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Saturday and Sunday overnight run to South Lake Tahoe. Enjoy the backroads, less traveled, and even more scenic than your usual run up the f...

California Automobile Museum Run Recap

Saturday 13th January 2018
It was a cold foggy January morning but this did not deter a great turnout for the first run of the year. NorCal Mini’s joined forces with Silicon Valley Mini’s and MOASF to take a drive up to the California Automobile museum in Sacramento. A wide variety of cars were at the meet point in Livermore ranging from a Mark 1 classic dating from the early 1960’s to the latest ‘F’ generation cars. In total 35 cars left from the parking lot to make the way up to Sacramento
Our route would take the more scenic route over Vasco Road towards Brentwood but unfortunately due to thick fog the views were not so good. The only good view was seeing a steady stream of Mini headlights in my rear view mirror. Once in Brentwood we took a short drive on Hwy 4 before turning off on Hwy 160 N towards Sacramento. This would the road we would remain on for the most of the journey following the delta all the way up from Antioch to Sacramento.



Our group, even though large and having cars from all ages and power ranges managed to stick together. A couple of re-grouping places were used but generally the long caravan of Mini’s remained intact. Sadly the weather never really lifted and the drive along the delta remained similar to Vasco Road and shrouded in fog!!! On the way – one of the classics sadly had a minor electrical issue – but with a true classic owner it wasn’t long before the fault was fixed and we were on the road a big group again.
On arrival at the museum we were greeted by another 25 Mini’s bringing the total to 60 cars. These were people from various other clubs including Shasta Mini’s, Mini’s & MINI’s Intl and Mini Collective. It was a beautiful sight to see so many Mini’s of such diversity all in one location.


After a short briefing about the steps for the day, people set off to view the exhibits inside the museum using the docents for tour guide information. After about 1.5hrs – the big challenge began to undertake a ‘Mini generations’ picture. This was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed to get a photo with as many of the generations of Mini as possible. Well, it was a success. We had classics in the form of a Mark 1, 2, 3, Clubman, Pick-up and Rover Mini. For the Gen 1 MINI, we had the full complement R50, 52 & 53. For the Gen 2 again a full complement R55, 56 (non-S, S & JCW), 57, 58, 59, 60 & 61. When it came to the Gen 3 ‘F’ cars though – there was an issue – we were missing one car. We had the following F54, 55, 56 & 57 but was missing the F60. Luckily though Neillo Mini came to the rescue and provided a car at the last minute to give us the full range of new Mini’s!!!





After the photo shoot was complete, a smaller group headed to the Sacramento Café and Bar for some lunch where many stories were exchanged and fun had by all.
Thanks need to be passed to all those who supported the Generations picture, Michael Laccabue whose idea it was for the run in the first place and did the route planning, James Schenck and Andy Biddle for their support planning the event with their own respective clubs, the museum for agreeing to host the event for us, Neillo Mini for bringing the last car, Norm Nelson for his support at the museum.
This was an amazing first event in 2018 for NorCal Mini’s – I hope we can continue the enthusiasm and support for the remaining events this year. If you want to be part of the fun the next event is on Sunday February 11th and will involve a run to Wine country/Napa. Please check out the following link for details: