how did you come to be a Moggy owner?

[Myko2]

I wasn't even looking for a car when I became a proud owner. I have had Mini Coopers since I was 15 (that's a loong time ago) and never really knew much about Minors as they were never really popular here in the states. One day sometime in 1997, a client of mine who knew I was into Minis called me to tell me he had grown tired of his "car hobby", and was selling off his toys. He gave me first crack at his collection. I took my wife along to have a look. Between 2 Volvo P1800's, and a 1954 Ford, he had this old Traveler looking very sad indeed. She took 1 look and fell in love!. A deal was struck on the spot, and the next day there was a new project on the drive.

[moggyminor16]

when i was posted to germany near hannover there was a car sales out side camp,called Racing green .one day a black 2 door from england turned up for sale ,my wife saw it and she liked it so we had a look she still liked them . 4 years later we was posted back to england in suffolk in 2001 .we got the local adtrader and in there was a 2 door morrisminor 150 pounds or near offer ,in brandon ,we had a look and we got it .
that is how it all started now still got the 2 door and traveller came later for me to use
wife wanted a convertible so i looked and looked but could not find one cheap so we desided 2 years ago to start to do a convertion on the 2 door ,yes 2 years ago but it will i hope be on the road this year again i hope as long as the traveller dont pack up (at the moment off teh road due to the failing mot )
there may be more to come i want a van or pick up for work ,

[alex_holden]

In early 1999 I was in my first year at university and about three years into an interminable Land Rover restoration, with no end in sight (it took nearly five years in total). I decided I wanted a small runabout for going out at weekends and my occasional trips up to Teesside, but I couldn't afford much at all. My first thought was to get a modern banger like an old Fiesta or something, but I'd already got the classic car bug thanks to the Landy, so I instead turned my mind to practical classics. After a bit of research into cost and availability of spares etc. I narrowed it down to either a VW Beetle or a Minor (can't remember now why I ruled out Minis). After scouring the classified ads papers for a couple of weeks, ruling out anything that was over my budget or needed work to put it back on the road, I spotted a Moggy for £550, with a fairly long MOT, located on a farm about 25 miles away. I went out to look at it with my parents and I liked what I saw. It was a 1968 almond green four-door. It was a little tatty cosmetically but in good mechanical order and no serious rot that I could find (though at the time I didn't know where to look), so I bought it. I don't think I even tried to haggle him down on price.



I had great fun driving it around all over the place, occasionally breaking down, but nothing I couldn't bodge at the side of the road well enough to get home. My main complaint was that the engine (a 1098) seemed really gutless - even fairly shallow hills often necessitated a second gear crawl - and it overheated really easily. In hindsight it was probably rather worn and way out of tune. Before I had managed to solve that problem, it failed its MOT with serious underbody rot around the rear suspension mountings, and as I couldn't weld and had little free time to work on it anyway, I wound up selling it on for £350. That seemed rather low at the time considering I'd spent probably £200 on parts while I'd owned it, but I know now that I was lucky to get so much considering it had no MOT and needed welding. I've since looked the car up on the DVLA site and I don't think the new owner ever did put it back on the road because it hasn't been taxed since I owned it.

[grahamt7]

I was just casually browsing t'internet in August 2005......

Spotted the car on Autotrader, had a number of discussions on the phone with the owner, liked the look of it (and thought "this'll be no trouble" ), and then got the 5am train from Manchester to Kent, paid £1050 for it and drove it back to Manchester via a very slight detour when I got somewhat lost . Total mileage on trip 1 on day 1, 315 miles! Got home at 10pm via the chinese takeaway!

I've grown to like the car a lot, even though it has cost me buckets of cash. At the moment she's away having new gauges fitted and a bit of a proper look-see as to why the mpg is so poor, and even though they've given me a 69 2-door 1275 engined one (ooh, that's nippy!) as a courtesy car, I can't wait to get mine back!

Can't ever really believe the interest it engenders. Even on that first trip, when I stopped at the service station for fuel, I sat eating my sandwich in the car, and three different sets of people came up to talk to me about Morris Minors. I was quite embarrassed because I really knew nothing about them (not much has changed!).

Even with the grief it gives me, it is a great little car, and every time I see one on the road I can hear another "clink" somewhere in the ether as the car's designer and original engineers are 'toasted' once again!

[Furrtiv]

I'd always wanted a Morris Traveller, and before I even passed my driving test, bought a work colleague's Traveller off her for six hundred quid. Unfortunately - or fortunately, as it was falling apart and I had an agreed value on the car - I crashed it and wrote it off, then upgraded to my current model, Ector, bought from a very kindly old gentleman. The car cost a lot more than my first, and I've spent an absolute fortune on getting it into something resembling a reasonable shape, but I wouldn't swap the thing for the world!

[aupickup]

i became morris minor van owner in 1968, it was all i could afford at the time, and suited my trade as a carpenter and joiner, cost me £50.00, it was a red post office van.

and now well since teh last 10 years again

[Annierat1]

Well, as I'm logged in (for once!) ....

Mine belonged to my parents, they had the car from new in 1971, and then had me in 1974! So in effect you could say it was my first car! It was the family 'daily driver' while they were alive. Now both parents have passed away the one thing I wanted to, and could, keep from my childhood was the car. I'm really lucky in that my other half used to be a trainee mechanic, and he remembers enough to keep her on the road, though she's now semi retired and only comes out in the summer for rallies and the like

Annette

[dunketh]

I would have had one of the P1800s!

I got my Minor because I love minis but couldn't afford one (in the UK they're comedy money now, worth their weight in gold!).
My misses wanted a beetle but I don't like them - they look nice but they're basically 'pooh'.
The minor had mini guts with a curvy shape. Job Done!

