Tour UK to Spain with a Morris Minor in august 2014

[bicton]

My name is Jose, I use to live in Devon a few years ago and I fall in love with Morris Minors Cars.

We are a Spanish couple with a 3 years old girl, In august we are together 10 years so I want to do something really expecial for to be remembered all our lives, I´m planning a trip to the UK with a big surprise...she knows I love Morris Minor cars and the idea is to buy one and spend some days around visiting nice places like National Trust properties etc...on the south and enjoying the car around the coast of Devon and Cornwall, then get the boat from Plymouth to Santander and go all the way down with the car visiting nice places in Spain like Burgos, Valladolid, Segovia, Toledo, Aranjuez and finally get home in Alicante.

The problems are:

1. No experience with Morris Minors before
2. I don´t have a big budget for this. around 2000-3000 GBP for the whole trip, so for the car around 1000-1500 GBP I guess
3. Driving with our daugther

The good things:

1. Plenty of illusion to make this adventure with the family
2. Very good friends in Devon they can help us.
3. We have no time restrictions in august after the day 10th and we can vary our trip.
4. To know this forum.
5. Driving with our daughter



As I said I have no experience with Morris Minors before so all the help I can get from here will be much apreciated like select the adecuate car, where to install the seat belt for the children seat, trips to do around, accomodation around the tour...

We are planing to film and photograph all the event and then make a blog, article, book etc...

Thank you for all your support.

[brucek]

¡Hola Jose

Sounds like a great trip. Try this car - it's up in Lincoln (the middle of the UK) but I know the family who are selling it and it is just at the top of your price range but it is a very sound car keep us posted on your progress

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1960-2-door-M ... 43cc4b7da5

[RichardLewis]

Hello from CANADA and best wishes. You will have the trip of your life,one to remember forever. You have picked the perfect car for your adventure. Good luck. Richard

[rayofleamington]

Any classic car road-trip is a gamble, but you can reduce the chances of breaking down very much, just by doing good servicing and running the car regularly for a few months before the trip...

However as you are buying the car, then the best idea is to find one that is already used regularly. Also there are good cars and very bad cars available for the same price. I would hope you can get someone in UK to look at the car for you.

How much car repairs have you done in the past?
When you're on the journey, make sure you can get internet access. If you do break down, the internet is useful to find a solution! The problem with a recovery service is that you do not get much choice about which garage to go to or you can be taken home - for your trip you want to get the car working again to finish the journey.

[charlie_morris_minor]

have you got a price for the boat trip yet.. it can be very expensive during the summer holidays, it might eat more out of your budget than you thought.. best of luck by the way

[brucek]

Hello from CANADA and best wishes. You will have the trip of your life,one to remember forever. You have picked the perfect car for your adventure. Good luck. Richard

Similar to Jose, I too am planning a once in a lifetime trip. OK it's gonna be mega-expensive and will probably take at least three to six months to do it properly but having friends and family all over Canada and the US - especially in BC (in and around Kelowna and Chilliwack). The idea is to ship the car to Halifax and fly over to meet it and pick it up. Then drive to St Johns, Newfoundland and then travel the entire length of the Trans-Canada highway (one of the three longest continuous roads in the world)meeting family and friends along the way before ending up in Vancouver not quite figured out how I get the car home again - might have to drive back to the East coast via the USA would make a helluva story for Minor Matters, then I could publish a book, become fabuously wealthy as a quirky travel writer and then...... If I get over - I'll come and look you up Richard

[RichardLewis]

Hi and welcome, I am between Vancouver and Chilliwack on the trans Canada highway # 1 village called Aldergrove. Last time I was in UK was 1997, we did UK ,continent and into Spain,Barcelona and area.Motoring all way. fantastic trip! Driving an Opel wagon. Hope to see you. Phone 604-309-3144 Richard

[brucek]

Location noted Richard - will def look you up when the trip gets going ;-)

[bicton]

Any classic car road-trip is a gamble, but you can reduce the chances of breaking down very much, just by doing good servicing and running the car regularly for a few months before the trip...

However as you are buying the car, then the best idea is to find one that is already used regularly. Also there are good cars and very bad cars available for the same price. I would hope you can get someone in UK to look at the car for you.

How much car repairs have you done in the past?
When you're on the journey, make sure you can get internet access. If you do break down, the internet is useful to find a solution! The problem with a recovery service is that you do not get much choice about which garage to go to or you can be taken home - for your trip you want to get the car working again to finish the journey.

Thank you for all you recommendations rayofleamington, its a bit risky as you said, I only done the usually things like change oil, filter, fuses and change wheels, nothing especial, so I will try to study before as much as possible about it.

[bicton]

Hello from CANADA and best wishes. You will have the trip of your life,one to remember forever. You have picked the perfect car for your adventure. Good luck. Richard

Similar to Jose, I too am planning a once in a lifetime trip. OK it's gonna be mega-expensive and will probably take at least three to six months to do it properly but having friends and family all over Canada and the US - especially in BC (in and around Kelowna and Chilliwack). The idea is to ship the car to Halifax and fly over to meet it and pick it up. Then drive to St Johns, Newfoundland and then travel the entire length of the Trans-Canada highway (one of the three longest continuous roads in the world)meeting family and friends along the way before ending up in Vancouver not quite figured out how I get the car home again - might have to drive back to the East coast via the USA would make a helluva story for Minor Matters, then I could publish a book, become fabuously wealthy as a quirky travel writer and then...... If I get over - I'll come and look you up Richard

Thats sounds amazing Brucek! you have here a potential customer for the book!

