.7-mile road course and features two days of racing for over 200 vintage cars, ranging from prewar cars through the muscle cars of the ’70s. The Vintage Motorsports Festival is Thompson’s marque event of the season.

This year Thompson is offering a British Car Corral on Friday, June 24th. They are also offering parade laps around the track for the first 30 Car Corral participants to sign up. The cost for joining the Car Corral is $10 for the day. For more information about the event or to purchase tickets or Car Corral spots, visit their website, www.thompsonspeedway.com.

The NEMO calendar is now available! Covering April 2016 to March 2017 to coincide with our Annual Meeting, this large-format calendar features some of the best pictures of the 2015 Mini season, all by member/photographer Barbara Newman. Photos include classic Minis and modern MINIs. Graphic design work was done by Christa Newman.

The calendar may be purchased on-line for only $15 plus shipping. Click on the NEMO website Regalia tab and scroll to the bottom of the page. From there you can click on a link to preview the photos and place an order. The small profit goes to NEMO for club activities and the Holiday Party.

STAFFORD, England — On Sunday, 31st January 2016, the day started off dry but the weather slowly turned to a drizzle. I began my journey at 7.30 a.m. in my daily driver — the daily driver, because my intention was to do this report and not worry about my ’64 Riley Elf. You know how it is to leave your pride and joy alone in a car park for several hours with the weather not being very pleasant! My daily driver is a VW Kombi six-seater and has loads of luggage space in case I saw some bargains for my ’79 Mini Van (which is in mothballs at the moment).

This year marked the British Mini Club’s 17th Annual Mini Fair, held in Bingley Hall on the Staffordshire County Showground. Bingley Hall is one of the largest indoor exhibit halls, with over 6,000 square meters of exhibition space on two levels. As I turned into the Showground I was directed straight through to the traders’ car park. A friend with a car entered in the show gave me his spare entry pass. This saved me £12 and let me enter the show before the public, which provided a wonderful opportunity to take many photos without spectators getting in the way!

Hundreds of buyers were queuing up outside in the rain, hours before opening time. At 9.30 when the doors opened, the Hall filled very quickly and the whole place was buzzing.

Trade stand numbers were down slightly from previous years. Mini jumble stores were on a par and very busy. The traders are specialist firms such as Mini Spares. Many people order items and pick up their goods at the show to save postage. Jumble stands are people who strip Minis down and sell off usable parts. This allows owners to rebuild their Minis using genuine bits, including parts that are no longer available. Any member of the public can pay for a pitch to sell the spare parts they have accumulated over the years. Like me, I suspect other NEMO members have got a few of these!

I did not purchase anything but was tempted to buy some articulated bonnet hinges that allow the bonnet to fold back over the windscreen and provide good access to the engine — something many NEMO members will appreciate. Prices ranged from £99 ($143) to £137 ($198) depending on the Mini model (Elf/Hornet, MkI/II/III or Clubman). Photos and information are available on the Minivation website, www.minivation.co.uk.

The number of cars in the hall was at least 80 but I’m not entirely sure. There were eight classes in the ‘Pride of Ownership’ displays, including Best of Show, Classic Mini (by decade), New MINI, Best Custom Mini, and the Club Stands.

My intention was to assist on the Heinz 57 Wolseley Hornet convertible stand. In 1966, Heinz Foods commissioned Crayford to convert 57 standard Wolseley Hornets to soft tops for a competition. The cars were produced in Birch Grey and Toga White with red leather trim. Special accessories included an insulated food cabinet, front and rear seatbelts, electric kettle and power outlet, tartan rug, picnic hamper, radio and a built-in Max Factor makeup tray. All the cars were registered ‘LLH 8--D’.

The Heinz 57 cars are part of the Riley Elf/Wolseley Hornet website and Facebook group which I administer. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the competition we had four surviving cars on the stand. The Heinz 57 register lists 41 surviving cars, of which approximately half are still on the road. The cars attracted hundreds of admirers but unfortunately no new owners came forward.

Every year the British Mini Club buys a Mini to raffle off for £1 a ticket and you can buy as many tickets as you like. The car is usually immaculate. It is fully serviced with all necessary repairs, new tyres and sometimes even new wheels. A British insurance company donates £250 towards insurance, which allows the lucky winner to drive the car home. This year’s prize was a 1995 Mini Mayfair saloon worth around £6000 ($8,660) and ticket sales soared. The raffle draw takes place at 4 p.m. after the trophies have been presented. This takes some time, as 16 prizes are awarded in eight classes. I’m afraid I did not buy a ticket as I had a previous engagement and had to leave at 3.30.

