Since I'm still new to these forums , I thought it would be a good idea to get started by telling the story of our car. We've only had her for a short while but we've grown very fond of her and had a few memorable adventures this summer. We've named her "Duchess".
The car in question is a 1959 Morris Minor 1000 2 door saloon, sold in Sweden and thus LHD. It is my wife's car (I've previously been more of a "Volvo guy" but my wife has always liked Moggies) and we bought her from an elderly man in the south of Sweden in preparation for the summer of this year. I think the story behind the car is quite interesting so I'll tell it below.
Story of the car:
Duchess was in very poor condition when the previous owner bought her from a friend in the mid 80's, apparently it was a spur of the moment kind of deal -he'd never seen the car and the transaction took place during a Midsummers Eve celebration... The next day they drove out to look at the car, which was parked in a field and had started to grow over, and he realized that it would be a big project. Being a man of his word he didn't want to back out of the deal.
The first challenge was moving the car from the field. I don't know how long she sat there but I was told that the engine had seized at that time. With patience, a lot of penetrating oil and some mild persuasion they did get the engine to spin freely and could tow her from the field with a tractor.
At that time the previous owner worked at a well-known manufacturer of baby carriers here in Sweden and he used that to his advantage by, for example, having some workmates do the paint and also the chrome after hours at the factory! The restoration took several years and the owner himself did most of the mechanical and bodywork. Repairs included -all new brakes, replacement of much of the floor panels and the central cross member, a full respray etc. A lot of years has passed since then and while the car is still in a nice condition, she is by no means flawless.
After finishing the car the man drove her quite sparingly, probably only 100 miles/year or so. When we bought her he'd been successively reducing fleet of vehicles over the last few years, but had kept Duchess as long as he did since she was his first serious restoration project (at least the first car he did, he started with motorcycles).
What we've been up to this far (short version):
The drive back home (60 miles or so) went without a hitch and was followed up by a general mechanical overview and service. I had a few issues with the voltage regulator early on that were solved and we've since then managed to participate in two classic car rallies and a vacation totaling about 1500 miles.
In parallel with all of this we also started a YouTube channel where we do retro-themed videos, frequently featuring Duchess. I'm by no means an experienced mechanic but I try to learn as much as possible and do all the work on the car myself (with a helping hand from my wife and father-in-law). I try to document a lot of the work in videos as well.
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In closing, my intention with this thread is to document ongoing mechanical and cosmetic work on the car and share some of the other adventures as well! Over time I will add some links to relevant videos where I work on the car.
Lastly I'll attach a few pictures taken during the summer on trips etc.
Thanks for reading and any feedback!
