Gaydon Mini and Metro Show June 3rd 2018
Written on 08 June 2018 by Jerry Pennell
YREG Mini Adventure
The weekend looked like it was going to be very nice and sunny weather, after a full day at Silverstone the day before, an early start for most of us attending Gaydon was the order of the day. I was traveling up from West Wiltshire with 194 being driven by another friend David I was attending with a classic mini We got to Gaydon by 09:00 after a very nice drive up through the Cotswolds along the Foss Way from Cirencester.
We had been allocated a space right the entrance to the display park on a hard standing. The spaces quickly filled with an array of Cooper and MINI One models. Polishing was the order of the day and afterwards all the cars looked fabulous especially in the bright sunshine, my trip was about 77 miles but a few of the others had trips from South Coast Kent, Grimsby and the North West, come 10:00 we had 10 cars on stand.
- Blue MINI One Y522 EAN Chassis number 194 Owner; Jerry
- Red MINI Cooper Y539 OBL Chassis number 105 Owner; Paul
- Red MINI Cooper Y363 OBL Chassis number 105 Owner; Dave
- Red MINI Cooper Y501 OBL Chassis number 128 Owner; Jason
- Red MINI Cooper Y785 OBL Chassis number 097, Owner; Rob
- Blue MINI One Y931 OBL Chassis number 081 Owner; Richard
- Silver MINI One Y52 BLB Chassis number 470 Owner; Paul
- Blue MINI One Y352 OBL Chassis number 070 Owner; Bill and Susan
- Blue MINI One Y192 OBL Chassis number 077 Owner; Martin
- Blue MINI One Y102 CGC Chassis number 097 Owner; Steven
The weather made the day it being hot and sunny we had quite a bit of interest in the cars and saw some 51 Plate cars made in 2001, the owners being encouraged to join the register, Events were taking place in the arena and at 14:00 all the cars lined up 3 by 3 for the compare to show them to the visitors and chat with Tanya and Richard about the register and the statistics of the cars respectively,
It was also arranged for 070 and 077 to stay and be lined up with the two oldest classic minis at the show these being on the 59 Register stand, both being export models chassis numbers 185 and 215 both Austin Se7ens, it was interesting to compare and contrast all the models separated by 42 years of development.
Plenty of photos were taken of the cars and the old and new mini’s in the arena and on the stand
Looking at the cars back on the stand, several differences became evident, 2 cars had glove box lids, and Paul’s Cooper had Cooper S Seats and Wheels, it was also fitted with the full length glass sunroof as some of the Silver Coopers did from the factory, Jerry’s MINI One was the only example fitted with a trip computer, unfortunately non-functional. Later work hopefully to get it working.
All the cars were inspected for the mysterious stamping on the chassis leg (figures inside circles and etched), some 04, 06, 10 and on, this will have to be researched whether it corresponds to manufacture month or whatever, no doubt time will tell, further research is needed.
During the day Paul alerted us to an “OBL” up for sale on the Facebook market page for the princely sum of £400, a real steal, mind you it did describe power steering fault, No MOT, ripped seat and fair condition, we did try to buy it for David my driver as having seen and riven mine he would like to have one to replace a classic car he recently sold, but the vendor could not be contacted and apparently it sold unsurprisingly after only 39 mins, it was Y153OBL, chassis Number 109, a Silver Cooper. Later in the day, it was found out who had bought the car and he was offering it for sale again. Thinking he had too many cars already and wondering why he had bought it in the first place !!!!!
The time during the day went all too quickly but plenty was seen on the other exhibits, apart from the main museum and Jaguar annex buildings. Where the first ever classic mini is on show and an early silver MINI Cooper on show in the Jaguar annex.
Martin Got 3rd place on the show and shine for the 1st Gen MINI section with his immaculate Blue MINI One Y192OBL and he was very pleased with that, the competition was quite stiff.
Come 15:00, owners with the furthest to drive started to leave us, I stayed behind till about 16:00 to help pack up the stands, David and I left after having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and as Paul succinctly put it in a later Facebook post “Great Day, Great cars and Great People to chat with”.
After a nice uneventful drive back through the Cotswolds we arrived back at home at about 16:00, and all the others did the same it would appear, with nothing untoward reported in their Facebook posts of the day’s events.
Bring on the next events, which will be the MCR event at Beaulieu later in June, and Stanford Hall in September
Jerry Pennell