Eight months later I moved to Geelong too. The very first day I was driving Sarah home when we passed that black Mini parked at the kerb. It looked very tidy but the badges were missing from the bootlid. As we passed the car, admiring it, I looked in the rear vision mirror and I saw the distinctive Austin grille. I can recall exclaiming something out loud, then slamming on the brake pedal, hard. We screeched to a smokey halt in the middle of the road. Sarah though I must have hit a dog or something we stopped so fast! I was just sitting there saying “Wow it’s an Austin” and babbling incoherently.
I parked properly and bailed out for a look, leaving Sarah still wondering at first what all the fuss was about. It was the first Austin Mini I had ever seen except in pictures. (Austin Minis were never sold in Australia. All our Minis were Morris badged and the specifications were quite different due to local content.) We both simply loved it from that moment. The regal black paint, the red trim, the crinkly grille and the full wheel covers. It was the best looking Mini we had ever seen.
From then on we passed that car almost every day. Then suddenly it vanished and a late 70's Ford Fairlane was parked in its place. With horror I realised the Mini might have been traded in on the Fairlane! I had to find out what happened to it.
After about a week of trying to summon up the courage I knocked nervously on the door. I asked the man who answered what happened to the black Mini. He simply said “Hang on, I’ll get the number.” and disappeared back into his house. I stood there for quite a while wondering if he had forgotten all about me. Finally he returned and gave me a business card and said “This is his number.” Huh? He then explained he had borrowed the Mini from a mate while the engine in his Fairlane was rebuilt. Then he told me the Mini was For Sale.
I could not believe the possibility of this beautiful Mini being mine. I called the number and went out with Sarah to see the car. We looked at the Mini, we drove it and we loved it all the more. The only problem was money! I was 22, fresh out of Uni and had just started my first “real job” in IT. I hadn’t even received my first monthly wage yet.
I went to the bank and applied for a personal loan. They approved it, but I felt it was too risky to borrow the money. I wanted to get married, save for a house and all the usual things. Regretfully I decided not to buy the Mini.
The owner, Ken, never advertised the car and he decided to keep it. Ken and I became friends and sometimes Sarah and I would take the Black Mini to car shows when Ken took one of his many other classic cars. This classy black Mini was used to ferry the Flower Girl and Page Boy to our wedding and Ken even trusted us to take it to Hay one year. We also used it for a few holidays and basically we becvame very attached to it.
For the last fifteen years Ken and I stayed in contact. All this time Ken told me if he ever sold the Mini I would have first refusal.
A few weeks ago, on my birthday(!!), I received a call from him telling me it was for sale. Conveniently my Corona Coupe had recently sold, so I had the cash. I bought it in secret and presented it to Sarah last Friday afternoon. She was totally surprised, absolutely delighted and burst into tears of joy.
It's a dream come true for us to finally own this very special little car. It started life in London with registration OGJ110E and later had Victorian rego LOV.004. Very appropriate for our April 1998 wedding!
Other than the flares and wheels Audrey is very original. The little 850 purrs along and has only done 74,000 miles. There is few small rust spots and the interior is not perfect. But the patina and originality just make it more special.
So, apparently I am now husband of the year for buying my wife her favourite classic car in the entire WORLD and I don't need to buy her flowers for the next five years.
The car at our wedding almost fifteen years ago:
The car last Friday night when I drove it home.
