Victorian Mini Club's 50th Anniversary Mini Show 2009

To say the event was a success was a huge understatement! The club was overjoyed with the numbers of cars and spectators this year's anniversary show attracted. With the majority of display vehicles undercover, there was no chance of the thousands of visitors getting caught in the fickle Melbourne weather, either! Minis old and new were on show, including some very rare, collectable and just plain weird models, with just about every year of Mini production represented in a special 'Mini Time Line'. There was also trade stalls from Mini parts specialists, classic & new MINI merchandise and collectables, a special RC car track, and the chance to win some M&Ms! Trophies across all categories were well received, with the outright winner of the Concours d' Elegance also scoring $1,000 courtesy of Craig Watson's The Mini Experience magazine.

Every trophy winner also scored themselves a set of JUST CARS glasses. Cheers to the winners! The success of this year's Mini 50 Show can be directly attributed to the time and effort made by the 'engine room' of the Vic Mini Club show committee - Paul Buck, Ian Grinter and Frank Bradley. Nice work, guys! The team's next big celebration is planned for 2011 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Mini's debut in the Australian market. The next Mini event on the calendar for Aussie JUST CARS readers is National Drive Your Mini Day, this coming August 26. The date marks 50 years to the day since the launch of the original Mini in 1959. See www.ausmini.com for more info. The Asparagus Job is an event for the hard core Mini owner! Starting at midnight on September10 in Melbourne, the run will take participants via Finley and Narrabri to the Queensland Mini Owners Club's Mini Muster in Brisbane on September 13.

The return leg will take in Coffs Harbour and Newcastle. Should be a breeze for night shift workers! Email: [email protected] for more details. Mini Fest Tasmania is taking place in the Hobart Regatta ground on November 1st and would be a neat fit to a late Spring Tassie holiday. www.minitas.org.au has further details. New Zealand readers should be heading to Mini 50 New Zealand in Nelson on August 24th - 30th. See separate sidebar for more on this event.