The Mini Experience Reloaded

26/06/2025

SOLD!
It has been eight years since I closed down The BMC Experience magazine. Sometimes it seems like a lifetime ago, other times just a few months.
I no longer have any need for my Mini trailer, which is possibly the most travelled and most photographed Mini trailer in Australia.
It has certainly seen better days (see the two pics of it being towed by my two Mini Vans - and no, the Van isn't for sale, so don't ask).
Although it is still very usable, it does need a bit of work. There is a little bit of heavy rust around part of the RHS window and the window is cracked (but has 3M security film in it to stop it breaking completely). There is quite a bit of surface rust around the gutter and in a few seams, but nothing too serious. It certainly needs a repaint and looks pretty rough, but structurally it is pretty good.
One of the wheel flares needs replacing and the front panel needs resealing, as does the blanked-off roof vent.
It comes with 3x standard Mini rims (no the Contesta wheels don't come with it) and all with brand new Nankane (Chinese) 10" tyres, with 0km on them.
Wheel bearings are excellent, removable jockey wheel and hitch work as they should. There are air vents for flow-through ventilation, to stop fogging up and dampness, and I never had an issue with water getting in - even driving through storms.
Floor is in excellent condition, but could do with a repaint as well. There is even an interior light. There are also tie-down u-bolts on each wheel arch, which have proven very handy.
Subframe appears to be very good and rust free. The Mini rubber cone suspension makes this trailer and absolute dream to tow, and I have taken it just about everywhere between Adelaide and Bundaberg (Qld).
The trailer was wired up to suit my Mini, and will probably need the plug rewired to suit your car.
Priced to sell at $500 firm (the tyres cost over $300)
DM me or call 0427 537 443 if interested.
Located in Geelong, but I can deliver to Melbourne or Western Vic for petrol costs.

29/04/2025

All copies of The Mini Experience Reloaded are now available to purchase individually on my regular business website, for only $5 per issue.

Some people may have found it too expensive in the past to pay for all issues when they really only wanted the info from one issue.

So, now you can buy just the copies you want and get them as a downloadable PDF.

Please note: While I can't prevent the sharing of the pdf magazines, please remember they are protected under the Australian Copyright Act and may NOT be copied or shared without the permission of the publisher (me). Purchasing from our website grants you one copy per purchase and does not transfer ownership of any of the material.

Unauthorised copying or sharing is Copyright theft. Nothing less. If you share the magazines with other people, think about this - would you be happy if someone took something you had made or a service you provided without paying for it? Me either. If you don't value my work, don't purchase, but if you do and a friend wants you to share it, how about suggesting they purchase their own copy?

So, if you would like to purchase a copy of any issue, go to this link:

This is the new home of The Mini Experience Reloaded. The Mini Experience was originally published by Watto under his first business, Autofan Media.

13/03/2025

Important news
The Mini Experience Reloaded website is closing in 5 days.
I have just sent an email to all subscribers about accessing the magazines they have already paid for.
If you are a paid subscriber and have not received the email, please let me know immediately.
This page will also be deleted in the near future.
Thanks for your support.

06/06/2024

I will be at Hay this weekend. Woo hoo!
I will not be having a trade stall, but I will have a box of the last ten jigsaw puzzles if anyone wants one. I only have the Leyland Mini LS puzzle. Lots of people always moan there are never enough products with Leyland Minis. Well, here you are. Selling these at cost ($35). I will also have the last half dozen DVDs, including 1x Birdsville And Beyond, 2x The Tortoise and The Hare, 1x Tour 2009 to the UK (Mini 50th), and 4x No Plan B (2013 Sh*tbox Rally). All DVDs at just $10 each. You you want any of these just let me know, catch me at the Show n Shine on Saturday or any time over the weekend.
Cheers, Watto.

01/03/2024

Final fling. I will be at the All British Day at Echunga, SA, tomorrow for a last fling to sell off what remains of my British car book, DVD, model and memorabilia collection, as well as the very last remaining stock from The BMC Experience.
I have fewer than 20 jigsaw puzzles left, selling at below cost. Only 25 of each design were made, with my own photos, making these a truly collectible item for Mini or Moke enthusiasts.
This is the last-ever car show that I will be selling stuff at. After this I will only be attending car shows like a normal human.

01/12/2022

Looking for something a little less ordinary for Christmas gifts. I still have a few of these jigsaw puzzles left. They are $49 each (plus $15 postage). I know that is top dollar for jigsaw puzzles, but they were produced in very low numbers to test the water. Unfortunately, due to COVID, one of the events they were planned for was canceled, while another was postponed and I couldn't get to the new event, so I have not been able to sell them through my normal channels.

The jigsaws are all my own photos and I only had 25 of each design made, so you won't be able to get them anywhere else. They are very high quality, and each is 1,000 pieces. When completed they measure 19" x 28" (49x71cm) and I would describe their difficulty level as moderate. Not too difficult to frustrate you, but not so easy they won't be a challenge.

No more of these designs will be produced, so they are a bit collectible as well.

