This story started back in 1977 when my Gran, Lesly (Sandy’s Mum) bought a brand new 1977 Leyland Mini Clubman in Jade Green. I was 5 years old.
From 1977 to 1989 my Gran drove this car everyday. Every one of her 13 grandchildren loved this car. We spent many hours sitting in the car in the driveway, pretending we were going on long drives, all taking turns driving and being passengers. This is all in addition to the many trips we actually did with Gran who drove us all around the eastern suburbs.
Fast forward to 1989 when I was on my learners and not far off from getting my P’s in March 1990. Gran was at a stage in life where she did not need to drive any more and the thought of the Mini leaving the family was certainly not one I was wanting to consider. So it was decided by my Mum and Dad (maybe with some influence from me) that they would buy the mini from Gran as my first car.
Here begins the real love affair…well the grown up one, the earlier years were just ‘puppy love’.
Here I was 18 years old, independent in my newly named wheels, ‘Kermit’ and loving life driving the streets of Melbourne.
For the next 20 years Kermit was my car.
We traveled and lived together in Box Hill, Blackburn, Prahran, Richmond, Melbourne City, Fairfield, Malvern, Yarra Glen in Victoria…and Coogee, Kings Cross, Surrey Hills & Rushcutters Bay in Sydney.
There are so many stories to share and so many people that have memories of their experiences in ‘Kermit’.
From a flat tyre on the side of the road on my way to Canberra, roll starting it on the steep hills in Coogee to get it going each morning, late night friend pick ups, endless jump starts due to flat battery, deliveries for catering events, reversing it in to a parked car at 3am,(Mum & Dad had to pick me up and Dad drove the mini home with a leaking petrol tank) & even an intentional bumpy ride to try and bring on labour for one of my dear friends…the list goes on and I am sure many of you have your own stories. (I would love to hear them)
In 2006 when living in Malvern I decided to buy a brand new Mini, her name was ‘Pepper’, a pearl and black mini. But I was not giving up ’Kermit’….I now owned 2 Minis.
I was a fully fledged Mini Driver.
In 2007 I moved to Yarra Glen for a tree change…not knowing at that stage it would be my new found long term home.
I had been here 6 months and decided it was time.
I really no longer needed 2 cars.
So I made the big decision to put ‘Kermit’ up for sale.
I even put an advert up in the Yarra Glen Newsagent window.(Facebook wasnt that big at the time).
So in January 2008 I sold ‘Kermit’.
It was a regretful sale, I was a single female and what did I need with 2 cars!!
If only I had held off 2 weeks…
At the end of January 2008 I met James.
As it turned out he already knew I was selling my Mini, he had seen it in the Yarra Glen Newsagent window and considered buying it for his son Brad who was just about to turn 16. Had even taken my number down.
But he didn’t buy it.
James & I became a thing.
I learnt that he was passionate about cars…actually I mean obsessed with cars. If only he had bought ‘Kermit’.
I was now living with James in Dixons Creek and Minis, dirt roads and country life don’t really work.
So later that year I sold ‘Pepper’, my Mini and became an SUV driver.
For the first time in my driving career or you could say, since I was 5 years old…I was Mini less.
I never stopped thinking of myself as a Mini Driver.
In 2016 we moved from Dixons Creek to Yarra Glen and within 3 months we had sold my little SUV and James had found me ‘Penny Lea’, a 2006 Mini Cooper Park Lane Limited Edition in Royal Grey. She only had 15,000km on the clock, amazing for a car that is 10 years old and was in immaculate condition. I love ‘Penny Lea’ and she is still in our family.
So this brings us to late 2023…
Many of you know we are a car loving family…we have always had more than our fair share of cars.
Over the years I have often wondered where my mini ended up, I forget the name of the person I sold it to and at this moment in time I don’t know where it is.
James never met ‘Kermit’…’Kermit’ was gone before we met, but he heard the stories and knows how much ‘Kermit’ meant to me.
Unbeknownst to me James was on the lookout.
Looking out for a new ‘Old’ Mini for me.
I went to Sydney for a weekend.
When the cats are away the mice will play. Isn’t that what they say?
Long story short…he found a Mini on Lloyds Auction and put a bid on it while I was away. The auction had a week to go whenI returned.
About 3 days out… Annie(who knew all about it) and James, decided to tell me about the bid he had put on a 1975 Leyland Mini Clubman, colour Hairy Lime!
He also told me we would never win the auction, it will go for heaps more than his bid. I said ok…
One(1) day out we are still the winning bid.
Three(3) hours out we are still the winning bid.
This is where I sat down and said we need to talk…what if we actually win this?
Secretly… my heart was like, oh I hope we get this, I love it.
My head was going… we don’t need another car, how will we fund this and where is this actual car?!
Ten(10) minutes out we are the winning bid.
We watch it live…the 3 of us on the couch in the living room.
There were no more bids!
We won!
I looked at James and said, “Well that wasn’t meant to be, but I guess it was meant to be.” Thank you James.
We had a new ‘old’ Mini in the family.
On a side note…this part was all happening while my Dad was pretty sick and we knew he would not have much more time with us.
He loved that we loved cars…it was not his thing but he loved that we loved it. I told him the story before he passed away, he knew that I got an ‘old’ green Mini back. He couldn’t stop smiling.
It is now February 2024 as I write this.
We had to put a few things on hold with the car while we got through December & January with Dad leaving us.
Today, it got a roadworthy (that question of where it was when we bought it…Queensland) and I got to really drive it!
It was like a movie playing through my head…with every scene in fast motion. The scenes were flooding back so quickly as I drove down the road at 80km per hour. The windows were open, the sun was shining and I felt like I was 18 again.
So my Mini Love Story is an ongoing story…one that I don’t think will ever end.
Ohhh….I haven’t told you it’s name!!
‘Bean’ or maybe even ‘Beanie’. I need to drive it more so it can tell me.
It is a play on words…Bean(for Mr Bean, Annie wanted that), Been(as I have been here before) and Being (as in now and it is a living being). And Bean is not male or female as in my other Mini, Bean is just Bean!
For now…’Bean’ is to be enjoyed. If you see us around…please wave, yell out, toot your horn! I hope Bean brings a smile to your face.
I will be out making more life long ‘Mini’ memories and that is what life is all about!
Love Ness…Your Forever Mini Driver.
