Vintage Minor Register

If anyone is going to a New Year's Day meet tomorrow, please post a brief report, with pics if possible, on this thread.

Thanks!

White Buck at Burley in New Forest packed with all types and a lot of exotica from 1903 up to the 1980s. I am struggling to upload pictures on this forum direct from computer. Minor was only one, there was an M and J2 plus 10/6 special tourer. Nice to get out and about with the breeze in your face and to test the brakes which seem fine now after rear axle rebuild and fettling.

Barrington heaving despite being wet. I would guess in excess of 150 attending with all the usual plus some unusual.

The trip that i did was only a local affair, there were about 130 cars, all given a route card, and off we went, there was another minor there, but not one i knew, '32 2 seater....OD263. my favourite car of the day was a seemingly 'barn find' model T..... lovely..!!

The drive was chilly, but the car performed well, apart from lacking low down power in top, however, i suspect that is due to the camshaft fitted.... as when revving it wants to rev forever.....!! apart from that, all fine.......






Apparently this lovely old crate has barbed wire for plug leads..!! and yes, he did the run aswell....!!!

Great pictures and reports guys! A good start to the New Year.

Ronald, OD 263 is the ex-Brian Govier, ex-George Bryne 2-seater - remember the photo of it in a Somerset meadow with Mike Vaisey's Tiger Moth? It was bought by Ray & Viv Davies of Sturminster Newton who joined the Register as member number 377. I have shot them an e-mail.

Ian, what a shame that vmr members in general don't look at the forum or post where they're going so that other members can meet them? could we email all computerised members inviting them to the forum for that reason?

Hi Toby,

It is worth a try, but you know what these Minor owners are like.

Every spring and autumn, I 'cheerlead' all the locals to the pub meets to the point of pestering them - if I didn't, the turnout would be even poorer than it is. Seriously, it does seem that Minor owners, above most other marques I can think of (e.g. Sevens, MG's) are notorious for not using their cars. This is a sweeping generalization of course, but true in general. The OHC fraternity are a bit better, as they have the VSCC to entertain them - the best the SV world have had is an annual MR 'beauty pageant' and the local fete. Look through the last ten years of VMR Mags - the Out and About articles, and you'll see what I mean. The situation is little better with the Summer Rallies. There are some mitigating circumstances - like 1/4 of the Minors are in Australia! Many in the UK are far from the rallies, about two thirds are in pieces, of the running ones, only a fraction are actually taxed and MoT'd etc., some people are simply not rallyists, and you can probably think of a few more reasons. Do the maths and you see why it is hard to get above the usual baker's dozen at a summer rally. But I still think we could do a lot better.

As for the forum, we must also remember that only a tiny fraction of members are interested in following events on the internet - let alone a forum. Of the forum visitors (and there are a lot), only a tiny fraction again actually post to it - others using it as a one-way news source. I'm perfectly happy with that - I'd rather see people in the garage or out on the open road than glued to a computer screen 24 7. And I am very happy that the forum hasn't degenerated into a social network - let's keep it to the point and low-noise.

One of the most active and dedicated registers is the Vauxhall 30/98 Register - they have no forum, no website, no magazine, no newsletter - just a chassis register document that they update and reprint once in a while. They don't have time for all that - they are too busy enjoying their wonderful cars.

Then, on top of all those factors take into account the number of members with useable cars where there Minor isn;t their first hobby, and there's another reason why cars don;t get used so much, i think its fair to say that a few members have other cars of greater desire in their minds too, and they may well use those vehicles more, as in my case, dare i say that my land rover gets most of my attention, its simply easier to use, and then there's the fact that the club i'm in is local, and we have regular events....

On a side note, i found an album of the pics from the run i did......
http://www.chicphotographic.co.uk/view- ... bums/33037

enjoy.

Not sure I like the look of that link Ronald - '/view ... bums/'

Nice to see a very broad selection - from Edwardians to modern classics all on the same run.

This '33 saloon was spotted at the VSCC's South Cheshire/North Shropshire (Bhurtpore Inn) meet yesterday. It was (and still may be) owned by Rick Jones in Kidderminster. Looks smart. Funnily enough - not the Rick Jones that took the photo!