Mini Meet East 2026

[Scargo]

https://minimeeteast.regfox.com/mme2026

[MiniDave]

Cool, thanks for the heads up! I'll be there for sure, Asheville is only 15 min from where my daughter lives so I'll make plans for an extended stay to see my kids, grands, and greats!

I'm registered!

I have a lot to do to get ready for this event.....I need to get the hot rod finished enough to be on it's wheels so I can roll it off the rack and put the green car on. I have to pull the motor on the green Mini and fix the oil leaks and try to find where it's been losing water (another head gasket?) then get it cleaned up so I can paint it again as the last engine paint job came out terrible. While I'm in there I think I'll replace the front cones as they're 10 years old and I'll bet they're fairly collapsed. Oh and some new factory original motor mounts as these MiniSpares versions feel like rocks - so much vibration comes thru them! And maybe fix a few more rattles?

Then I need to wire the Audi for trailer lights, and I should be good to go. I probably need some new tars on the Mini as they also are 10 years old, but they have plenty of tread and no weather cracks so I may let that go.

Tail of the Dragon here we come!!!!

[MiniDave]

So, minor change to my plans - still going but Don and I have decided to take our "new" MINIs to this event since it's not just classics.

[94touring]

Flat tow the classic there with the bini?

[MiniDave]

It's not a classic focused event, so we decided it would be more fun just to drive the new MINIs and forgo the classics for this one.

Tow hitches for older cars like this can be hard to find.....the Cooper S exhaust makes it difficult to find one that fits too. I don't think I'll bother since I already have the hitch on the white Allroad

[MPlayle]

MiniDoMore (https://www.mnidomore.com/home.php?cat=244) still seems to carry them, though a bit pricey.

[MiniDave]

Wow, I'm surprised to see they're still in business....I'm not going to bother with a hitch for the red car, I already have one on my white Audi Allroad. If I need to tow a car or something I'll just use it.

[Red Riley]

It's not a classic focused event, so we decided it would be more fun just to drive the new MINIs and forgo the classics for this one.

Tow hitches for older cars like this can be hard to find.....the Cooper S exhaust makes it difficult to find one that fits too. I don't think I'll bother since I already have the hitch on the white Allroad

I hope there are at least a few classics there.

[BruceK]

I have removed the tow hitch from my R53 as I now have a Tacoma for towing. Happy to share the hitch with someone who wants it. 

[MiniDave]

When did you get a Taco? Still have the Prada?

[BruceK]

When did you get a Tahoe? Still have the Prada?

I got a Tacoma last year when I sold my JDM Toyota LiteAce. It's a great truck. Yes I still have and love my Prado.

[MiniDave]

Heading out in the early AM for parts east, hope to see some of you there!

[BruceK]

Have a fun trip. Post some photos and tell us some stories!

[MiniDave]

Stories.......have I got stories.....

Starting with terrible traffic, road construction everywhere, nasty potholed roads, trucks....and at the last minute Don had to bail due to a medical emergency so I'm on my own.

Getting into St. Louis I see a sign posted telling me the exit I was going to use is closed and to find another route....so I found an exit, pulled into a Quick Trip and called my brother, who lives there. He gave me an alternate that actually worked, so I dodged the first one. Drove to Lexington thru more construction, more terrible rain and worse roads and found a room. Whew!


The next day's drive was supposed to be easier, and it mostly was till I got on 40 hiway thru the canyon that got flooded a couple years ago, it was single lane traffic and stop and go for 12 miles before the tunnel and 12 miles after - no way I'm going thru that again to get home. actually it's a wonder that road is open at all - it is a MAJOR project fixing that now, it will take years....

Did the dragon yesterday which was fun, for a weekday it was surprisingly busy, tons of motorcycles. It is about 100 miles from here so a long drive up, about 40 cars went almost even ly split between classics and new Minis. It's not that the classics are slow, but it seems like a lot of the owners were just out for a Sunday drive. I got behind a group of three that were averaging 20 mph, I finally found a spot and passed them - the exhaust fumes were killing me! The rest of my Dragon run I was mostly by myself so I could be as sedate or crazy as I wanted to be! 

Today I'm going to skip the events and go down and see the kids/grands/great grandkids for the day, then tomorrow I'll be back in the saddle again.

[MiniDave]

Only a few minor breakdowns yesterday, nothing that required a trailer tow.....one fellow went to gas up and when he got back to the hotel his car wouldn't start....I was walking by and noticed the white wire was off the coil. Simple fix!

My reputation precedes me tho - it was like "Daves Car Clinic" with people asking questions. One guy was convinced his car was running way too rich and cutting out - we finally found someone with a plug wrench and looked at his plugs - bone white. I showed him how to richen it up but he probably needs a different needle.

There is THE rustiest Canadian Mini I've ever seen, he says he's just "maintaining the patina" tho he did replace the floors and inner sills already.

Lots of Mokes here including one I'd never seen before - a Gemini! Must be 7 or 8 Mokes.

There have been lots of "what does it mean when it does this?" type questions too.

One guy wore out two tires driving to the even and had two overnighted in, don't know if he fixed his alignment or not.

Haven't seen the cylinder head off anything yet!

Red drove fine with no issues other than the exhaust being a lot louder than I hoped, especially on the over run. Going up and down the dragon it was constantly doing it's "burble" and when wound out it gets pretty loud - runs well tho! On the highway it's pretty OK.....

Finally got to give it a bath today.

[MiniDave]

Some more interesting cars at today's meet, in addition to the Mokes, there's an actual "Designer" Mary Quant, a Domino Pimlico, an actual London Mini police car with documentation - it was interesting that yesterday he would pull into a red light intersection with lights and siren going off and people would stop to allow 40 Minis to go thru!

So, a few pics. Notice the windshield angle on the Gemini. It's a beautiful metallic grey too.

I'll get more pics later today at the car show.