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By Russ, July 28, 2010 7:51 PM

Russell’s Round up

I was hoping to meet a lot of you at the MMOC National at Harewood House back in June but I needed to be in Cardiff on the Sunday so it was a huge trip in the van to Leeds for just the Saturday, by the time I got there it would have been time to come home! That said we have a superb report from the event kindly completed for us by Cam Shaw MMOC’s website Webmaster. It seems a good time was had by all with some superb vehicles in attendance, I simply wish we could have been there.

My editorial shot for this month comes from Plymouth where we have been touring around the Devon/Cornwall border where we met up with some fascinating Minors and of course their enthusiastic owners. The petrol pump shown is owned by one of the owners that we dropped in on, John Woodrow from Weston Mill. I fell in love with the dispenser and wanted to bring it home with me but Mandy would not let me! My sincere thanks go to Brian Herbert of the Minor Club in Cornwall for all his planning involved with our 2-day visit at short notice. Oh by the way the Van shirts are being made for the Minor LCV Register and can be obtained from Steve at Autotees on 01926 811184 or visit www.autotees.co.uk

We have also visited the Severn Valley Railway recently for a splendid 1960s weekend that included themed transport. There were classic cars and motorcycles located at the various stations a great weekend, more on that in our next issue with a full account of her activities from Mandy.

I have two pieces of exciting news to share with you all this month.  The first being that our son James, who incidentally designed and updates Minor Monthly web site www.minormonthly.co.uk, went down on one knee on a Ferris wheel at Le Mans and proposed to his girlfriend Alicja Francis and she said YES!  He even had the ring with him (Mandy say’s so romantic, unlike his dad) so our congratulations go to the happy couple that are looking to tie the knot in 2012. I wonder if he’ll want to use my van or pick up for wedding cars? Secondly, you can now follow Minor Monthly on Facebook www.facebook.com Mandy will be updating it regularly and keeping you informed of shows we’ll be attending, we may be in your area next and would enjoy meeting up with you.

See you next time

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By Russ, June 26, 2010 2:35 PM

Russell’s Round up

Well here we are with issue 181, nothing special with that number, but this is the 15th anniversary issue of Minor Monthly. Little did I know when I purchased issue 1, back in 1995 that I would be the editor of the magazine in 15 years time. Perhaps had I had the help of the ‘blue box’ I would have! In some ways I do feel a little like a time lord, as I am the 5 editor that has evolved in to being, hence my chosen image for this month in true Dr Who fashion me entering the TARDIS after all it is filmed in Wales! I still have that very first copy complete with the other 180, like a lot of you I am sure.

So to kick us off some facts about Minor Monthly you may not know, the first editor was Steve Parker (issues 1-4), Steve was editor for the first 4 issues see his story inside. Then we had Joe Swords (who was really Chris Davies) (issues 5-55) a total of 51 issues for Chris. The next editor was the longest serving editor of Minor Monthly of course it was Brian Elliot (56-135), Sadly Brian passed away suddenly with his last edition being put together by the Poundbury team as issue 136 that carried his obituary, so a total of 81 issues. The next time lord to evolve was Jon Betts who was in the hot seat for issues 137-157, a total of 21. And finally the current sitting tenant is yours truly (and Mandy of course) we have been here since August 2008 issue, that was number 158, a total of 24

Minor Monthly has had 3 publishers with Parmil Bolton first publishing the magazine followed by Poundbury Publisher and today it’s published by Kirsty Beach of Custom Creations since issue 172 October 2009. Kirsty has been part of Minor Monthly since 1999. When we started a copy of the magazine was £2.20 and now all these years later we are only £2.75, still superb value. 2009 saw Minor Monthly produce its first ever calendar (for 2010) that sold out and I am sure the same will happen this year. Minor Monthly became all colour from issue from number110. Now a few spooky facts issue 123 does not appear in the numbering sequence, both the August & September issues in 2005 were number 122, September should have been 123. In all 181 issues on only 2 occasions have ‘people’ appeared on the cover, these being numbers 114 & 162 and both vehicles were Panda cars!

Oh nearly forgot to say I did get a mention in issue 1, my name is mentioned in connection with the Minor LCV Register, my first feature for the magazine was in issue 51 during 1999, my van has appeared on the cover of issues 96 & 133, both of which I have enlarged on my study wall.

