Built to last

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Working on the car today I realised how these old cars are built to last, and how buyer's attitudes to vehicle longevity have changed. I believe in preservation rather than restoration, so after a good jet wash and waxoyl these areas will live even longer.

Remarkably this car has 89,000 miles and 56 years under its belt. Still in regular use and has to travel muddy country tracks all year round.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

And here she is hard at work in the unforgiving Pennines weather last year:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Photos of other members' cars would be good, especially working examples, the more battered the better.

[Trickydicky]

Well said Jowett!

As most people on here will already be aware, the key to keeping cars like this on the road is to keep on top of any problems early. Rot problems soon snowball and because the cars are so well built the tin worm devours metal at an alarming rate.

[chesney]

34000 miles (assume 134000). 54 years. She had just under 30,000 when I got her in March.


In use

Resto project. 11000 (assume 111000). 51 years. Not actually in use, but will be soon ;)

[les]

JJ----- 803 engine on ebay Item 280945529789.

[chickenjohn]

Good for you! Keep on washing and waxoyling!

(and I think the 1950's cars seem to survive better, higher quality steel?)

[MarkyB]

I think they last better too, they may have been better built and cared for too.
Black paint is probably the most robust as well.

[wilfred]

And it's amazing how many restorable '50's Minors keep turning up. They made them well.
Enjoying this thread

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Les - thanks for the tip but I missed that one and also too far away. A very helpful member on here has kindly offered me a good 803 crank so she will be overhauled soon.

Keep photos coming. Over 100k in any old car is remarkable - Chesney now you have to get it to 200k!

My own theory about the 50s cars lasting for so long is that firstly, cars (especially new cars) were hard to obtain in 50s Britain, so would have been well looked after. Also, there were no motorways and public transport ruled so many private cars didn't cover huge mileage (people also lived within walking/cycling distance to work and a car was a luxury for holidays and long trips etc).
The steel was very thick and the cars were built like tanks. I like to demonstrate the build quality of mine by thumping the wings. The fist comes off worst. People back then expected cars to last a good long time (in Europe at least - the USA was different) and they would likely remain in the same family for very many years.

However, if my car had been on its umpteenth owner by the mid 60s, and the engine was worn out as it is now, it would probably have ended up being dumped in an old quarry somewhere, as they were all old bangers once upon a time. (Some still are )
As it is I am only the 3rd owner from new and like to keep it running.

[chesney]

If petrol rises anymore it might not make it to 140,000
To be fair, the resto has a very tired 1098 engine in it, but it is a '61, so should have a 948 in it. My daily is on its original engine though, but that's fairly tired so I am rebuilding another one to take its place.
My assumption was (and it may be incorrect) that these cars were designed to be put together by men in factories quickly - with limited tools (compared to today). So welders etc aren't to the same spec as now, so all floor panels, mountings etc had to be made of thick metal to cope with the limited machinery, which makes them more durable obviously.. And there is more to weld to which is probably why cars of later eras have found their way into kettles. my two pennies worth

[MarkyB]

Are the earlier cars made from thicker metal or is it just more rust resistant, maybe due to better painting?
Buying a car back then was a much bigger deal and buyers weren't spoiled for choice like they are these days.

[chesney]

This is quite interesting - older models would have been less desirable in comparison to models 10, 20, 30 years later, so they would be the ones rotting in a field first. I think what we have to thank is britains concept of buying as cheap as possible and then maintaining their 'barguin'. So thanks to our second hand market. Who knows, it could save the mk1 focus ;)

[morris van]

A friend of mine had a Morris Ital company car from new and after six months noticed it was starting to rust around the wheel arches,then one day doing 70 along the motorway the engine fell out the car.When the recovery lorry came to tow it off the road he looked under the car it was totally rotten and and when it was taken back to my friends place of work a person came from Morris to look at it and could not believe it and took all the company cars back as they were all going rotten and they were all scrapped.

[les]

Your friend must have had the radio on loud, as I should imagine there would be a hell of a warning prior to an engine dropping out!!

[morris van]

There was no warning,it happened in a split second and there was two scratch marks on the tarmac where the engine hit the road for a few years after.There was skid marks on the road as well as in the car

[IaininTenbury]

It'ss certainly more of a challenge keeping a Marina on the road than a Minor. Hence my two Marina's are waiting bodywork attention, and I#m running two Minors everyday, a '53 and a 64 van... Only recent structural problem with the Minor was the handbrake bracket breaking off the floor leaving a very floppy handbrake lever! Soon sorted with some weld, but the shoddy build quality only lasted 59years, not the 60 I was hoping for
A few years ago, a neighbour gave me her A registered Ital after it had failed the MOT, I had a look at the failure points and found that the rear axle was mainly attached to the car by the brake hose and propshaft and little else. I drove it very steadily to work, where it became a doner for several other Marinas and Minors.... Now of course they are very rare cars

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

It's odd that Marinas/Itals are such rust buckets when other BL cars of the time were fairly well rustproofed/resistant.

But I think if you compare the Marina to its main competitors, namely the Ford Cortina, Hillman Minx, Avenger etc and Vauxhall Vivas, they didn't do too badly because these other cars are also very rare nowadays.

[IaininTenbury]

Basically the 70s wasn't an auspicious era for car longevity. Design had progressed enough that any over engineering was engineered out, and costings were worked out pretty carefully. But rust proofing was still a bit of an afterthought as it were and there were plenty of moisture traps. I don't think Marinas were much worse than any contempories really. Most cars of that era are pretty unusual sights these days.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Unfortunately it's what happens when the accountants run the company. Like Rootes when Chrysler took over or more recently Mercedes-Benz in the 90s.

[MarkyB]

other BL cars of the time were fairly well rustproofed/resistant

Which ones do you have in mind?