Cooper Register Day Beaulieu 2009

Some peeps will know I displayed Elfie at Beaulieu yesterday to represent one of the 50 years of the mini.
Jill and I left Chester mid afternoon Friday and tootled down the A41/49 etc to Cheltenham, where we had booked in for the overnight stop en route to Beaulieu. It was a pleasant run all the way and Elfie (thank goodness) behaved impecably. After a good nights sleep we continued through Cirencester,Swindon,Marlborough and Salisbury passing through numerous beautiful villages and hamlets. Again, Elfie performed well. Saturday night was comfortable in the Travel Lodge on the A31 before setting off on the last 14 miles through the New Forest, stopping occaisionally to admire the forest ponies with their foals.
The show itself was fantastic as was the weather,everyone was cheerful and interesting to talk to. Visitors to the National Motor Museum were able to mingle with the mini crowds and a lot of them there were! I gave up trying to count the number of cooper minis (after2.5k!) but I was the only Elf there! (my big ears were burning!) Anyway, needless to say Jill and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the the show and the Abbey grounds and museum and talking to viewers and listening to " I used to have one of those" and My first car was an Elf/Hornet" Elfie was very much admired and photograghed so I thought it all the worth while making the effort to attend. there were lots a good points raised. One chap told me I had a '62 steering wheel and Riley badge, another said he had also read that the MK2 Elfs (and I presume Hornets were the first cars to be fitted with a Cooper engine block) Feel free to tell me otherwise if I'm wrong.






slide show

For those that may be interested in some of the Coopers in the "50 display" and some of the museum exhibits pleas click on the following slide shows
https://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t45/TONYELF-2006/BEAULIEU/?action=view&current=956ee4a8.pbw

https://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t45/TONYELF-2006/BEAULIEU/?action=view&current=8a4974bc.pbw

TONYELF wrote:another said he had also read that the MK2 Elfs (and I presume Hornets were the first cars to be fitted with a Cooper engine block) Feel free to tell me otherwise if I'm wrong.

The Elf was known at the time as the "Cooper with a boot", so it sounds about right.