I am sure you will have noticed our cover shot of a traveller, but how many noticed it  was the very car that appeared on the cover of the first issue, we catch up with the owner and update you on where its been, I have also spoken with Alan Wolstencroft the owner of the ‘Tarmac Traveller’ back in 1995. Regular contributors from the issue one Jim Westwell & Tony Aston and put together the ‘Alternative Classic’ feature for us on the Range Rover.

So don’t forget to send your details and a few snaps if you have been with us since issue 1 we will have a special letters page soon!

Happy 15th Anniversary Minor Monthly and I hope many more to come!

See you next time

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By Russ, May 26, 2010 8:15 PM

Russell’s Round up

Summer is all but upon us as I type these few words, so please remember to send us those holiday snaps of Minors that you see on your forthcoming travels to sunny & warm overseas shores, its nice to have the ’snow scenes’ still coming in as well. I propose to have ’snow day’ page in the August issue and a ‘Sunshine day’ page in February 2011 magazine, but we need your images to make this happen.

Its become a regular occurrence for my photo to change each month so why would this month be any different, it sees me ‘people watching in Monte Carlo’ whilst drinking my ‘other’ favourite beverage, an espresso, the glass of red was drunk before the coffee!

I am starting to think about the selection of images for our 2011 calendar, those that missed last year’s calendar will want to ensure they do not miss this one! So if you have a particular image you would like me to consider for possible inclusion e-mail the photo to Russ@MinorMonthly.co.uk I will look at them all but can only use a few so they will need to be something special!

Many thanks are again sent to Gareth Dupre for kindly giving 5 pairs of complementary tickets to us for the 31st Bristol Classic Car show. This enabled 5 lucky readers to gain free admission to the event. The answer to our quiz question that appeared in the February and March issues was New Zealand. They were the last country to produce the Morris Minor as CKDs, in fact it was as late as 1974 when they were still producing the Minor van! That is way after UK production ceased or so they say I still think they were honouring a PO order well into 1972!

We have many interesting features packed into this issue Alan Hoverd from New Zealand is delving into the World of kit cars based on Morris Minors, now up to part 5 as he examines a very sleek looking model, produced by GDXM this one sits on a Minor LCV chassis… …its amazing, now all we to do is find one! Mandy visits the Austin Morris day at Brooklands that includes her ‘Concorde experience’, although it was back in March the weather was glorious and she tells us about her favourites she saw on the day.  We are always looking for interesting Minors especially those that have appeared on TV or films, if you have one Mandy would love to hear from you as they usually have interesting stories to tell. I hope to see some of you at the MMOC National show in Leeds we will be there, so come over for a chat if you see us.

So, until the next edition keep on Minoring and Remember the next one is our 15th anniversary issue make sure you order yours in advance!

Russ
Editor@MinorMonthly.co.uk

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By Russ, April 25, 2010 9:37 PM

Russell’s Round up

Well what a great day the Austin Morris day at Brooklands was again this year, it was nice to see and meet up with many readers at this event, and who ordered that sunshine?  It was an awesome day but cold, with over 1500 visitors and more than 200 exhibitors.  A new image again of me from our recent trip to Monte Carlo in the background is the harbour view from our hotel balcony, those boats are really something, but in 3 days of looking at them, not one of them moved!

This month’s magazine is a truly international edition, we have a splendid account from Paul Drury who tells us all about camping in a Morris Minor, not with a tent but actually in the car, a 2-door saloon! No, I am not joking, he has also experienced some extremely cold nights in that car too or rather in the ‘Hotel Morrisse’ as he prefers to call it. A great read and will be followed up later in the year when Paul will returns to tell us about his Minor journey to Poland. Regular contributor René Flameng has compiled a feature on his Minor collection and motoring history from Mexico. There is a write up on an early series MM in Australia, thought to be one of the first imported and last but not least, in our international flavour Mike Foster continues the journey across the Sahara.

Thoughts and planning are already advanced for the July issue of ‘Minor Monthly’, as it will our 15^th Anniversary ‘Special Edition’ due on the shelves 25^th June, so make sure you order your copy now or subscribe as it will be a collectors item I am sure of that.  If you have subscribed from issue one, we want to hear from you, as we would like to print as many of your names as possible in a future issue. Please email your details (or send me a post card) ASAP and if you want to add a photo of you and your car you may get to see not only your name in print but your photo too.

As the weather improves and gets warmer, its time to remove the cover or dust down that Minor that has been in hibernation, get it started and drive it. Remember to send your snaps and information to the ‘Morry paparazzi’ at Minor Monthly, by preference we would like all information sent via email as it speeds the process up, but don’t worry if you can’t stick a stamp on and send it by post.

