I have been a regular attender to the British Mini Club’s Mini shows at Stanford Hall near Rugby for many years, but always arriving in another marque, never a Mini. This year, it was my goal to go to Mini Fest with a classic Mini. The only one on the road in my fleet of vehicles is “Bluebelle”, my rare coach built Mini cabriolet by Auto Design. Taking her would allow me to raise the profile of the Auto Design Mini Cabriolet Register that I run, and hopefully more of these rare Minis may come to light and be added to the register.
Bluebelle
“Bluebelle” is a 1988 (registered 1989) Mini Mayfair Automatic, converted by the coach builders Auto Design in Kent from a saloon into a very attractive cabriolet, sadly they’re no longer in existence since Dave Champion retired.
The biggest problem with “Bluebelle” is that she is slow. Having only a completely standard 998cc engine coupled to a four speed automatic gearbox and a low final drive makes motorway driving not only tedious, but, there is a real concern for the constant high RPM that the engine would need to achieve in order to keep up with modern motorway traffic.
Planning Ahead
As I have my own car transporter trailer, the plan was to take “Bluebelle” to the show on the trailer. But, in true Mini style, there was a problem, not with the car, but with the trailer. About a month before the show, the trailer brakes would snatch and lock on. At first it was intermittent, then manifested itself to be every time you applied the brakes. In stripping the brakes down, it was a broken adjuster. However, parts were not available in time for “Bluebelle” to be a trailer queen for the day. My friends from North Shropshire Trailers kindly stepped in and I could hire their transporter trailer for the weekend. “Bluebelle” will go to the ball.
So with the hire trailer booked, tickets were purchased for not only the entry, but also the show and shine. I even booked some sunshine for the day, alas, this must have been out of stock for the morning of the show.