Hello, happy New Year, and thanks for stopping by my new website blog. My name is Mark Smith, and my New Years resolution is to get back into writing, on a subject that I am passionate about. Motoring.
I say get back into writing because this is not the first time I have been a writer, and I have had work published before. I used to be the editor of a glossy A4 helicopter magazine in the late noughties, and supporting this, I used to have a helicopter pilots license.
I am also a navigator in a historic road rally car with a good friend of mine and we rally a 1967 Morris Mini Minor which he owns. This came about because when he found out I had a helicopter pilots license, he asked if I can navigate. You need to be able to in order to get your pilots license. Navigating for a rally car is much easier, as it is only two dimensional, hopefully..! I joined the team only if the team had a silly name so that people would not take us too seriously. The team is called Team Spider Pig. I am glad we rally a historic Mini, because I am a big Mini fan.
My first car was a Mini 1000, sadly, I do not have a photograph, but I do have many fond memories, and this was when the “Mini bug” bit me and I was hooked. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, I visited many Mini shows, and this was when I first came across a blue Mini cabriolet by Auto Design (Kent). It was called the St.Tropez. It was so pretty, and I wanted one, and I am very fortunate to now own one that I call “Lippy”. I also run the Auto Design Mini Cabriolet Owners register for these rare cabriolets, with less than 30 left in existence, and even less on the road..!
I suppose that it is time that I introduce the small fleet of cars and trailers that I own, here they are…
And over the next year or so, I plan to add to the fleet and write about them. “Lippy” the Auto Design Mini cabriolet is currently off the road being restored and in the welding stage.
With my interest in Minis, motoring in general, and also my historic rallying activities, I will have plenty to write about. I plan to try to have a varied theme each month, but, I will be touching on my own Minis from time to time.
Hopefully you will enjoy my writing, and if you like my writing style, drop me a line if you have something interesting that you would like me to write about. I look forward to hearing from you.
Mark Smith
“The Rambling Motorist“