Until next time, keep on driving and enjoy your Minor!

Russ

Editor@MinorMonthly.co.uk

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By Russ, March 23, 2010 8:18 PM

Russell’s Round up

As I write this editorial it is the middle of February and we have just returned from Monte Carlo where I took Mandy to celebrate her 50^th birthday. By the way if anyone is planning on going make sure you arrive from Nice by helicopter, it comes highly recommended, (and Russ gained lots of Brownie points from me…Mandy). So being born in 1960 she shares her birth year with the Minor Millions although registered in 1961 they are all 1960 examples being assembled just before Christmas in that year so they are 50 this year too. We have a few pages on another Million that we bumped into during our travels a nice example from Cornwall. Staying with the Millions, thee Minor Million 1 MHU was again under the hammer at the auction that took place at the Great Western Auto jumble at the Shepton Mallet showground, it estimate was somewhat reduced to £18-22K and as expected, guess what… …it remained unsold

My latest snap shot seen on this page was taken in Monaco and for those Formula 1 Grand Prix fans amongst us I am sure you have will have noticed to the left of the image is the start/finish straight and the pit lane as well as the swimming pool complex just before you arrive at ‘La Rascasse’.  The only Minor we found in Monte Carlo was in a shop near the harbour, a 1:18 scale of a green MM Traveller priced at £195 euros, which I thought a little expensive!

I am always on the look out for old adverts and archive images from the 1960s and 1970s on BMC, BL and of course featuring the humble Morris Minor. If you have any of these, we at Minor Monthly would love to feature them on our pages, so please contact us with details, thanks in advance for them. … … Oh, I nearly forgot, send us your snow covered Minor scenes too I am sure there are plenty out there. As we approach the rally season can I request any show reports that you are considering sending need to be with us as soon as possible after the event and we will endeavour to get them on the ‘news and information’ pages.

I have had a few enquires of late regarding overseas subs and not be able to find the buttons on-line, this is an easy one to rectify when you arrive at the subscribe page it shows all the UK rates just underneath these is a button ‘Show International Pricing’ click on that and all is revealed!

So, until next time…keep on Morrying!

Russ

Editor@MinorMonthly.co.uk

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By Russ, February 25, 2010 6:46 PM

Russell’s Round up

Welcome to our Modified Minor edition, well that’s what it seem’s like anyway, we have 3 fantastic Modified Minors for your viewing and pleasure this month. To start us off we travel to Australia to meet Carolyn and Murray Webb who tell us all about their modified beauty known as Clementine. Mike Dean was then keen to tell us all about his modified traveller affectionately referred to as the Tomb Raider Traveller. He assures me it nowt to do with Lara Croft’s curves but all to do with the colour, we believe you Mike, honest. For our third modified Minor I met up with Richard Thomas in Staffordshire to report on his Minor ‘Big Boy’, it’s highway yellow and powered by a V8, exactly as what you would expect… …Can anyone tell why does that Rover engine sound so sweet?

Many thanks to Chris Hyde for taking my new mug shot, for the sharp-eyed you will have noticed the beard has gone in favour of the stubble look.

We are back in the workshop once again but its not me although I should be out there but just do not seem to have the time of late. I would like to welcome a new contributor who’s Austin pick-up was one of the first feature’s that Mandy complied for this magazine I am of course referring to Steve Beaumont from South Wales. Steve has purchased a second hand SU fuel pump and an overhaul kit, he now has a refurbished pump on the shelf ready to go for less than half the price of a new one. Read his step-by-step guide of how to do it, he reckons it will last another 40 years before its needs attention.

For our ‘Caught on Film’ spot Mandy with the help of ITV gets behind the scenes of Heartbeat, now they must have used hundreds of Minors on this show. If you are one of those lucky owners, we would like to hear from you.

Alternative Classic is back with an abridged history of the Morris Marina and the Ital by a man who should know better, but he has more Marina’s than Minor’s, he needs no further introduction from me as he has graced these pages on a number of occasions Martin Wallis. Codenamed ADO 28 the Marina was the direct replacement for the Minor, well it was Martin who told me that so read on as he will tell you about the Mk1s & Mk2s and there was me thinking there was just a Marina and an Ital.

