Many know the feeling when you find something you love and light up every time you do it.
It’s truly a feeling like no other, it ushers in sentiments of fulfilment, accomplishment and gives us a great sense of reward. Whether it be a hobby, passion or your source of income, doing something that makes you innately happy could be interpreted as a form of therapy.
For Blairgowrie resident, Cornelius van de Meer, this sense of purpose can be found parked in his garage. It rode into his and his late father’s lives about 19 years ago and it has not steered him wrong since. He is currently restoring the car and saying he lights up when he tends to it could just be an understatement.
The car in question is the 1959 Mini and Cornelius believes it to be the oldest surviving Mini in South Africa. Its original owner gave it away without its paperwork which has made it hard to verify this belief but a few members of the Mini Owners Club of Southern Africa, a club Cornelius has been a part of for years, think it really could be the oldest one.
For Cornelius, whether or not this car is the oldest of its kind in the country, it will always be the car that brought him and his father even closer through their shared loved of the car brand. “There was just so much we did with this car together,” he said holding back his tears.
The car has been off the road since about 1978 and as such, still has its original number plates. In 2004 his father managed to restore it but after his death some years later, and it being unattended to for some time, it became rusty again. Through the years the car was parked in the garage but Cornelius knew it deserved better. “There is a need to have it on the road, this is a car that needs to be shared and used and not put on display,” he said boldly.
He and his father’s affinity for the Mini and this Mini, in particular, is one he hopes to pass down to his own son. “I am sure he will share the same love for the car,” Cornelius said.
He shared his vision of being able to drive around his neighbourhood with his family by his side, enjoying what he hopes will become a family heirloom.
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