Morris Minor Owners Club

I'd up my order to at least three pairs (just got an MM tourer in to rebuild...). I'd probably have another for stock so we need another 95 takers now...

ManyMinors wrote:

gtt1951 wrote:My March '51 high-light has aluminium kick plates, but the bottom edges have been "eaten" away and I have bought some steel ones, already painted the correct colour (black)

The correct colour is silver. Probably because is closely resembled the aluminium of the earlier cars. The kick plates remained a silver painted finish right to the end of production. They were never body colour.

Well, I finally remembered to take a picture of my first re-entry to Moggie ownership purchase (2012) and they were/are body coloured[frame][/frame]
Guess the garage doing the floor replacement and associated works in 2000, hadn't done their homework.

Yes, I can see that yours are body colour - as are some other folks who prefer that look. Many things get changed during the long life of these cars which is quite understandable. However I have never seen an original car with body colour kickplates.
All were silver . I expect your car has received a respray at some stage in its life and the change was made then?

So would the cars with Alloy kick plates also have been painted silver or were they bare alloy?

Rod

Redmoggy wrote:So would the cars with Alloy kick plates also have been painted silver or were they bare alloy?

Rod

Rod,
Looks like early cars were "raw" aluminium, hence the deterioration over the decades - see following 2 pictures, taken just now, of my near-side kick plate ...[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
You can see how the metal has been eaten away. This panel is actually sandwiched between two steel components - the boxing panel and the outer sill "finisher". The metal on the latter, on the early cars, is about twice the thickness of modern replacement examples.

Thank you gtt. I'm a Hampshire boy myself and am constantly surprised at how well these cars have survived in NZ. The kick panels and outer sill finishers on my 49 are all but perfect. I'm in the process of stripping paint from all the good panels so I can stabilise and etch prime them. I'll just do the reverse side of the kick panels.

Cheers
Rod

All this discussion regarding originality in modern replacement spare parts still beggars the question why ESM, who are co-owners of all the original presses, cannot bear pressure on their partners to pull their fingers out and actually help out in the Historic Car preservation process, rather than just letting their partners line their pockets with the folding stuff!
Looking at old BL process films, most panels were fed into the presses by a manual process of "lift the gate, stuff the flat sheet in, close the gate, then activate the press".
Come on ESM, help the people that are trying to preserve our Heritage.

maybe a good idea to make a list from people who want to order a pair?
And with this list, go to ESM?

ESM are just a short drive south from me. If you were to see their stock you would appreciate how much they actually hold, and its value!!
They do own the press tools for Minor panels, but these actually reside with a company that owns the presses and does the pressing. I guess that they purchase a roll of aluminium of the correct width and thickness. This will then be cut to the correct lengths and pressed/stamped to shape. With a bigger and more expensive press the roll might be fed in and the cutting/shaping done in one hit. So the MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) will be dictated by the roll length. From a commercial aspect ESM will not want a large number of parts lying around, they take up valuable space which could be used for other parts. Hence the MOQ for these sill parts. How many are they likely to sell ? not many I suspect. My steel ones are fine and just needed some fresh silver paint. Unlike some other suppliers ESM ONLY stock for our Minors.
So don't knock ESM, they are one of the best around and extremely important to our cars.
Colin

Only when the list is long enough for starting the production, go to ESM..
so 95% from the production should reach a new user, direct after production, to avoid a big stock at ESM.

I could use a pair as well.I notice the holes for the self tapper screws are on the outside, mine were on the inside?and only 2 not 4

I didn't think I was knocking ESM, just trying to get them to bring a bit of pressure on the "pressers".
They have given me very good service, with next-day deliveries, since I returned to Minors in 2012.

The Minimum order run is 100 pairs, but I wasn't given a retail cost for a pair, if they were run off.
I'll ask that question, but maybe a bulk order via MMOC Spares, could bring the cost down anyway.

But then there are the 4-doors, which would need a set of 4 kick plates ....

You could saw the 2 door ones to make 4 door ones.