Post by Red Riley on May 1, 2009 2:34:28 GMT
What a great event! Alex finally got to have a ride in Kreacher, and I got to meet Suzy. With Alex's help, it was discovered that my Elf has a name; Kreacher.
Even though the Mini community here in the states is a bit smaller than in the UK, we still manage to make a go of it. Several of my mates and I from Charleston, South Carolina all went up to Townsend, Tennessee for the Mini 50 Mini Meet 22-26 of April. I met Eric north of Columbia, South Carolina on Wednesday morning and we drove up Hwy 276 through the heavily tourist infested towns of Greenville, Cherokee, and Gatlinburg to finally (9 hours later) get to the little town of Townsend, just east of Maryville, Tennessee. I drove my 68 Riley Elf VTEC, Eric had his black 79 Mini Cooper, and Richie and Melvin came up on Thursday in Melvin's one owner 69 Austin Cooper S to join us and about 100 other Minis. I had a great time with my freshly rebuilt Elf on the Dragon's Tail Thursday and most of Friday, until the Honda clutch went south after lunch on Friday. Ouch!
One of the springs somehow came loose and was having a good old time rattling around on its own. Talk about a horrible sound! Much worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. Parked the Elf and rode around with Melvin and Richie the rest of the weekend. Thanks to Richie for giving up his copilot seat and making a nest in the back seat of Melvin's Mini! Sunday morning we loaded up the Elf on Mike Priest's dolly. Another sincere thank you to Mike, who is a super nice Mini guy from Orlando, Florida. He and his gang went out of their way to drop Kreacher the Elf off at the MiniTec shop in Royston Georgia. He's getting a new clutch and will be back on the road good as new. The high point of the weekend (for me at least) was getting the First Place trophy for best Non-A Series Mini, against some other extremely nice cars, and having the Elf photographed for an upcoming feature in Mini World magazine.
Great weather, great roads, great cars and great folks! All in all a great weekend!
More pictures here: www.flickr.com/photos/briansmart/sets/72157617340573975/
Even though the Mini community here in the states is a bit smaller than in the UK, we still manage to make a go of it. Several of my mates and I from Charleston, South Carolina all went up to Townsend, Tennessee for the Mini 50 Mini Meet 22-26 of April. I met Eric north of Columbia, South Carolina on Wednesday morning and we drove up Hwy 276 through the heavily tourist infested towns of Greenville, Cherokee, and Gatlinburg to finally (9 hours later) get to the little town of Townsend, just east of Maryville, Tennessee. I drove my 68 Riley Elf VTEC, Eric had his black 79 Mini Cooper, and Richie and Melvin came up on Thursday in Melvin's one owner 69 Austin Cooper S to join us and about 100 other Minis. I had a great time with my freshly rebuilt Elf on the Dragon's Tail Thursday and most of Friday, until the Honda clutch went south after lunch on Friday. Ouch!
One of the springs somehow came loose and was having a good old time rattling around on its own. Talk about a horrible sound! Much worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. Parked the Elf and rode around with Melvin and Richie the rest of the weekend. Thanks to Richie for giving up his copilot seat and making a nest in the back seat of Melvin's Mini! Sunday morning we loaded up the Elf on Mike Priest's dolly. Another sincere thank you to Mike, who is a super nice Mini guy from Orlando, Florida. He and his gang went out of their way to drop Kreacher the Elf off at the MiniTec shop in Royston Georgia. He's getting a new clutch and will be back on the road good as new. The high point of the weekend (for me at least) was getting the First Place trophy for best Non-A Series Mini, against some other extremely nice cars, and having the Elf photographed for an upcoming feature in Mini World magazine.
Great weather, great roads, great cars and great folks! All in all a great weekend!
More pictures here: www.flickr.com/photos/briansmart/sets/72157617340573975/
:PP) 
