Morris Minor Owners Club

think i just had a lucky escape, heard of a 1948 ,2 miles from my home for sale, went 2 c it last night, all bodywork done to good standard, checked inner wings,front wings ,yep all good ,LHD from belgium, not a problem, showed me paperwork from belgium,1948,ok, noticed welded repair panels on inner wings, went back today to hand over money, noticed a raised moulding inbetween rear glass and bootlid,as series 2, am i right this cant be a 48 with this moulding?

Did you ask for the chassisnumber?. My lowlight does have the moulding, and that is 1950.
You could have a look at the front shocks, those should be different to teh ones on your series II.
I am sure you checked the bonnet. Which should be the short type.
When you look on the inside of the windscreen, as well as the rear screen, there should be a metal insert, which is screwed to the window frame. Also teh badge in the dash should be metal, not plastic. And there shouldn't be an ashtray in the centre grille.
I hope this helps

Good luck with it.

could you point it out on this one:


Onne

yes short bonnet, but there was also a s2 cheesegrater grill with ends of panel cut off ,couldnt get to chassis no;

Onne's does have the moulding, but Steve's lowlight does not!

Maybe its an export market thing for the early cars, then standardised in the SII and later 1000's and the 1948 car is genuine?? I think you need to read some books (original Morris Minor) or speak to a concours judge, they should know!

Steve, are you trying to buy all the Lowlights in the world ;););)

inbetwwen bootlid and window rubber

I noticed now... but I don't know what happened with export models.

The moulding started on the introduction of the 4 door, in 1950, and was used on all cars after said introduction

i dont think in any way the owner was up to anything dodgy,really nice bloke, maybe cam could shed some light, steve

that might be wise.. did you take any pictures?

the short bonnet dont mean its a lowlight

No it doesn't. I had a 1951 saloon with the moulding but it still had all the other lowlight body features such as plain engine bay floors, early front shocker mountings and lowlight inner wings. It also had the square bulkhead rail underneath the battery tray that was modified later on ready to accept the a-series engine.

Well, how can we tell then? Beside the fact that it won't be a 1948 or '49 model?

Onne

Wasn't there a body plate in the engine bay behind the engine? How about the BODY number on the little plate rather like a 1098 engine plate? Engine, gearbox and axle numbers ought to be somewhere below the numbers of your later cars. Rear axles don't get changed too often and the gearboxes rarely break, so might be original

I also saw an E-bay MM lowlight convertible with short bonnet, split screen BUT a late series 2 dash with the central speedo. Black car with front impact damage.

hiya rob,it had short bonnet, tie plates with no holes, early square diff,,inner wings for lowlight, but , a couple of things were not "right" in my mind,rear moulding, grill panel was off car and appeared to be a cheesy with ends cut off either side of grille as if someone was grafting to ends on with 5" headlight holes,early clutch lever arm on chassis leg, early hardboard 3 piece headling, im gonna go back maybe and get him to pull it uot off corner to get a better look , MAYBE its a 1950 with the rear moulding, need cam and bills input

When it is a car from Belgium, than perhaps it is built or delivered by J.J.Molenaar in Amersfoort. The Dutch Morris Minor club has the archives of this company. On the basis of the chassis number a lot of information can be found.

When you have the chassis number and you are interested, send me a PM and I will organize contact between you and the club archivist.

Greetings from Holland,

Wimor

will let u know ,thanks steve

Steve, it's definately NOT a '48 if it's got the rear body moulding as you describe. My '49 does not have it and neither does Bill's '50

A '48 should have a few other interesting bits too, like the front and rear screens should have a metal trim piece screwed over the screen rubber on the INSIDE. The front screen also has a different rubber and the chrome surround is on the body and NOT inserted into the rubber as on later (post mid '49) models.

See these pics:
http://potteries.mmoc.org.uk/RallyPics/ ... 004_54.JPG
http://potteries.mmoc.org.uk/RallyPics/ ... 004_52.JPG
http://potteries.mmoc.org.uk/RallyPics/ ... 004_48.JPG

It sounds very much like a '50 lowlight from your description. A chassis number would REALLY help identify it though.

Are the quaterlight catches different from the 'normal' later ones? (thinner and more delicate looking)? Also, if it's a '48 the rear lights should be circular and have a screw in the centre.

Both clutch and brake pedal should be inside the chassis leg. It sounds like it's been modified a bit then!

Does it still have the original non-waterpump sidevalve engine?

hiya mate ,thanks for that, no window frames on it ,didnt c em, pedals in leg, with large lever on outside,engine out ,no water pump ,dont know if its origanol, all i need to know ,is did they make lowights with the moulding, cheers for ptting yourself out mate

Yes, they did make lowlights with the moulding. Here is 'proof':
http://seriesmm.mmoc.org.uk/Rally_pictu ... 06_035.JPG
http://seriesmm.mmoc.org.uk/Rally_pictu ... 06_140.JPG

Although I'm not 100% sure when they changed over but I suspect it was to do with the 4 door introduction, so about September 1950 probably.

Another point is does it have a chain to fix the bonnet stay in place? That was discontinued in December '49.

Letters on the pull-switches on the dash came out in Feb '50

Strap type door pulls came out in October '50

Split bumper discontinued in Jan 51.