I am always on the look out for old adverts and archive images from the 1960s and 1970s on BMC, BL and of course featuring the humble Morris Minor. If you have any of these, we at Minor Monthly would love to feature them on our pages, so please contact us with details, thanks in advance for them. … … Oh, I nearly forgot, send us your snow covered Minor scenes too I am sure there are plenty out there. As we approach the rally season can I request any show reports that you are considering sending need to be with us as soon as possible after the event.

Lastly I must share this with you, if like me you are a ‘coffee-holic’ and miss your fix of fresh coffee, and can’t drink instant when out on the rally field at a show then I have discovered just the thing Lyons Coffee one-cup bags. Simply perfect Mandy has her tea with hot water from the Thermos and now I can have real coffee… …fantastic!

Russ

Editor@MinorMonthly.co.uk

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By Russ, January 19, 2010 8:38 PM

Russell’s Round up

Well how are the New Year’s resolutions going? Mine is to maintain the weight I lost last year. I am now nearly 4 stone lighter than I was this time last year. It is over 3 months since I achieved goal weight and I have stayed there! So if you have thought about throwing the towel in, stick with it I know it is hard but it is worth it if you persevere.

Gareth Dupre from the Bristol Classic Car limited who deals with the press/media has kindly donated 5 pairs of tickets for the forthcoming31st Footman James Bristol Classic Car Show (1-2 May 2010). Visit our notes and news pages to enter our competition it could be you! Our What’s On page is growing but remember to send the details in early as with publication date I need it as soon you can get it to me.

We have some great features in this issue, it sees Alan Hoverd and yours truly combining forces for Minor Based Kit Cars Part 3. We focus on the GRP kits made by Rochdale, in particular the Olympic and I finally get to see one complete with 1098cc A series motor and all the BMC Minor running gear. A stunning beautiful looking car that really does shift and it sounds sweet as well as its good looks. Martin and Cindy French from Victoria, Australia have submitted a great feature on their rebuild of a modified series II van that they recently added to their collection. You will recall Martin’ dad’s feature on the Triumph Mayflower in our December issue.

With regards to our regular features for Branch profile we head up North where Colin Bell tells us all about the North East Branch of the MMOC. For ‘Me & My Minor’ Ben Amor from Tetbury, Gloucestershire takes pride in his account of Milly the family Minor saloon.

Daniel Robins has finished his dream Traveller and then he finally got around to penning the feature for us. I am sure you will enjoy his account in our ‘Just Dreaming’ article but there is a sting in the “tale” as he has now decided to sell his dream car! Mandy continues the TV Minor theme and this month will look at Minors and UFOs!

That’s about it from me other than we hope to meet you at various events throughout 2010, I hope we will have better weather than last year! So if you see us come over and introduce yourselves. Next month is all set to be another bumper issue see page 42 I only hope I can get it all in!

Russ

Editor@MinorMonthly.co.uk

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By Russ, December 28, 2009 12:00 AM

Russell’s Round Up

Happy New Year to all our readers and lets hope 2010 is a good one for us all. It sure looks like being so for Minor Monthly as 2010 is our 15th year of publication in fact our 15th Anniversary issue is now only 6 issues away and another 2 years will see us notch up 200 editions!

Gareth Dupre from the Bristol Classic Car limited who deals with the press/media arranged for us to see the Minor Million that was being auctioned at the Bristol Classic Autumn Restoration show. Plenty of national media attention had been made of this vehicle and its estimate of £25-30K. Last month we featured a unique Million and I did comment that I could not see the Millionth Minor getting anywhere near the lower estimate… … …well that was exactly the case, the bidding reached £8200 the car remained unsold, although I think that was a realistic price. I managed to snap a few images in case it disappeared overseas, remember the Millions are all 50 this year.

We have 2 articles from California, like father like son Austin Williams takes up the mantle and scribes part 2 for us this month on Zach’s modified traveller that completed a 2500-mile jaunt across the USA, you may recall it was Randolph Williams who penned the first part where he informed us of all the modifications. We also welcome new contributor Christopher Potter a good friend of Austin, but he has drawn on the knowledge of Randolph to help with his first Minor, he takes great pleasure in penning his first feature for us and I hope more will follow from our young Minor owners Stateside.

I have finally found space for the GPO/PO series Part 3 on the Postal engineering van and Part 3 of the kit cars series will be with us next month I promise. We have many exciting features planned for 2010 with a splendid Police series focusing on a traveller and a van, we have an account from overseas of living in a Minor with temperatures plummeting to minus 15 degrees, more Army travellers uncovered and lots of unusual articles included another V8 Minor, this one is a convertible. I hope that has whetted your appetite it sure has mine… … …oh and I dare say we will throw in a few Millions too!