[Myko2]

The 1800's were restored and beautiful, and a bit pricey. I do kick myself for passing 1 of them up, but I'm very happy with my $750 purchase. Of course that was just the price of admission! I don't want to think what I have invested in it now.

[rayofleamington]

I wanted one during my mid teens, so when I was 17, I bought one. It was being sold by a 15 year old friend of a friend who had 'done it up'!
His welding was pretty solid and I didn't have to do any major metal surgery for 8 years, but the rest of the car was a sorry state. I removed the bucket seat and silly small steering wheel, and over the next 4 years I got it looking good (replaced interior and resprayed it) but that car was unreliable from day one - hitting it's breakdown peak when I did 20,000 miles one year.
After 11 years in the family I sold her off to make room - but in the 19 years since getting my first, I've never been without a Minor (I'm currently up to 16 - but not all in one go)

[bigginger]

Loved them as a kid (fell in love with the green indicator, um, indicator light, at about 20 years old (ahem years ago) saw a pick-up at the top of a pile in a scrap yard, so bought it. Never did get it on the road, but it is now, I gather. After that, it was pick-ups or nothing...

[mal]

First car was an Austin A30, which I passed my test in and then in 1966/7 went for a bit of 'luxury' and bought my first Moggy for £15.. fantastic car and loved them ever since, had a few over the years including an ex GPO van..
Went into various sports cars over the years and then 2 new lady members joined my local MG club about 4,1/2 yrs ago, both had a Moggy each, let me have a drive and that was it.. hooked again
Sold my MG's and wouldn't part with my Moggy now, also bought an A35 last year... do you think I'm in my second childhood I DO Great though.....

Mal

[lowedb]

I was offered the car by a drinking firend who knew I was after a car. The car had been his dad's but his dad had loaned it to someone else. When my friends dad died, the car went to my friend, who's son wanted to customise it. Understandably, my friend wasn't keen on this and offered it to me for what he'd been told the numberplate was worth.

All this happened back in 1984 and I ran it for most of a year before deciding to take it off the road to start some resto work. Then I bought a house, then I got married, and it stayed garaged for a long time until it got stolen and returned a couple of years back. I thought this was a prompt to start the resto in earnest, until I found the 'solid' sills were in fact just solid underseal! So It's stripped and waiting for me to find time to start again!

[chrisd87]

I've wanted one since I was about 14, so when I was coming up to 17 I bought my first, Sarah, in May 2004 for £1000. She's my daily runner and I'll never get rid of her! I dread to think how much I've spent on her though, I've had a fair bit of welding done and am currently building a new engine for her.

In late 2006 I bought Humphrey, a rather tatty black 4-dr that failed its MOT in Febuary 2007. Initially I planned to restore it myself but after having had a look at it I realised it was too much work and sold it to a local Minor enthusiast who is now restoring it. From the same person, I bought my third Minor, Maggie, which is probably in the best condition of all three.

[ricombi]

My parent's bought my first for my mum way back, when i was 12 or 13. Mum hated to drive it, so it got garaged for years, until i was 18, then i bought it as my own, recommisioned it, used it for 2 years then sold it.

Now i got my second which i am turning into my race car. I got the bug as it were from my dad, his first car was a Moggy and he taught me to love them, and i do!!

Now i am 21, i hope to have many more as the years roll by.

[stevey]

i always fancied a minor that classic shape and good honest solid engineering. i did my driving test on a friday morning when I was in lower sixth form at school, went on the web saw the minor and got it that night. Sat and oiled, greased and tinkered all weekend as the insurance companies werent open till monday.

My brother fancied a mini but couldnt fit into one, so I pursuaded him to get a minor. got it on the way home from the national last year.
radiatoir failed on the way home, and melted the HT leads!!!!

But both minors minoring on, long may it continue.

[Jay-Minor]

my first car in the 70's was a moggy and have loved them ever since

[RogerRust]

I had a smash on my motorcycle 10 years ago. I've lost my bottle now and the risk of damaging my leg further was too high. So I needed something else to tinker with. At the same time work was getting on top of me and I needed something else to think about. So it was a Morris 1000 traveller in average condition. I tidied her up and re-learnt my basic mechanics. I sold it at the National last year and started on the rebuild of my 4 door "Sophie".
Now when people phone up for me Bev says I'm in the garage nut polishing!
To be honest I'm getting fed up with the rebuild now and I'll be glad when I can drive it again.

Can't stop now - Onne is coming on Saturday and I have to polish my spanners and arrange them in order before he arrives

[Onne]

[Pyoor_Kate]

I was hooked on classic cars by my dad, although the '78 escort we had wasn't a classic when he got me and my sister to help him service / repair it, by the time I was in my teens and had started to understand car mechanics it was kinda well respected.

And all those years of trailing round scrap yards with my dad trying to find bits for the 'scort had had me going 'oooh, what's *that* one' to Minx's, and Imps and Minors...

...My walk home took me past a Mk 1 Cortina GT (in long tall grass - no windscreen pillars or floor left though), a Hillman Minx (front end damage) and a Minor - sat minus bumpers and most of it's interior - with the wrong colour bonnet, and lots of bits missing all round. Then one day the minor disappeared, and I wondered where it'd gone. I found it walking to a friend's house - now dumped rather unceremoniously in some council garages. While I was poking about underneath it (I wondered if it was saveable), the owner appeared and offered me it for 75 quid.

By the time I'd looked at it on ramps he'd come down to 20 quid ("and I'll throw in the battery"), which I thought was a much better price. 'course she didn't *really* have a floor as such, or sills, the battery turned out to short under load and 20k miles later it turned out that the engine's waterways were mostly rust filled. But I love her to bits, and feel horrendously guilty at her sitting there waiting for me to get a new engine in.