PressClub Canada · Article.
Classic road-trip: Classic car.
Thu Sep 19 00:00:00 CEST 2013 Press Release
The sixth “Hamburg-Berlin Classic” starts on 19 September 2013 from Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. BMW Group Classic dispatches three classic British cars on the vintage and classic car rally.
Press Contact.
Frank Strebe
BMW Group
Tel: +1-905-428-5005
Fax: +1-905-428-5086
send an e-mail
Munich / Berlin. Joining the sixth “Hamburg-Berlin
Classic” 2013 rally for vintage and classic cars organised by “Auto
Bild Klassik” magazine, will be three of BMW Group Classic’s more
unusual representatives from the small British car collection: a 1981
Mini Clubman Estate, a Riley Elf, first registered in 1969, and a Mini
Wildgoose “Brent” Super V. E. B., one of the few surviving Mini-based
campers, developed in the 1960’s.
The “Hamburg-Berlin Classic” will be held from 19 to 21
September 2013 under a name that will be familiar in vintage car
circles, even though this time the rally is taking an east-west route.
This is the first time that the Olympic Stadium in Berlin will be the
starting point for the three classic Minis and around 180 other
vehicles from almost 100 years of automotive history. Most of the
route covers quiet secondary roads through Mecklenburg-Pomerania. The
Fleesensee region, Müritz National Park, the state capital Schwerin,
the Lauenburg lakes and the banks of the Elbe provide the backdrop for
this veteran rally. During the event, the competitors will be tested
in special tasks to be completed against the clock. At the closing
event in the Fish Auction Hall at Hamburg Harbour the winners in all
categories will be named, including the team with the most original
car and the best-dressed competitors.
Without doubt, the visual highlights in the field include the
three classic Minis hoping to complete the trip from the banks of the
Spree to the waters of the Elbe. The trio nominated for the
“Hamburg-Berlin Classic” demonstrate only a fraction of the various
incarnations of the classic Mini during its long and varied life. The
Mini Clubman Estate was built between 1969 and 1981 as an estate
version of the new model variant, which was longer than the original
by 11 centimetres and which had a different front section. One of the
last of this type of vehicle ever produced is taking part in the
“Hamburg-Berlin Classic”, featuring silver paintwork and a 1.0 litre
four-cylinder engine with 29 kW/39 HP.
The Riley Elf is unmistakably a Mini, while also having a
character all of its own. This model was introduced in 1961 as a more
elite version of the classic Mini and extended the range of the Riley
marque, which also belonged to the British Motor Corporation (BMC).
The Elf was immediately recognisable thanks to its tall radiator
grille, extended luggage compartment and swallow-tail wings on the
back. The participating car, customised for rallying, dates from 1969,
the last year of production and features a splendid two-tone colour
scheme in Damascus Red/Whitehall Beige, the advanced hydro-elastic
suspension system and a 28 kW/38 HP four-cylinder engine.
The British trio is completed by the Mini Wildgoose, a
particularly radical example of how much the revolutionary small car
inspired the ingenuity of fans and modifiers right from the earliest
days. Using the classic Mini van as a basis, British coachbuilders in
the 1960s set about creating a camper van for adventurers who wanted
to push to the limits of the principle of the creative use of space
that characterised Mini. Wildgoose Ltd. in Worthing produced about 60
of the small camper between 1963 and 1968, only about 10 of which are
estimated still to survive today. One of these is the turquoise and
ivory vehicle with serial number 18, produced in 1965 as the
top-of-the-range Mini Wildgoose “Brent” Super V. E. B., will take to
the road this weekend.
The Mini Wildgoose has room for four people to travel and sleep
and, among other features, has a two-ring gas hob, a sink and an
electrically powered telescopic roof that offers a surprising amount
of headroom in the living quarters. A modest tempo is guaranteed by
the 850 cc four-cylinder engine with 25 kW/34 HP, enabling this bird
to reach maximum speeds of 116 km/h. However, the “Hamburg-Berlin
Classic” has never been about speed, and stopping for tea is almost mandatory.