[bicton]

Hi and welcome, I am between Vancouver and Chilliwack on the trans Canada highway # 1 village called Aldergrove. Last time I was in UK was 1997, we did UK ,continent and into Spain,Barcelona and area.Motoring all way. fantastic trip! Driving an Opel wagon. Hope to see you. Phone 604-309-3144 Richard

Thank you RichardLewis!

[bicton]

have you got a price for the boat trip yet.. it can be very expensive during the summer holidays, it might eat more out of your budget than you thought.. best of luck by the way

Yes Charlie price for the boat trip is around 425 GBP + plane tickets Alicante - Bristol 200 GBP...

Thank you

[RichardLewis]

Have you considered shipping car to Vancouver,flying people to Vancouver,get car tour West Coast then driving east to ship car home from East coast ? Cheaper when you take into account price gasoline, 3600 miles one way straight line! Richard

[bicton]

Please mates, people can misunderstand about this post, this is about a trip UK to Spain, you can pm him to continue about Canada trip.

Thank you.

[John C]

Hello. I have done part of what you are proposing in an old car. Last year, we took the Portsmouth to Santander ferry with a 1973 Land Rover and drove around Spain camping for two weeks. I will answer any questions that I can but here are a few points;
1. The UK to Spain ferries get a lot cheaper at the end of UK school holidays - late August.
2. I carried a basic selection of spares and a big bag of tools reasoning that if I couldn't fix the car by the side of the road, if I had the bits with me a local garage would be able to help
3. We kept to back roads and were gentle with the car and I checked the oil and water every morning.
4. Because of some of the big climbs in the Picos etc, a temperature gauge may be a useful addition to a Minor (as it was in the Land Rover) or even an electric Kenlowe fan.
5. I took a spare inner tube of the right size as so many tyre places only deal with tubeless tyres these days

We really enjoyed ourselves and it was worth every penny and every mile! Good luck

[brucek]

Sorry Jose - it seems my mention of Canada has hi-jacked your original thread - Apologies for that - please folks - if you wanna talk about Canada send me a pm

Is the car on the link I sent you too expensive??

[bicton]

Hello. I have done part of what you are proposing in an old car. Last year, we took the Portsmouth to Santander ferry with a 1973 Land Rover and drove around Spain camping for two weeks. I will answer any questions that I can but here are a few points;
1. The UK to Spain ferries get a lot cheaper at the end of UK school holidays - late August.
2. I carried a basic selection of spares and a big bag of tools reasoning that if I couldn't fix the car by the side of the road, if I had the bits with me a local garage would be able to help
3. We kept to back roads and were gentle with the car and I checked the oil and water every morning.
4. Because of some of the big climbs in the Picos etc, a temperature gauge may be a useful addition to a Minor (as it was in the Land Rover) or even an electric Kenlowe fan.
5. I took a spare inner tube of the right size as so many tyre places only deal with tubeless tyres these days

We really enjoyed ourselves and it was worth every penny and every mile! Good luck

Thank you very much John C, for all you recomendations, they are very value for me:

1 I worried when I reach to middle Spain and the temperature goes higher and higher will damage the car, so I will look for the temperature gauge or an electric kenlowe fan.

2 The idea is don´t push to much every day maybe 200 milles max and as you said water and oil check every day.

3 Tools in a big bag and spare inner tube right size a great idea too!

4 I checked on the Britannyferries web and the price for the 24 and 31 are the same 326 GBP.


Please can you tell me what do you think about this Morris?


http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=56368

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-Morris-M ... RTM1793568

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C522447


Thank you again!

[bicton]

Sorry Jose - it seems my mention of Canada has hi-jacked your original thread - Apologies for that - please folks - if you wanna talk about Canada send me a pm

Is the car on the link I sent you too expensive??

No problem Brucek, Canada sounds amazing for a big tour for sure!

Yes unfortunatelly I can´t reach that price now.

Cheers

[brucek]

OK well, I'll keep looking in my area - really hope you get the chance to do your trip

The car in the advert you posted a link to looks fairly sound. I would think you would want to renew all the brakes and tyres for your trip anyway but as far as the structure goes it looks fairly sound. Good luck with the bidding if you decide to go for it. Maybe someone else on here is near Frodsham/Runcorn/Widnes or a member of the North Wales or Manchester branches and could volunteer to go and have a look at it for you??

[John C]

4 I checked on the Britannyferries web and the price for the 24 and 31 are the same 326 GBP.


Please can you tell me what do you think about this Morris?


http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=56368

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1968-Morris-M ... RTM1793568

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C522447


Thank you again!

Maybe it is later that it gets cheaper or maybe the pricing structure has changed. I have been on the ferry a couple of times (but only once with an old car) and once we went out in the expensive period and came back in the cheaper one. With the Land Rover we booked a later trip (after school hols) to make it cheaper.

Re Minors for sale on line/on eBay etc - there is no substitute for actually seeing a car; looking at the floor under the carpets, prodding the sills, listening to the engine and so on which are all things that can't be done on line.

Good luck!