The winning ticket was drawn by Mini racing legend Paddy Hopkirk. Paddy signed the sun visor, making the car even more special. The winner was a young man named Callum who purchased 10 tickets. This is his first Mini.

Join us on Sunday, March 6th, for NEMO’s Annual Meeting and Pot Luck Luncheon. We plan the year of activities at this meeting, so be sure to attend!

Plan to arrive at 12 noon. The eating starts at 1 p.m. and the meeting follows at 2 p.m., so bring a dish for the lunch table and join in the fun. We will be holding the usual give-away freebie raffle, so if you have any Mini-related items you would like to donate, bring them along.

The Meeting and Luncheon will take place at the home of Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild, 5 Old Nasonville Rd., Harrisville, R.I. Call (401) 766-6519 or e-mail nemo@auroratechedi.com with any questions. See the Home Page of www.nemomini.org for directions, and call Faith and Bruce if you get lost.

It all started on a yucky Sunday morning. The rain had come and washed away the road salt and I was too stubborn not to drive my classic Mini (despite the pouring rain). The plan for the day was to go to church with my girlfriend and then see the new Star Wars movie. The windows started to fog up on the way to church but it wasn’t too bad.

After church it was still pouring, but we trekked on. We arrived at the movie theater and were notified the show was sold out. I should have gotten the tickets on-line — rookie mistake. Back in the car and off to another theater, hoping tickets were still available.

At this point the windows fogged so badly they were dripping with condensation. In order to continue our quest we wiped the windows with a towel every 60 seconds. The second theater had seats available for the 12:30 movie, which meant we had two hours to spare.

We made our way over to Petco to waste time and play with some adorable ferrets. This is where the real trouble began. As we drove away from Petco we noticed a very strong smell of gas. I wasn’t sure what to make of it and we had a movie to catch, so I figured I’d solve the mystery afterwards. Boy, was I wrong.

Driving up the highway on-ramp the little Mini puttered to a stop. I tried to restart the car, but it only ran for a few seconds. To make matters worse, we were sitting in the middle of a blind corner of the on-ramp. To save my girlfriend and the car, I hopped out into the pouring rain and pushed the car over to the side of the ramp.

Yup, I did actually run out of gas. The gauge is pretty accurate I just wasn’t paying enough attention and thought the tank would last me the rest of the day. I called my dad and he went out to get me a full can of gas. We waited for about 30 minutes and passed the time by playing hilarious games that you’d see on an elementary school bus.

By now we had missed our 12:30 show. Luckily the lady at the theatre was nice enough to squeeze us into a show that started in just five minutes. What perfect timing!

All in all, things may not have gone to plan, but it was a great bonding experience for my girlfriend and me. I would not have had such an oddly fun and crazy day if it weren’t for my Mini!

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 5 — The annual NEMO Holiday Party was held at The Chateau Italian Restaurant in Westborough.

Due to the closing of our previous venue, we had to find a new location for the Party. We needed a restaurant with a private function room that could accommodate at least 30 people and was convenient to a major highway. I suggested several alternatives in the Metro West area of Greater Boston, and NEMO decided on The Chateau. It turned out to be a great choice for the event.

The day of the Party was 50° and sunny. Many people took advantage of the fine weather to drive a vintage car to the Party. There were about eight classic British cars lined up in the parking lot, interspersed with a similar number of modern MINIs. Ken Lemoine arrived in a recently acquired MGB GT (you never know what kind of car will follow him home), and my wife, Betty Lehrman, drove her Mazda Miata.

Party attendance was up this year, with 35 adults but no young kids. High school student Austin Leonard was present and received a warm welcome. Alex Daly was also present, and a number of people remembered him accompanying his father to NEMO events when he was a child. There were many long-time members, some of whom were attending their first NEMO Holiday Party, plus several new members, including Bob Shaffer. Bob had just purchased a MINI and found out about NEMO through the MINI USA website. He joined the club at the Party.

Once again Lorine and Derick Karabec were the long distance travelers, driving in from New York State in their JCW MINI Countryman. They looked really sharp in their custom made, matching Mini Hawaiian shirts! Dave and Jean Icaza traveled the greatest distance in a vintage car, driving up from Connecticut in a Triumph convertible. Be sure to check the Facebook page and NEMO website for photo albums showing the guests.

The Party was held in the Chateau’s “Tuscany Room” and began with a social hour and hors d’oeuvres, followed by a buffet lunch and a very enthusiastic Yankee Swap. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (David Black) reported a dividend and the NEMO treasury treated all attendees to lunch!

There were two hot Yankee Swap gifts that changed hands so many times it was impossible to keep count. The most popular was a stained glass classic Mini hand-made by Ken Lemoine. This gift eventually went home with Lorine Karabec. Lorine was the first person to choose a gift, which by Swap rules gave her the right to be the last person to take a gift from another swapper.

