Her dad, Mick Shanks is a member of the club and her beautiful Mini panel van lives here in Parkes.

It’s a car that really stands out so it’s certainly worth a feature.

Kristin tells me that she’s always loved the Mini’s ever since seeing one in her Auntie’s shed in Dubbo when she was a kid and nagging her to sell it to her.

As it turned out her uncle David here in Parkes had this Mini panel van at home and so Kristin actually first learnt to drive in this very same car in the back yard at her Nan’s house.

So keen was Kristin to drive it all the time that dad, Mick, had to disconnect the battery to stop her.

It wasn’t long before Kristin had worked that out and nothing would stop her.

She was still mad keen on a Mini and had moved away to Goulburn when Dad and her uncle David surprised her with the Mini on her 17th birthday.

They’d restored the Mini panel van that she’d messed around in as a youngster and now it was her first ever car on the road.

The Mini is a 1974 Leyland Mini that David had bought years ago.

It was a Parkes vehicle, having originally been purchased from Webb’s Leyland dealership in Bushmans Street.

When David and Mick restored it 15 years ago they painted it in a Ford colour – Polar White before surprising Kristin with it.

Initially Kristin admits to being a bit disappointed.

She wasn’t ungrateful by any means at all, but just always had her heart set on a little Mini.

She soon realised and appreciated the virtues of the panel van.

“It was great for moving house and it’s surprising how much you can fit in it,” Kristin said.

She even modified the front seats a little so they could easily be removed to allow her to sleep full length in the back.

Like lots of old cars there was always that problem of breaking down in the middle of nowhere so sleeping in the back was a good option.

Kristin doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty when it comes to the Mini either.

One of the earlier engines blew a head gasket, so she got the books out and discovered how to pull it down, then carted the head with her on the train to get the surface ground before replacing the gasket and putting it back together.

On another occasion, just to prove a point to her dad, she and a friend, Bec Ryan from Wollongong decided to replace the master cylinder and slave cylinder and bleed the brakes, so they sat on the footpath with a bottle of wine and some nibbles reading the workshop manual, then successfully tackled the job in the driveway.

There were certainly some great stories in the early days of the van, like chasing people up the footpath just because the Mini would easily fit there; and seeing how many friends they could pile into the van – the record was 13.

After driving the Mini around for years, Kristin decided it needed a makeover.

She had the engine replaced with a bigger 1275cc Mini S motor with a bigger exhaust and bought those hot looking mag wheels from the UK.

They’re 13” x 7” and she also had wheel arch flares added to the guards to accommodate them.

The colour was changed this time to a GMH purple called Morpheus which certainly makes the Mini stand out.

Since then it’s taken out a first place trophy for its class at the Parkes Car Show a few years ago.

With the car back here while she’s in Sydney, Kristin only gets the chance to drive it when she’s home but she enjoys it all the same.

If you would like to find out more about the CWCC you can look it up at www.centralwestcarclub.com or come along to their Charity Show and Shine on Saturday, October 15, at Pioneer Oval with cars and bikes on display, market stalls and the PAMC’s annual swap meet.