Kirsty attended the NEC Classic Car Show and spent 3 days living it up with the LCV Register boys encamped on their stand, I managed to get there on friday with Mandy and it was nice to meet up with Kirsty again and thanks again for the bubbly, it went down a treat on my 50th celebration weekend. Mandy had organised a superb weekend away with friends and family for me with many surprises along the way. So Mandy huge thank-you from me.

Russ

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By Russ, December 27, 2009 12:00 AM

Russell’s Round Up

Seasonal Greetings from Custom Creations, Mandy & myself, I am looking forward to using my new Minor Monthly 2010 calendar, if you have not ordered yours you best get hold of Kirsty quickly before they sell out! I am sure you will have noticed the lack of the GPO/PO series and the Minor Kit Car series, both up to part 3, well sadly there just was not enough room to squeeze them this month and they will return and continue early in New Year.

Further to our Minor Million prototype feature last month at a recent auction the Minor Million car itself that is MHU 1 with chassis number 1000000 came under the auctioneer’s hammer with an estimation of £25k -£30K, it will be interesting to see what it reaches. In view of this what is the prototype Million worth, see our main feature this month perhaps Paul is sitting on a gold mine!

I hope you have enjoyed Mandy’s TV ‘Caught on Film’ spot, this month she looks at an Ice cream van used for filming. Now I do realise it’s December and no, we are not mad but this commercial’s big day in front of the camera was back in the springtime. Mandy would love to hear from you if you have had your Minor used in any filming or perhaps the big day is coming up, if so take loads of images and get in touch with her at features@MinorMonthly.co.uk you never know you could be next!

We are making changes to our new look magazine, the letters and e-mail’s are increasing please keep those letters and e-mails flowing. We had bumper entry for our NEC Classic Car competition with 5 lucky readers enjoying a complimentary day out (with a friend of their choice), so well done to our winners   Bruce Eddington, J Ashley, Bryan Charlewood, Graham and Liz Renouf and J Papalotte the correct answer to the competition was 4th January 1961.

We have another great ‘and finally…’ page with a Dizmatic, if you are not familiar with this tool page 46 reveals all! I am grateful to Kim Arne Fjeld from Norway for a nice Me and My Minor feature where his home town experiences temperatures as low as minus 35, so just spare a thought for him if you had to scrape the frost from the windscreen this morning. You will have seen the picturesque snow scene on the cover and that does look cold, this also was kindly supplied by Kim.

All that leaves me to do is to wish you all a Happy New Year and we look forward to meeting some of you during 2010 and remember whatever events you are organising be sure to e-mail the details to us as soon as you have them.

Mandy & Russ

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By Russ, November 28, 2009 11:22 PM

Russell’s Round Up

Well folks we have survived the take-over and Custom Creations moves into its second edition and will continue to build Minor Monthly. We have already seen a superb large A4 calendar that Kirsty has put together for us and if you have not ordered one you need to order your Minor Monthly 2010 calendar fast!

We all know the Mini is 50 this year and we have a story of a Mini rebuild from Mexico, also like the Mini I am 50 during this month. I have finally achieved my target weight with a total loss of a shade less than 4 stone so all I just need to do is keep it off.

My image this month shows me at the Great Dorset Steam Fair in my newly acquired Australian Bush hat, something that I needed to keep me dry. We spent a few days with Minor LCV Register (www.MinorLCVreg.co.uk) on their stand and Steve Martin-Harris produced life-size replica ‘Airfix’ kit of a Minor van see page 46.

Mandy continues her TV ‘Caught on Film’ spot, looking at Coronation Street with more in the pipeline too, but if you have had your Minor used in any filming for the small or large screen please contact her there must be loads of Minors out there that were used in Heartbeat! Alan is back with his kit cars and this one is about the Jago, which is a replica Willy’s jeep I kid you not, see page 18 for the full rundown.

I have introduced a ‘Wish you were here…’ page that looks at Minors around the World, I have selected in the sunshine, but next time we visit ‘wish you were here’ it will depict snow scenes, many thanks to all that have sent me their postcards and I look forward to more!

I hope you enjoy the magazine as much as I have compiling it for you, so until next month keep those Moggy’s Minoring!

Please note new address and e-mails:

Russ

Editor@MinorMonthly.co.uk