[ Our Minis ]
50 June 2019 MiniWorld
MiniWorld sta and
writers reporting on
their month in, under
and around Minis...
Logbook
The Farewell Tour begins!
It has been a painful wait to get newly-MOT’d Nicole
out of the family garage in the West country and
back onto the road. Though perhaps I could have
picked a be er day to do so...
Getting that 18 month
old oil out of the sump.Y
ou could be forgiven for
thinking that the return of
Nicole to our roads this year
was just a wind-up as the day I
chose to announce her (glorious!) return
to the land of the living was Monday 1
April. I would have done it sooner but
the DVLA don’t yet o er part months
when it comes to tax and, when you’re
squirreling away for the mother of all car
restorations, every last penny counts.
So, come the last weekend of March,
I journeyed back to the family home in
Devon, where Nicole has been holed
up ever since the Legendary North
Devon Grand Tour 2017 when her front
suspension decided it had had enough.
It’s killed me having her locked up
in the garage at home, where she has
been gathering dust and more of the
reddy-brown stu at an alarming
rate. But 2019 is one year that I just
could not a ord to miss, with so many
amazing Mini events planned to
celebrate the 60th anniversary of Mini.
Patched up, and with a ‘clean’ MOT
until just a couple of days after the Wirral
to Llandudno run in January 2020
(which will be her fi nal outing before
the restoration begins) I am now near
enough set for a packed summer and
autumn calendar of amazing events.
Though, I must admit, I will miss
the power steering, electric windows
and e ective windscreen wipers of
The B*****d Clio as we have sort of
oddly bonded in the last 18 months
of Nicole’s absence. Even if there
have been more RAC call-outs than
when I had Nicole on the road!
Having now swapped the cars over,
Nicole has been able to stretch her
legs as I run her back in and deal with
any snags before the fi rst major event
of her season: The Potteries To Peaks
Run, which was at the end of April.
First on the agenda, though, was a
full service to get all of that stagnant
oil out of her. Over the years I have
been incredibly fortunate to come
across some hugely knowledgeable
mechanics who have gone above and
beyond to keep me on my way. Paul at
SCS, in Martock, is one of those chaps.
I discovered him quite by accident
about a month after moving down to
Somerset from Scotland. After hitting
a particularly nasty bump in the road,
my driver’s side window glass was
knocked from its cradle and shattered
all over my lap and the road outside.
While trying to fi nd anyone in Yeovil
who might have a spare window glass,
Nicole
Model: 1996 Mini Cooper SPi
History: Bought unseen on eBay, has served as my
daily drive for many years and travelled from one
end of the country to the other more than once. Now
she is desperately in need of a full restoration.
Stephen
Davy-
Osborne