Almost as popular in the Swap was a case of Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout with a matching pint glass. Chris Izzo had possession twice, courtesy of his father Robert, and a grinning Bruce Vild held it briefly. I believe the beer ultimately went home with Charles Laughton and Bruce took home a pair of framed vintage Mini ads. [They’re hanging in my office now. —Exec. Ed.]

Dave Newman swapped a “007 Edition” Aston Martin DB5 model away from Austin Leonard. There were no greasy used car parts this year, but Barbara Newman took home a stainless steel clutch hose. A large cast model of Big Ben that was really a cocktail shaker changed hands a few times, ultimately ending up with Ken Lemoine. Of course there were many toy Minis in a variety of sizes and materials.

John Gallagher deserves recognition for being the most swapped. He kept picking good gifts from the table that were taken away in the next round. John did manage to keep a 1:18 scale Austin Mini Cooper.

Special thanks go to Thom Pickett for the use of his heavy-duty pocketknife to cut through a lot of packing tape.

It was great to visit with so many NEMO members, new and old. A parking lot full of vintage cars in December was an added bonus. There was a fun selection of Yankee Swap gifts and everyone had a good time.

Join us on Sunday, March 6th, for NEMO’s Annual Meeting and Pot Luck Luncheon. We plan the year of activities at this meeting, so be sure to attend!

Plan to arrive at 12 noon. The eating starts at 1 p.m. and the meeting follows at 2 p.m., so bring a dish for the lunch table and join in the fun. We will be holding the usual give-away freebie raffle, so if you have any Mini-related items you would like to donate, bring them along.

The Meeting and Luncheon will take place at the home of Faith Lamprey and Bruce Vild, 5 Old Nasonville Rd., Harrisville, R.I. Call (401) 766-6519 or e-mail nemo@auroratechedi.com with any questions.

In 2015 we printed a large number of calendar listings for multi-marque car shows, cruise nights and some British car shows not typically attended by NEMO members. It would be great to provide feedback or full reviews of these events. If you don’t want to write an entire article, just send me a note (dschwartz1957@gmail.com) describing the show and whether you recommend including it in the 2016 event calendar.

ROCKLAND, Mass., Nov. 10 — South Shore MINI put on a great event to introduce the new 2016 MINI Cooper Clubman S. They provided free specialty beer, appetizers and brick oven pizza made by a caterer in the parking lot. Our 1960 Mini 850 was on display in the showroom and looked great under the lights. A 1970s-era Mini Cooper S provided by a Cape Cod rental company was also in the showroom.

The star of the night, of course, was the fully optioned 2016 MINI Clubman. A MINI-USA employee has been driving the pre-sales car to dealerships around to country to show customers the new design.

This version of the beloved Clubman still features barn doors at the back. It is longer and wider than the original and offers four regular doors, instead of two doors plus the right side half-door of the previous model. The engine is either the BMW-designed three-cylinder turbo or the two-liter four-cylinder turbo, the latter featured on the S version. The body structure is tighter and the NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) factor is also improved. The interior is quite upper class with much richer materials and finish, though it still says “MINI.”

As with all newer MINI models, the window switches are on the doors and the speedometer is in front of the steering wheel next to the tachometer. The 6-speed manual transmission is still available and there is a new, silky smooth 8-speed automatic that is the choice for city dwellers. As with the previous Clubman, there is a hidden trunk under the load floor, but this one is big enough to store an optional donut spare. All new Clubman models will feature run-flat tires.

While the new Clubman has lost that “cute” look of the previous model, it is still a good-looking car. It is both faster and much more comfortable than the previous version and will be a great long-distance cruiser. Barbara rode in it and said it was very smooth riding and sporty. I will post an update as soon as I can get one for a test drive.

The Sunday after its Clubman Showcase Night, South Shore MINI sponsored the MINIs of Boston Facebook Group’s rally to Provincetown. Forty-one cars participated, including our 1960 Morris 850 and newer British Open 1275 Mini. Cars arrived at the dealership about 7:30 a.m. and participants were treated to a special event T-shirt featuring the MINI Bulldog. There was a free catered breakfast followed by a raffle for three great prizes.

In addition to Barbara and me, NEMO members Bruce Vild and Faith Lamprey attended, as did potential members Joyce and Arthur. After the raffle the cars lined up and started the rally. Our two classics went south as far as Kingston, but Bruce, Faith and the others motored all the way to P-town, where they were on their own for the rest of the day. It was a very nice event and we have to thank South Shore MINI for providing the goodies and refreshments.