Hi,

I was going to phone you, as Mom and I have just been crying with laughter, but I had to share the memory...it might be slightly different to you, Noel, as the Cooper became your 21st birthday present...but the buying of the Cooper was something very special, apart from it being the first Cooper in Northern Rhodesia.

After Pam's wedding, as you might well remember, we traded the 1960 Ford Fairlane (EA 774) in to Ross Goldring Motors, for Mom's red Austin Mini 850, (NM 6669)...the deal was discussed at the wedding, when Ross Goldring approached dad, and asked him how he was going to pay for Pam's wedding...the largest in town, known to history.... Dad had enough time to ponder over the discussion, and it had obviously been in the back of his mind, as we had been road testing the very first Mini in Northern Rhodesia, the week before...

Monday came, and before you could say Morris Minor, we had the first Mini 850 not sold to a garage in Northern Rhodesia, on 5 June 1961! 

NM 6669 was a bit of an icon, but knowing Dad's penchant for not keeping cars too long, six months passed all too soon and Dad, with a bit of nudging from me, was now looking at the prospect of getting the "NEW" Mini Cooper...the first one in NR being Avocado Green and white.

The deal between Ross Goldring and Dad was soon struck, and without losing more than a pound or two, the red Mini was quickly sold to the Padre at St Mary's, and we took delivery of the first Cooper in the country!

Mom was not allowed to come to the "trade in" ceremony, but I do remember the chief mechanic at Goldring Motors showing me that one had to "drop" the bonnet, to avoid dents, and off we drove to present Mom with her new "present". (NM 7340)

Shock and horror when Mom decided at 5:30 in the afternoon, that she wanted to drive her new car.... after all, the only people who could run her in were Dad, you or me! 

Obviously quite a bit of negotiation took place, because all I can remember is the two of us very nervously climbing into the back seat, as Dad took up his position to the left of Mom...

Who needed a rev counter as Mom dropped the clutch at 5500 and wheel spun out of the driveway down F Avenue, not slowing down until the stop street at 7th Street, about a mile down the road. Quick stop at 7th, and a quick left into the street, and Mom was again reaching peak revs in heaven alone knows what gear when dad, nervously called a sharp left into K Avenue...forgetting that they were digging a new drain under the road, and 90% of the corner was cut off with 45 gallon drums!I now know where we get our racing blood from, as Mom chucked the Cooper left, missed the drums, and wound the Cooper up the road for the next mile or so where we did a 90 degree left into the extension of F avenue, and finally home, where we all fell out of the car in an extreme state of weakness, with the exception of Mom, who thought that her new Cooper was bloody marvelous!

Luckily we were able to get the keys the following Saturday and sort of run the car in on a trip around the Copperbelt, before letting Mom loose again after the first service. Her stories of scaring the living daylights out of Elaine Wright and Yvonne Heatley, after having an argument with them after a golf match in one of the other Copperbelt towns, as well as getting Elaine smoking in terror, take up another chapter!!