Minoring in the snow

[Dryad]

Here in Norfolk we had around 10" (15cm) of snow last night, so I thought I would take my Minor out for a run in it today. It started first time, as usual, and I even managed to humiliate a driver in a nondescript modern car who was trying to drive up a slight hill and couldn't get anywhere, whilst I just trundled on past them up the hill. Anyway, here's a few pics:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Anyone else take theirs out today?

[AM8255]

Yes I did, it's great fun driving a Morris in the snow drifting through the corners.
Although my girlfriend sitting next to me thought otherwise.

Edward

[bmcecosse]

Oh dear - I can almost hear the rust munching away at the undersides........

[Dryad]

Oh dear - I can almost hear the rust munching away at the undersides........

No you can't! It's all VERY well protected with several layers of Bilt Hamber's Electrox and a decent quality underseal, then Dynax S-50 in ALL the cavities. A few rust spots on the wings, but very solid. It might not look like it but I do look after it. I'm one of those who believe a Minor should be used every day, and not kept as a museum piece. It sailed through its MOT last September.

[markthe45king]

M25 last night in a blizzard....only issue was the windscreen wipers not quite keeping up, sailed round it otherwise. I think maybe as we have to drive slightly differently anyway we are in some ways better equipped in this weather!

[chrisryder]

Very pleased to see the minor being used in all weathers. Like it was designed to be...

I'd point out that you are technically carrying an unsecured load on your roof. The old-bill can and will get you for it.

Not to mention that under heavy braking the snow could slide forwards over the windscreen and completely block your vision!

[Bob Claydon]

My friend Miriam is safe and sound and ''salt free'' in her own garage and will stay there until this mess is washed away.It's boring I know but it's my choice.Anyone going to the Austin-Morris day at Brooklands (Weybridge) in March ? If it's dry I shall be there.

[chrisryder]

I hope to make it to that. It's a fair old way for me (120 miles each way!) but it's a good day out, and a fine way to start the rally season!

[Dryad]

Very pleased to see the minor being used in all weathers. Like it was designed to be...

I'd point out that you are technically carrying an unsecured load on your roof. The old-bill can and will get you for it.

Not to mention that under heavy braking the snow could slide forwards over the windscreen and completely block your vision!

Yes, it occured to me when I got home, so I promptly removed the snow.

[bmcecosse]

Well - no matter how much protection - if there was salt on the roads......it will get in there. But I agree -it is entirely your choice.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

You got a few bags of sand in the boot? It helps a lot

[M25VAN]

Nice pics Dryad. A big yard broom shifts the snow off the car pretty quick.
Down from Norfolk to Essex Sunday and on to Kent this morning where I have just arrived for work.
Like me the poor old van has to work for a living, only car and all that......
Must say there were plenty of snow ploughs about, must have passed a dozen or so. I think I counted more of them than Eddie Stobart trucks!

[C6Dave]

The narrower tyres on a Minor will cut through the snow and get more grip than the wider lower profile tyres used on many 'modern' cars (unless you spend a lot of money on 'winter' tyres)

It's a fallacy that wider tyres = more grip

I'm with some others though, my convertible is staying well away from salted roads but did get a run out in early January when the weather was clear, roads were dry and rain had washed all the previous salt away .

[aupickup]

i have to use mine everday and had no problems with the salt and crap up till now

[C6Dave]

Yes, but conditions on the South Coast are generally milder in the winter so there is less salt around on the roads than other parts of the country

[Dryad]

For the last couple of years Norfolk County Council claim to be using a salt substitute which is much less corrosive, and it certainly seems to be so.

As it happens, I did have a 25kg sack of coal in the boot, so it certainly seems to help with traction on snow covered roads.

[aupickup]

not really we get salt air all year round

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

a link to a recent vid of Lancashire winter Minoring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU9eoHsE5OM

[AntB]

10" (15cm)

sorry to be a pedant, but i've checked (my wife agrees) you can't pass one of those measurements off as the other

[chickenjohn]

The salt can be washed off the underside, what worries me is not the Minor handling in the snow (which is brilliant for a standard Minor BTW!), is the crappy modern cars with their low ground clearance, high power revvy engines and wide tires, they may lose control and crash into one of my beloved Minors.

Modifiers may wish to think again, if you give the Minor all the characteristics of a modern car ( low ground clearance, high power revvy engines and wide tires,) then your modified Minor will be just as bad in the snow as a modern car. The narrower the tyre the better, my traveller still has 135 tyres on the front and I will use these until they wear out as the car drives better on 135s than on wider tyres. Sadly, 135 14 tyres are no longer available as the world has gone in the wrong direction to wider tyres.