1948 MM arrived

[RichardBarnes]

Hi there,
I thought I'd share some pictures of my newly acquired car, a 1948 series MM 2 door saloon.
I'd love to get more history, I do know its a December 1948 car, first registered in Victoria in April 1949, long boat journey no doubt caused the delay. It was first registered NA888. Sadly in Australia we cannot retain old numbers, especially when moving state.
It has interesting early features such as the rear light, no vents for windscreen demisting, no heater.
The USHM2 engine is original too, and lacks water pump and oil filter.
I drove it 20 miles yesterday and it was a delight. Needs some recommissioning after a 10-year rest, so will report my newby attempts to refurbish the brakes and suspension rubbers. It's so original and rust-free I won't upgrade anything, such as the 7" front brakes, only maintenance. When I see the rust MMs people tackle in the UK I feel guilty how easy we have it here.

[RichardBarnes]

More pics.
I'm fascinated by the earliest cars, does anyone know how many 1948s are out there and how many have the very early rear lights?

[ManyMinors]

That is a beauty. Very few early cars in the UK now. I suppose the MM Register is the only source of information really?
Our climate and all the salt that was put down on our roads during the long winters didn't help the survival of old cars. Cars quickly became of little value once a few years old and because of low values, owners didn't want to spend money on repairs, so older cars soon became worthless AND in poor condition so it was only the very keen who kept old cars in good condition. Even 50 years ago an MM was a rare sight on UK roads.

[jagnut66]

Very, very nice!
Good luck, you soon pick things up and there are plenty on here who will help you with anything you're not sure of.
Best wishes,
Mike.

[alanworland]

Looks Very Nice - enjoy!

Alan

[RobThomas]

Nice!

Still got the rubber bits on the battery stay, the wooden battery rails and still has wire-wrap hose clips. Those bits aren't common over here. The coil and battery clamps would be on my list of things to look out for. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

Any chance of a photo of the top and bottom surface of the gear stick knob? Has been the subject of debate for years.

[JohnV]

Richard

What a lovely and superb example. Truly, congratulations on acquiring the car. The degree of originality is remarkable.

I must admit, along with some other early cars, photos like these will be most helpful with restoration of my April 1949 'USA' Tourer which was also originally maroon.

Can you tell if that's original paint? I ask because the original maroon (which I think may have been a shade or two darker, but very hard to tell in photos on the Internet) was known to fade or "bloom" after time in bright sunlight, leading to many of the 1948-50 maroon cars being repainted.

What do you know of the car's history before yourself?

best, jv.

[RichardBarnes]

I'm going to have to ferret around behind the firewall (bulkhead) to check the correct shade. I think it was resprayed 20 years ago; it always was maroon. It's actually a very dark marron, bergundy wine colour. I had a maroon B Morris in the 1970s and it was much redder.
Photo of gearknob on way, but I see it has raised relief and a milled edge. Richard
Finally, it's running very sweetly but are electronic replacements for points/condenser worthwhile?

[JohnV]

I'm going to have to ferret around behind the firewall (bulkhead) to check the correct shade. I think it was resprayed 20 years ago; it always was maroon. It's actually a very dark marron, bergundy wine colour. I had a maroon B Morris in the 1970s and it was much redder.

That was my thought too. The bits of original maroon paint I've found on mine (which was largely stripped to primer, sprayed black, then sprayed a bad version of Romain Green, probably 50+ years ago) were much darker than most photos of maroon Minors I see.

I like the "burgundy wine colour" description. Very appropriate.

[RichardBarnes]

Here are a couple of pics of the gear knob as requested. It has a real patina of age, so may well be original.

[RobThomas]

knob1.jpg (60.59 KiB) Viewed 4223 times

So, the top one in this pic is a likely candidate. I think the raised digits are all worn away.

Thanks for the pictures. very helpful.

[RobThomas]

https://www.gcpawn.com/search/product.p ... =703000067

Not far off. TMS4EK Snap On Speedbrace handle.

[RichardBarnes]

Now that I've been driving my 1948 MM for a month, I've now received its Heritage certificate, which confirms she's a December '48 model, and all the numbers (engine, rear axle body, chassis, key) are correct, as is the colour. At the risk of getting a bit too nerdy, I'm curious if anyone knows if the door seal (pictured below) is the correct Sorbo I read about in Ray Newell's book?
Thanks folks.download/file.php?mode=view&id=15644

[Scott]

That looks to be Bob Terry's old MM, I'm sure he's was #1125. If so, it made it's way to NSW about 10 years ago then seemingly disappeared.
The Sorbo door seal is basically round sponge rubber so it looks like it might be a similar material on your car.

[RichardBarnes]

Yes it is Bob and Lorraine’s old car. Bob sadly passed away last year. I spoke to Lorraine and she sent me photos of its restoration in the 1980s. It’s doing great service, took it to the beach last weekend! Do you know the car?
Richard