The Old Moto Morini Club of Australia
The Moto Morini Club of Australia was first formed towards the end of 1982 by a group of keen Morini owners. In March 1982 there was an organized run down to Apollo Bay in Victoria attracting about seven Morinis. Later in that year, 20 people turned up for a meeting at the Whitehorse Inn. Then early in November '82 a meeting at the Brunswick Hotel drew 10 Morinis. Finally, after a track day Ross Gray, Mike Baker, Andrew Mitchell, Adrian Griffin, Dave Hutchinson and Mary Callanan formed a committee to lay the framework for the club and draught a constitution. The Moto Morini Club of Australia was born with Ross Gray - president, Andrew Mitchell - secretary, Adrian Griffin - editor and Mary Callanan - treasurer. A display stand was erected at one of the motorcycle shows in Melbourne towards the end of '82 and the first edition of the magazine appeared at the end of that year. During 1983 there were several runs, camping weekends and race meetings (Winton Races and Bathurst). Shane McCartin later that year took over as treasurer.
The magazine was full of stuff that current Morini owners still debate today. Things like improving the Morini clutch, balancing the carbies, upgrading the headlight electrics, swing arm bushes and which oil to use. A small chapter was started in Western Australia by Bevan White and grew to about ten members. Towards the end of 1984 the club badge, as seen above, was produced. The club continued through the years running rides, staging events and producing the magazine. In its heyday, there were about 60 members Australia wide.
Above - Club run up to Warburton - mid 1980's (photos courtesy of Ian Clark)
Opposite - Pyramid Hill Rally 1985 (photos courtesy of Malcolm Anderson)
Peter Booth, Ian Clark and Shane McCartin were active members.
During 1988 interest in the club started to wane. This was probably due to the fact that no Morinis had been imported into Australia since 1984 and the existing Morinis were stuck somewhere between a modern and a classic motorcycle. Finally in 1989 the club folded and Morinis on the road became a rare sight.
Then in 1998, with the Morini old enough to be considered a classic, a new Morini Register of Australia was formed. For some time Peter Bradley in NSW and Ian Barnes in Victoria were independently gathering names of Moto Morini owners with a view to getting an association started. It was inevitable that sooner or later they would stumble across each other. The result was the formation of Moto Morini Register of Australia. This grew into the The Classic Italian Motorcycle Association of Australia (CIMAA) and continues to this day. Quite a few of the former Morini owners from the old club came out of the woodwork to form CIMAA with nine Morinis lined up at the first meeting.