THE MINI MAG. Volume 2 No.9
  September 2000

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All British Day 2000.
27th August, 2000.

Every Car Club aspires to certain goals and ideals in its life, and to be awarded the prestigious All British Classics Car Club trophy for Best Club Display, is an achievement many strive for, but Sunday August 27, 2000, saw the youngest and fastest growing Car Club in Australia, the Mini Owners Club of Queensland achieve this remarkable milestone within its short life.

The skies were blue and the weather perfect as just rewards for the hardworking organisers of the All British Classics Car Club headed up by Pat Hand and his team of workers. It was a very well run event as usual, and everyone certainly enjoyed the entertainment and helicopter demonstration, with all proceeds going to the worthy cause of the Mater Children’s Hospital.

I understand over 500 classic cars attended, and it is a great tribute to our Club and its members, in that we constituted over 10 percent of the vehicles on display. We all started arriving from 7.15 am onwards and Tony Formosa and his team are to be commended for the quality of display ( and of course the pre-planning and purchases that went into the event ). Tony organised the strategic placement of all things Mini, the advertising boards, merchandise and office facilities, banners and flags, gazebos etc, even down to placards and posters for individual Minis to display on their glass.

With the banners up and the flags and pennants flapping in the breeze on the hill with 55 Minis of all colours arranged in a square box formation facing out, it reminded me of Custer’s Last Stand ready to do battle against the hordes. Only this time, we were the winners!

Of course, the day couldn’t have been better as it was a marvelous opportunity to showcase our Club, and we were infiltrated with scores of people buying our merchandise and being given our Club handouts and Membership Application Forms, as well as inspecting some of the best Minis in Australia at close hand. At all times, our members were gracious and attentive to the inquiries of the general public about the Mini and the Club, with the exception of the two kids who tried to rip my rear number plate off – ( Thanks, Ian ).

Each of our get togethers not only sees the dedicated Club Supporters in attendance, but I am noticing more and more newer faces appearing, with their cars, particularly Cooper and Cooper S’s, so it says a lot for the Club and its general direction.

Apart from our pristine standard supporters like Andrew and Graham William’s Deluxe, Charlie Niven’s Van, John Heselwood’s Mk 1 S, Dave Perkins Mk 2.5 S, Cliff Bourke’s Cooper and Phil Whittington’s ‘K’ ( Thanks for coming from Toowoomba, Phil ), just to name a few. I was also impressed by Andrew Wright’s newly acquired Cooper, Ian and Glenyis Leis’s surfboard themed black Cooper, the Great Green Moke, the Verdant Van, two striking red Mk 2’s on the western side, and the tremendous red Clubman GT from the Gold Coast.

Our own judging was meant to be light hearted and was ably carried out by El Presidente, Dave Perkins and Andrew Wright with the trophy ceremony taking place in front of our banner for maximum effect.

The merchandise stand took $556 for the day, made up of shirt and cap sales ( if we had 100 more caps we would have sold the lot as it was quite a hot sunny day ), membership, memorabilia and drinks, so it has also been a great financial boost for us as well.

Our suspicions that we had the best Club Display were confirmed at 2.00 pm when John Heselwood strutted, ( I use that term accurately in this case ) to the podium to receive a well deserved Trophy and the All British Classic Car Club plaque which will remain with the Club for one year.

All winners can’t be grinners, and the only casualty of the day was poor Cassie McQuilken who had a front end bingle with a Commodore after leaving the grounds. Her sturdy ‘K’ had some bumper and front tray damage and needs a new light, but you should have seen the side of the Commodore! Cheer up Cassie, everything will come out right.

Everyone had a great day and certainly topped off by our great win. Many thanks to all the organisers and participants and hope we’ll see you all again soon.

The only question I have is, where did Ian and Glenyis Leis get those board shorts and skimpy bikini from, hanging off the Cooper? Couldn’t have been from 30 years ago? Or could it?

Bob Ward