Was wondering if anyone here might be able to enlighten me
Through another thread on this forum I've realised that my seats are not standard and that the car may have been fitted out by the government as a disabled car.
Is this such a seat? And what's the story behind such cars? How come the government was buying them and altering them?
Yes that looks like the right type of seat. Usually the car will also have plain door trims , one sun visor and no overriders fitted. Sorry cant tell you much more on the subject!
That is not a standard seat - you guessed right, it's one of the special issue versions.
Well before the days of the 'plastic-pig' (not the reliant one - the government commisioned 3 wheel disabled car), the government sought to give equal mobility to disabled people.
There were many thousands of Minors brought into service receiving modifications for disabled drivers prior to first registration. This info is usually shown if you get a FBHVC production trace certificate, although their records are not 100% complete.
These modifications varied over the years, and included modified seats, assisted clutch control, modified instrumentation (moved or adapted switches) etc... And also varied depending on needs.
Morris took the opportunity on the government disabled cars to use up old or cheaper stocks of part. On the very early Minor 1000 they used up the stock of bonnets and bootlids from the series 2 minors (different badges etc..) and also fitted the SII interior including the SII seats on sliders. On the later Minor 1000's they used plain interior panels (without the trim lines melted into the vinyl). Over-riders were an optional-extra until later on in production, and therefore never got fitted to the special issue Minors.
One very obvious sign of your car's special history is the folding seat on sliders. I'd guess this car dates from the mid 60's or later. They used an adapted version of the standard seat with folding back (similar to van passenger seat) and mounted it on a pair of sliders that sit on wooden wedges to make a level platform. I think the seats on sliders was to allow easier acces and accomodation of people with leg problems.
Ray. MMOC#47368. Forum moderator.
Jan 06: The Minor SII Africa adventure: http://www.minor-detour.com
Oct 06: back from Dresden with my Trabant 601 Kombi
Jan 07: back from a month thru North Africa (via Timbuktu) in a S3 Landy
June 07 - back from Zwickau Trabi Treffen
Aug 07 & Aug 08 - back from the Lands End to Orkney in 71 pickup
Sept 2010 - finally gave up breaking down in a SII Landy...
where to break down next?
2013... managed to seize my 1275 just by driving it round the block
My car does have plain door cards, I had just thought that was someones later DIY job. (Is the fact that the rear quarters (3 door) have no arm rests probably original to then?)
It also has no Over-riders. I haven't noticed any other differences but am gonna have to have a closer look now
