[ Riley Elf - Lucie Mabel ]

Elfin adventures

Ready to Road Trip Service

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For the first time since I bought Lucie, I booked a holiday WITH her, road tripping across on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry, and 2 weeks visiting friends and driving about on Australia’s island state. I have become increasingly confident of the car’s capabilities and reliability, but before I booked it in I knew she was due for a service, so took her along to the mechanic’s to get her insides looked at. As always I was very happy with the service and the work done, and even more so to find that the annoying rattle she had at certain revs was also now gone with the radiator having been reseated a little further away from the chassis of the car. Feels like a new machine.

Here’s the breakdown of work done.

  • Full service and mechanical checkover
  • Change oil and filter
  • Check, dust and adjust brakes
  • Check suspension, exhaust, lights, wipers, washers, battery, tyres
  • Cooling system fluid levels, road test and report
  • Full tune
  • Replace r/h rear wheel cylinder and metal brake pad
  • Bleed brakes
  • Remove generator and recondition
  • Refit and check
  • Fit new rear screen rubber trim and the chrome locking strip

Parts Provided

  • Oil – HP40 Penrite
  • Late Mini oil filter
  • Seal rear Mini windscreen
  • Points Q/fit Mini 75 (Bosch)
  • >74 HS2 Air Filter Element
  • 3/4 Rear Mini Wheel cylinder
  • Brake Fluid
  • Recondition generator parts

Worth every penny.

 

Federation Square

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So… two icons, Minis, and Federation Square, Melbourne – a great central venue and a space to totally show off our beautiful vehicles. It’s too bad that the Flinders St Station was covered while it’s been repainted… but all the same it was a fun day with the smiles on the faces of the people walking among the cars being the highlight.

Monbulk Car Show 2017

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One of the lovely things about getting out and about with Lucie is the chances it has afforded me to visit places I wouldn’t normally have gone… I’ll have visitors come to town, or have some time free of a weekend and I can ping a friend and suggest a road trip to the Yarra Valley, or Mt Macedon, or Daylesford, each of which I did one time or another in 2017. One of the other nice things is finding small towns that love old cars, and Monbulk is one such town.

Every year, in the autumn, Monbulk hosts a car show to raise funds for the local Country Fire Authority (CFA) and other charities and there was an epic turn out. The Victorian Mini club sets up every year in front of the Police Station, brings donuts to the cops (who are we to balk at a stereotype) and this year took out the cup for the best display! Lucie got to sit for the first time with another of her kind, a Mk 2 (the green one) and there was a spectacular array of cars to view.

 

Lucie’s Life Lessons

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I had the good fortune to travel to Petritoli, Marche, in Italy last month to join with my colleagues on our annual ‘HM Retreat.’ We had a phenomenal time of connecting, meeting, and learning about each other. As an internationally distributed team where all the staff are remote workers, getting to know each other ‘in real life’ is important and we had a ball hanging out, talking over wine, coffee, and the dinner table.

Further to the 1:1 conversations, one of the ways we get to know each other is for each of us to get up on stage and deliver a ‘Lightning Talks’ in which we share something about ourselves… and our lives. Needless to say, my current passion project is a good first introduction… So Lucie also had her chance to shine… here are the slides and the transcript for my own reference… and in case you’re curious.

1. Life is Too short for Regrets

This is Olive Green and me circa 1987 I sold her to go traveling and always thought I’d buy her back… but she was sold before I could. So I spent more than 25 years wishing I’d never let her go

2. Talk to Strangers

I saw his car, went over to him and started a conversation, the spark was lit and we kept in touch. Two years later I have one of my own… a car. Not a geriatric boyfriend.

3. If an Idea won’t Let Go… Follow It.

That spark kept me coming back to Trademe NZ’s answer to Ebay… just in case…

4. If It’s Meant to be… it Will

And after a month of watching the price come down… it was still in the garage when I went to NZ on a visit.

SOLD

5. Ignore the Haters

Every time I talked to my dad about buying another Elf he rubbished the idea… but when the time came to bring it to Oz, he was the one volunteering to drive 2 hours to help get it on the boat… However, he wasn’t terribly impressed…Pffft Whatevs…

6. Good Things Take Time

She went on a Pacific cruise to get to me… this car has seen more of the Pacific than I have.

7. Patience will be Rewarded

8 weeks later… and Happy Dee is HAPPY

8. Naming Things is hard

My paternal Great, and Grand mothers, Lucie, and Mabel – old cars need an old name so I picked two of my favourites. I never met Lucie, but Mabel and I were great friends; she died 7 years ago at the age of 101.

9. Don’t be too Proud to let your Friends Push You…

Girl Power – actually this isn’t 3 nuns pushing a car… it’s 3 friends in their wedding finery on a cold day in Melbourne… black is kind of a uniform down here…

10. It’s your Differences that Set You Apart from the Crowd

For all her fancy curves, Lucie is a Mini at her core… I love Minis too; but her points of difference make her pretty unique in Australia and it’s really fun that other people find her interesting (and cute) too.

11. So Just Get out there and be YOU

What can I say, I’m a crazy car lady… I’m gonna roll with it.