Classic Breakdowns!

[firedrake1942]

As Morris Minors never ever (well hardly) breakdown I assume this is a staged publicity photo for the AA. Nice lowlight though and from a time where AA patrolmen (and it was all men!) looked the part. I had a key with my first membership and it did unlock the boxes, one of which was just down the road from where I lived in Beaconsfield ! This one is Thorn's Cross (Devon ?). Does anyone know if the car is still with us?

Just found exact location and there is a list on line of all the AA boxes

231
Thorns Cross
Chudleigh 3159
Exeter - Newton Abbot A.380 / at the junction with the Teignmouth B.3192

https://www.theaa.com/resources/Documen ... o-1962.pdf

[firedrake1942]

And An AA Minor Van, coming to the rescue of a Ford. Nice to see the natural order of things preserved on film !

[firedrake1942]

The highland patrol with 2 Minors getting off the ferry.

[firedrake1942]

To redress the balance and OBVIOUSLY (?) another fake !

[firedrake1942]

The RAC have their own Heritage fleet including this one !

[palacebear]

I like the Thorns Cross picture. According to http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk the BGL*** registration was a Bath city council series issued Jan 1950 to Jun 1951. The presence of the Cortina estate in the background dates the pic to Mar 1963 or later, so the Minor looks to be surviving pretty well! The two women appear to be overly-cheerful if they've really had a breakdown! Strange-looking fillet on the front bumper. Looks like the type fitted to very early 'narrow' models...?

[jaekl]

The promotions imply that your car will break down at the call boxes, how convenient. Is that woman really that tall or is she standing on something? She could be standing on the side sill, but the door isn't open.

[BrianHawley]

The promotions imply that your car will break down at the call boxes, how convenient. Is that woman really that tall or is she standing on something? She could be standing on the side sill, but the door isn't open.

She could be in the back. It looks like a soft top.

[philthehill]

The car in question is a soft top and the lady is standing inside the car in the front passenger foot well and she is resting herself on the top of the windscreen.
In the days before mobile phone you either rang the AA/RAC from a public call box if you could find one or trekked to the nearest AA/RAC call box which was marked in the AA/RAC yearbook/handbook.
If you had a problem it was better to get to a AA/RAC call box and then call the AA/RAC for assistance.

[firedrake1942]

The fillet is a left over from the mosquito being cut in half and welded back together 4 " wider (as is the ridge in the bonnet) as the bumpers had already been produce in the narrower width. The fillet was produced so that the bumpers (in a time of austerity) did not go to waste and were on the first good few thousand cars. Someone will surely know how many, In act it may be in Ray Newell's book.

[IaininTenbury]

That lowlight bumper looks like its been assembled incorrectly, with the chrome blades over the top of the fillet. Goodness knows why - a replacement part assembled wrong perhaps? Does look a little like one of the prototype pics though, but obviously not as its a '50/51 reg...

[firedrake1942]

Spot on Ian.

It does look odd. I had always assumed the spacer went over the chrome to mask the cut lines, unless the bumpers were cut before chroming there would have been a lack of chrome on the cut ends.

I have searched in Ray Newell's book but cannot find any definitive number for cars produced with the spacers. Arcane I know, but it would be nice to know.

[palacebear]

See page 39. 'Jan 51. Split bumper and fillet discontinued at car no. 832** RHD (sadly misprinted as 832024... assume 83202 or 83204??) / 81501 LHD'. Without detailed records impossible to tell how many low-light/split bumper cars built as 4-door (introduced Sep 50) had one-piece bumpers from the get-go. My limited resources don't go into enough detail!

[firedrake1942]

Thanks PB I was going blind looking for it last night ! That's almost two years worth of bumpers!

[palacebear]

Just edited my previous. Overlooked the menace of 4-door cars!

[firedrake1942]

Menace ??? Menace ???

[palacebear]

Not literally of course!

[philthehill]

I have max enlarged the photo of the split screen and there does not appear to be a fillet in place only what looks to be a starting handle support behind the full width valance.
Whether it is a trick of the light but the valance appears - more so when enlarged - to be a much lighter colour than the wings so it may be that the car has had a prang the valance replaced and assembled as is.

[IaininTenbury]

I see what you mean about the bumper looking lighter than the car (grey primer?). Still looks like a continuous rear edge to the valance so guessing a spacer/fillet section is there but assembled with the chrome blades on top - a debatably logical way to build one up if you're unfamiliar with the factory arrangement.
All the bumper blades I've seen have been chromed all over, so presumably made, cut, then plated.
Of the two (approx.)years production of split bumpers, I find the new replacement valences a steady, if slow seller... About 2 - 3 pairs each year tbh - an indication of the number of lowlights being restored?

[RobThomas]

Front numberplate looks to have been moved about a bit with several extra holes. Front end shunt?

The bonnet stay is a later type without the chain and between the nose and right hand of the Patrolman there seems to be a thick water hose. Heater added???