Keeping in the UK tradition of camping at Mini meets, we think we've put together the ultimate camping (co-host hotel close by) and cruising gathering. We chose Townsend, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains to take the Mini back to the days of mountain domination, plus they're a blast and beautiful to drive in! We chose what is considered the most beautiful time of year there, still cool temps with plants blooming. We found a gorgeous campground on a river with lodges, cabins, tent sites, and RV sites (Did we mention, co-host hotel close by?). For the 3 day gathering we're planning a cruise into the mountains each day, a nighttime scavenger hunt, and a big birthday party. We hope that the start of Saturday's cruise becomes the new North American record for the most classic Minis cruising in one long line. The car show will be a 3 day moving car show, judged by their peers. Oh, and we will be able to take over the entire campground (except for the large amounts of RV sites); it'll be our own Mini Town USA! 

If you haven't been to a CMU gathering before, we do it differently; we drive/cruise a lot, with plenty of stops and things to see. With this being a CMU gathering, you must be a member to enter a Mini. Membership is free, go to the join page and become a member! As with all of our gatherings, this is for everybody, but all of the drives/cruises/anything is only for classic Minis and its variants produced from 1959-2000, no exceptions. There's always room to ride in someone’s Mini if you come in something else.

Note: The Townsend Spring Festival , has been canceled during our event. It was a two week festival and they canceled the first week. I guess when they heard that we were coming... 

NEW
With Minis coming from every direction, members have been trying to hook up with others to caravan with. The Mini Mania forum helped get this going, but to make it easier to contact others we started a club Mini 50 forum for caravans. If you would like to join in and make your trip to/from the Mini 50 more enjoyable and safer (parts and service help) go to our forum, sign in, and start a thread if there isn't already one from your area/route. Forum

NEW
Phantom Grip is supplying a LSD to auction off! Don't miss out on a chance to get a good deal on a LSD. Here's their website for more information on their product. Phantom Grip

NEW
On Thursday night we will have a big blow up movie screen at the KOA amphitheater. We are working on making "50 Years of the Mini" that will be a mixture of videos and pictures supplied by our members! If you have any old pictures or videos that would be interesting to show everybody, please email Mike and he'll reply with his shipping address. We will accept high resolution scanned pictures on CD and DVD videos, please, no emailed pics or videos. If you want to make a short Mini video, send it in!

NEW
Mini 50 mugs available! These are pre-order only, go to Mugs for all of the information.

Host Campground
Townsend Great Smokies KOA website
Space is very limited! Look at the site map and then call (800) 562-3428 or (865) 448-2241 for availability. They are giving us 20% off the 2008 April prices. Make sure you mention Classic Minis United to get the discount. Note: The event is over late on Saturday the 25, so, you'll want to check out on the 26th.

Co-host Hotel 
Tally Ho Inn website
Call 800-448-2465 ASAP and reserve a room. They are also giving a club discount of 20%, mention Classic Minis United. Note: The event is over late on Saturday the 25, so, you'll want to check out on the 26th.

Co-co-host Hotel
Highland Manor Inn website
Call 800-213-9462/865-448-2211. They are close (about a mile) from the KOA and holding a small block of rooms until March 15th. They are giving a 10% discount on their lowered non-season rate. Tell them you're with Classic Minis United. Do it soon! Note: The event is over late on Saturday the 25, so, you'll want to check out on the 26th.

Registration
It is a BIG help to know how many Minis/people are coming, please help us and register ASAP. Click HERE for the registration form, please print, fill in, and mail it to us. All entries must be sent through the mail, we are not set-up to do email/electronic entries. 

Schedule
Click HERE for the tentative schedule. This will be updated with more specifics as soon as possible. 

T-shirts by dooderwear
With this being such a special event, we wanted a special T-shirt to represent it for many years to come. When it comes to Mini T's there's really only one name, dooderwear! Lucky for us, Dooder is a club member and runs a CMU chapter in Oklahoma; He was happy to design our event shirts. Take a look HERE and see the limited edition, pre-order only shirts.

Car show
As with any event, time is limited, so at CMU we look at car shows a little differently. Since we like to spend a lot of time driving our Minis and seeing/exploring the areas around the event, our car show voting takes place during the entire event, while we're driving or parked. We also combine the usual 20+ classes into 4. For this event the classes are A: Saloon sliding window B: Saloon roll up window C: Variants D: Non A series powered. This means if you win your class, you have one of the the overall top Minis in North America!

Party hat contest!
Everybody knows you can't have a birthday party without party hats! If you decorate your head and win, we'll decorate your Mini head with a new aluminum valve cover and chrome cap! Click HERE for all of the information.

Event flyer
News of this event is spreading fast, but, it's hard to reach classic Minis everywhere! Click HERE and you will go to a printable .pdf flyer that you can take to Mini events. And/or you can forward the file or link to your classic Mini friends. A little bit of your time will make this event and club bigger and better!

Supporters and Sponsors
If you would like to help make this event the biggest and best event ever, we could use your support. Simply put, the more money we raise, the more money we can spend on the event. We kept the entry costs down so everybody can afford it, we got a title sponsor (Mini Sport) to help make the event happen to our standards, now we would like embellish and add to it. If you would like to support the Mini 50 with either cash or merchandise (for an auction or giveaways) please click HERE for more information.

Minimal Motoring has given us 2 sets of these great under seat baskets for the auction! Please let us know in advance if you have something to add to the auction. Bring your checkbook, these baskets are in high demand. Thank you MM!

Thank you sponsors!
Their logos are links, visit them and see some great Mini stuff!.

The Official event shirts by:

Big AL the Mini Mover

Monte Carlo Minis