Something very interesting.....

[AndrewSkinner]

Hi all,

Thought I would post this up as it may be of interest to some of you and also I am on the scrounge for some Morris Minor bits too.

A few of you that receive the fantastic ‘Minor Monthly’ magazine may remember that around 4 years ago there was a double page article about a Morris Minor that was used to create a utility vehicle prototype. The creator of this vehicle (Vic Roberts) worked for various car companies, had several large spreads in newspapers and magazines such as ‘Tomorrows World’ and also had a huge input to the design of the first Range Rover.

Unfortunately Vic passed away many years ago leaving his Morris Minor based prototype to his wife Wendy Roberts. The car sat in her garage for tens of years until the magazine did a spread on it. It was just after this I got in touch with Wendy and we agreed that it would be a fantastic idea to get the jeep out and on the road again so people can see it.

This weekend I finally started to work on the jeep and amazingly it has stood the test of time very well. It needs a lot of work to the brakes and engine to make it run again but the chassis, steel Morris floor pan, Sills, aluminium body and running gear are in very good condition (although needing a very good clean, service and paint!

Now the scrounging bit! I wondered if there is anyone out there that would like to donate and old spares to help get the jeep back on the road? The main parts needed so far are just brake slave cylinders and a master cylinder…so I ask, if you have any old spares sitting in your garage and you wouldn’t mind donating a cylinder or two please get in touch.

Here are a few pics of the car when I collected it and the first day of inspection….

Hope you all enjoy the thread and I will keep you updated.
[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
[frame][/frame]
[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[MarkyB]

Interesting, reminded me of the Africar;
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=afric ... 20&bih=896

I'm sure I have a few cylinders around the place, I'll see if any are worth sending.

[AndrewSkinner]

That would be fantastic, thank you very much! you are the first to offer

Today was a tough day of freeing off rusty, gunked up bolts but the engine is out, under the bonnet is stripped and amazingly there is no welding needed! Its in a pretty rough state but after a good jet wash and then sand its ready to be re-painted.

Looking forward to getting it on the road and bringing it to a meet, there is a huge amount of history with it along with other documentation on more famous projects Vic created/worked on.

Ill scan some of it in tomorrow and post it up here.

[AndrewSkinner]

Progress today...[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[stag36587]

"Fascinating" as Spock might say, especially to see how much Minor bodyshell is visible underneath the bespoke panelling.

[davidmiles]

brilliant and original vehicle, unique one might say, with an interesting history, quite a project, you'll not run out of mechanical spares for this. Looking forward to following your posts.

[AndrewSkinner]

Thank you for the positive comments. I have dug out a few more pics that were of Vic and his other creation...an amphibious car! which was also all based on Morris Minor running gear. I still have the engine from this with the adapted engine to run a prop for bot drive and a propeller.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[AndrewSkinner]

and a few more.......[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[davidmiles]

fascinating.. Andrew you've done a lot of research, this guy that built your car seems to be an engineering role model to you. It's nice to have a Icon to follow. This looks to be a worthwhile adventure.

[AndrewSkinner]

Thank you A lot of this has been gratefully passed to me from Wendy. The picture with Wendy in when she was younger was taken in Spain! They drove the jeep all the way. Its such fun to work on and im sure when its road worthy again will be huge fun to drive.

Will be a nice thing to bring to shows, something a little bit different and certainly unusual. It seems Vic was an incredibly good engineer and worked on the first Range Rover. You can really tell from some of the other conceptual drawings I have.

Unfortunately the amphibious vehicle that Vic made was taken from down the side of Wendy's house so isn't there to restore

[davidmiles]

I wonder if Andrew has got any further with this resto, I was really interested in seeing it progress, but it's gone a tad quiet

[AndrewSkinner]

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of replies! In the process of moving house so the Morris Prototype is currently in storage hidden away. I will be moving into my new house at the end of this month (Oct 2013) and finally it will have its own double garage to be pampered in

Once moved I will update you on the progress and some more pics.

[twincamman]

It's great to see stuff like this has survived.

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

A cross between a Hustler and a Moke. Fantastic!