You can grab them from Focal Point Gallery, 46 Douro St, Nth Geelong, or order on-line at https://theminiexperience.com.au/shop
(for postage, make sure to order postage separately)

19/10/2022

Here are a few more to brighten your day.

19/10/2022

I have been fine-tuning my scanning set-up and doing some of my old slides. These photos were originally shot for Mini Magazine in the UK, Mini Magic in Australia, the Classic Mini Calendar (my own publication) and in the case of one of the shots (the yellow Moke of Alan Jacka) on a Moke club bush trip. Some have also appeared in the pages of The Mini Experience or The Mini Experience Reloaded, while some have not been published since the 1990s.

23/07/2022

I came across this photo in a folder of BMC photos from John Lindsay. It was on an 8"x10" duplicate transparency, taken from a 35mm slide and it is not a photo I have seen before. The car is the UK Works Austin Cooper S, LRX828E, which is featured in Issue 3 of the TMER digital magazine, wearing its NSW plates of EPX813. What is interesting about this photo is it is obviously taken during testing, not during a rally. There are no sponsor or rally stickers on the car, except the Castrol logo on the side rear windows, and is being driven by Evan Green. So, this is probably September or October 1967, with the car hot off the boat from England, and before the Southern Cross Rally in October. In that rally, the car was driven by Paddy Hopkirk, with navigator Garry Chapman, but the car retired with a broken gearbox. A couple of weeks later, Tony Fall, with Steve Halloran won the Total 500 Rally in the same Mini. But the photo may have been later. Green's drove the car in the 1968 Southern Cross Rally, but by that time it had been repainted in the Australian Works colours of Castrol Green with white roof. The car has been owned by Graeme Urch in Melbourne since 1971 and has had a complete but sympathetic restoration back to its UK colours and registration.

19/02/2022

Well, it's official. Due to changes in circumstances, I will not be able to travel up to Sydney for Minis DownUnder in March. I am very disappointed about this, because I was looking forward to catching up with many people whom I haven't seen since closing the magazine.

This also means I won't have the jigsaw puzzles for sale at the event.

But don't worry, you can still grab the puzzles for yourself, while stocks last. But you will need to hurry. I originally intended setting a limit of 100 copies of each design, to ensure exclusivity by offering a very limited edition. My changed plans meaning I won't be attending MDU and other events mean that it will not be viable for me to produce any more jigsaw puzzles beyond the initial batch. This means that each design is now limited to only 25 copies and some designs have limited numbers left.

I know that $49 is top-tier pricing for jigsaw puzzles, and by the time you add $15 postage they seem quite expensive, but with only 25 copies of each design produced they take on a whole new level of collectability.

You can still grab one while they last, only through our website: https://theminiexperience.com.au/shop/ols/categories/jigsaw-puzzles

08/01/2022

I will be at Bundoora Park for Minis At Mt Cooper tomorrow (Sunday 9 January) and will have a small stand with my unique Mini jigsaw puzzles, back issues of the magazine and a few odds and ends, and will be able to assist anyone with information about our online resource, The Mini Experience Reloaded (https://theminiexperience.com.au/). I look forward to catching up with a lot of my Mini and Moke friends for the first time in a long time.
Please note, the gallery will still be open, so if you are wanting to see the exhibition tomorrow that will be fine, but I won't be available for doing any printing, etc.

04/01/2022

Happy new year to all.

Jayne and I will be attending the Minis At Mt Cooper event this Sunday (9 January) and will have a few items available - nothing like the size of stall we used to have, but a good range of items to interest Mini enthusiasts.

We will have our unique Mini jigsaw puzzles (4 designs) and a few of our unique DVDs. We also have a few of Jayne's Mini T-shirts, as well as some merch left over from the glory days of TME and BMCE - even a handful of 50th anniversary grille badges. We will also have a few back issues of both TME (Issues 21 to 29) and BMCE (Issues 7 to 20) available at very affordable prices.

There are still a few former subscribers to The BMC Experience who have not told us how they want their refund handled, so if you are one of those, contact me now or see me on the day and we will be able to sort you out.

I will also be able to guide anyone on subscribing to The Mini Experience Reloaded, or showing you what it is all about and what to expect. Some people are reluctant to subscribe, thinking it is little more than a rehash of the original printed magazine, but there is a lot of new content, with many errors and omissions corrected. If you have a real interest in the history of the Mini and Moke, as well as the history of the companies that made up BMC/Leyland in Australia, then this is the best resource for information that you will find anywhere. And, being a digital publication, can be easily updated or corrected when and wherever necessary. A low, one-off payment of $40 will grant you permanent and ongoing access to the 15 issues (over 1,400 pages of information). There is NO monthly or annual subscription fee.

I hope to see many Mini and Moke enthusiasts on Sunday. Please note that this is a FREE event run by the VMCI and a great chance to get together to see and talk about Minis/Mokes, or just to catch up with friends who you may not have been able to see for some time. Although I am not involved in the running of the event anymore, I am pleased to continue to support it and the club.

Cheers, Watto.