Morris Minor savvy Mechanics list ?

[Zuma]

Just a thought after a quick search of this site.

Might it be a good idea to compile an area go to list here when one needs a Mechanic, Garage. bodywork bod, sympathetic and familiar to Morris Minor restoration/repair and vintage cars in general .

I see the odd ask here and everyone knows someone but a list of tried and tested go to competent folks would stop a lot of scratching around.

If there is a list already please excuse me asking.

All best all.

[Classiccars]

Getting hard to find people to work on Classics.The skills are lost as they earn from every day car work.When you find somebody you need to make an instant and long standing friend on the spot.

[Chief]

but a list of tried and tested go to competent folks would stop a lot of scratching around.

The trouble is that everyone has their own horror stories to tell, even of the tried and tested places, and it used to be the case you weren't permitted to name them, all you could do is call them "a restorer".

As an example:
A well known restorer did not put one of my chrome hubcaps on properly, nor did they tighten up the brake pipes on my car. They also threw out my original crash pad and parcel tray, replacing them with the more modern black one (duotone cars should be beige parcel trays and fleck roof lining crash pads). This led to total braking failure when all the fluid left the system, on a busy, fast moving road, nearly resulting in a bad accident. A verbal apology and a replacement stainless steel hubcap was given.

The same restorer set fire to the whole interior of a relatives car (welding sparks), they were given a worse condition interior as an apology.

This same restorer has had many happy customers comment on their work over the years on the forums.


Another restorer (A) charged several thousand for welding work. A couple of years after, my car started to look in a sorry state again (for example the flat sections of the front wings could be pulled away from the car) and was booked in at a different restorer (B) who was recommended by some new relatives, albeit meaning a 400+ mile journey for the car.

(B) couldn't believe what they found, basically filler and welding onto rust. (A) had never cut out the rusty metal but welded wire (as I understand it) to the rust and welded onto that, even though apparently this was probably more difficult than cutting out the rust and replacing it with new metal to weld on to.

This led to us having to pay for all the work to be carried out again by (B) meaning the price of the original quote was doubled.

And even years later, the club's official helpline was still recommending (A) to people as a potential place for work to be carried out. I'd imagine they'd have a disclaimer though, as in these are not official recommendations, just companies that list themselves as working on Minors.

Of course (A) is/was unable to be named to people due to the rules, so people just had to take their chance if they did find their way to using them. Either way (A) never gets mentioned these days, so I see no need to drag up the past naming them now even if it were permitted.

However, as I've been extremely happy with (B) I can name them for you as:
Minor Services, Witchford, Ely

[Zuma]

Thanks for informative heads up Chief ..good reading as per.

Sent you a pm yesterday. All best.

[Zuma]

Classiccars..Hi and thanks for message.

Talking to a Mechanic , body expert in County Durham last week that knows his classics..he told me typical labour charge for 2 sills is £1400 without the parts cost included. I was going to strike up a freindship but ran off!

Lucky escape I had ..pheww! I suppose thats the norm as regards pricing on that kind of basic job on a Morris Minor though.

Ta.

[Chief]

Sent you a pm yesterday. All best.

As a heads up, no new PMs since July '22 for me.