Russ Shiel, now resident of Albury, N.S.W., late of Adelaide, even later of Melbourne, with a year in Waterloo, Ontario in between, came late to Mini's, but has kept a VW Kombi alive from 1974 to the present (over a million km), and is thus very adept at replacing cracked heads in air-cooled engines at 50 oC ambient temperatures. Mini's entered his life in the mid-80's when his wife-to-be, then a Miniac, bent her '73 Clubman, which he optimistically decided to re-shell, 'cos it was such a nippy little car - 'was' is the operative word....unfortunately, removal of its nose and engine by a passer-by had also twisted the roof, floor pan, sides, back and doors...it became a donor for what was to come.... 16 Mini's later, 12 of which he still has, plus a garage full of engines, subframes, doors, doors, and doors, Russ is still strictly an amateur, but secure in the knowledge that any problems can be posted to the mini-list, where a wealth of information can be vigorously applied to them.....parts for a current cabrio project have been sourced mostly from information supplied by mini-listers. Best car is a '68 Mk1 Oz Cooper S, daily driver is a 1275 Metro'd '78 Clubman van. Others in various stages of repair range from '64-'80, include Oz and UK Mini's.
Russ's other interest is music, playing guitar, bass and keyboards in a wide range of rock and country-rock groups, then cabaret as the Brooce Brothers in a duo with now-wife Wai (she-of-the-bent-Mini) (you know, all Australians are called Bruce?.....it's a joke..... (!?)), and most recently, in an Aussie bush-band (hence the Kombi - the gear got big for a while...!). Favourite music: The Band and Little Feat, but most music generally. Russ's day job since 1988, after a 12 year stint at the University of Adelaide, is with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization based in a freshwater research lab. at Albury, where he is a principal research scientist working on aquatic microfauna and water quality in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Home: wainess@bigpond.com
Work: shielr@mdfrc.canberra.edu.au
http://www.comp.glam.ac.uk/~minis/minilib/rsbib.htm
Copyright © 1996, Russ Shiel - validated (3.2s)