IMM in Neumarkt 2010
In the Clubman Estate
Following our really enjoyable trip with the Mini to the Birmingham IMM (International Mini Meeting) in 2009 which was for the celebration of the 50 years since the first Mini came off the line, Christine and I decided to attend the 2010 IMM in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz near Nürnberg (Germany) This would be a mixture of B and B (Pensionen und Gasthaüser) and 4 nights camping at the actual Meeting, to be followed by some more B and B in the Pfalz and Mosel regions to collect some more wine!
We booked the Hull to Rotterdam ferry so that we could visit friends in Hull on the way from Orkney and then selected a Pension in the south of the Netherlands to break the journey on the way to Bavaria.
A brief pause in the Neckar valley, not far from Heidelberg on our way to our first German stop-over.
A typical German village - this is Michelstadt where we had a couple of very agreeable days before the last hop to Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz - not too far from Nürnberg. On arrival at the very well signposted IMM site we quickly found a suitable place and set too erecting our new tent which proved to be quite a simple task after a dummy run back at home.
This was the lightweight tent which we bought from an Aussie group at the end of the 2009 IMM in Birmingham. They had all travelled over from Oz, hired modern Minis and bought a load of new camping gear, including tables and a generator! These were to be disposed of at the end of the meet - good idea and we got a great tent, almost unused, for a fraction of the new price.
A very special estate from Germany - an SPI with lots of very special injection electronics and one hell of a sound system.
Looks great from any angle and certainly attracted plenty of interest every time we passed by.
Even the Bin Man had a Moke! The organisation of this event was absolutely first class with nothing left to chance and in spite of lots of alcohol being consumed, there was not a spot of trouble at anytime. We will definitely go to the next IMM organised by Germany.
This is an Elswick Envoy, driven all the way from GB too - Mini based with facilities for driving from a wheelchair - made by the company which made Elswick cycles.
Just a sea of Minis and Tents - the Organisers were expecting about 2000 people and cars to attend but in the end it was easily double that. The Loos were spotless for the whole 4 days, the food was excellent and never ran out, nor did the drink. There was a surcharge on the thick plastic drinks containers, a fact which non German speakers seemed to miss. Glad I did German at school - returning the abandoned empties paid for a meal in the Town one day.
We awoke one morning to find all of these mustard coloured spots on all the cars - remember the Iceland volcano eruption? (Eyjafjallajökull) At the time we had no idea what had caused it and the first time I actually noticed it, was on a lovely black Mk3 Cooper S - I thought it was in the paint job until I returned from the loos at first light to see my own car!
Lots of Mini based trailers but this was my favourite variation on that theme.
Although this Artic is based on a saloon, I have seen some before which were converted from Pickups (possibly by the factory?) and used in the 60's and 70's by the Yorkshire Electricity Board (YEB) I wonder if any complete ones still exist? A good friend of mine, Mike Lenney bought one and used the rear section as a hen cabin. I've still got 2 sets of those 10" Dunlop D1 alloys (genuine ones, not copies) which I might be persuaded to part with!
There were some really outstanding examples - this late van was stunning, although for the anoraks the colour is from a very early range called Whitehall or Commercial Beige, I think.
The delightful walled town of Dinkelsbühl in Bavaria which we visited for a few days on our way back from the IMM.
We had a really great time in all and the only let down was when we were nearing home in the Highlands of Scotland and there was a problem with the adjustable rear suspension - more of that saga can be found in the Clubman Estate pages