4 door traveller

Post by **FrankM83** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:57 pm

Hi all, was reading Morris Minor, Aspects of a legend and came across a picture of a 4 dr made into a traveller! it was still a 4 door but looks like it had an extension 'sort of' from a traveller , a few years ago I've seen a simliar vehicle, (if not the same one) on the Rust In Peace section on Practical Classics with another minor, it seemed still complete and in a reasonable condition, has anyone else seen it or know what happened to it? and how difficult it was to make this conversion as it looks pretty neat

Post by **dunketh** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:21 am

I've not seen it but have thought about the same job.
The morris is my only vehicle and having used it as a works van during my loft conversion I kept thinking about how feasable it would be to chop out the rear window section and weld up a square frame on the back.
As it happens I just kept bending my roofrack and driving with stuff poking out the boot.

Post by **chickenjohn** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:27 am

I think it would be a much better idea to make a 4-door estate/traveller out of a 4-door than try and make a 4-door traveller from a traveller! The Traveller front doors are too long and the wood/ali structure at the back would be very weak if you tried to make opening rear side passenger doors.

Maybe you could use a van back for this as the vans and 4-doors have the same sized front doors, and a van chassis. Please use scrapped cars though as the result could end up as a Q plate with an SVA test as it would no longer be a genuine classic historic Minor.

Post by **dunketh** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:10 pm

Ahh... chassis.. now thats the key word. Surely as long as the chassis is sound you can build anything ontop of it (within reason). You wouldnt need to worry about losing the strength a monocoque saloon design affords you.

Can't be difficult to lengthen a chassis - just chop it in half and weld a bit in the middle.

You'd have to lengthen rear pipes/looms/pro etc.. too

Post by **chickenjohn** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:46 pm

another point is that the resulting car could be somewhat less than the sum of its parts. Make it longer, heavier, on the same (or simmilar) running gear and wheel base and you have lost the nimble lightness and enjoyable driving characteristics of a Minor and are in stodgy Marina/ ital territory.

Its a nice interesting mental excercise project, but the reality would likely end up featured as the one above in the "rust in peace" pages of a magazine.

Post by **FrankM83** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:27 pm

This is the car im talking about

Post by **chickenjohn** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:50 pm

Interesting, but shame about the traingle of metal there, ruins the look. The car also seems to be sitting down at the back, maybe too much weight on the rear axle for the saloon springs?? or was it carrying a load. I would have modified the 4-door rear door to give a bigger window, squared off at the back. It would then look more like a properly designed 4 door traveller than a 4-door saloon with traveller back grafted on.

Post by **paulhumphries** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:07 pm

chickenjohn wrote: I would have modified the 4-door rear door to give a bigger window, squared off at the back. It would then look more like a properly designed 4 door traveller than a 4-door saloon with traveller back grafted on.

I think non structual wood on top of any squared off metal door frame would create a nice effect if it then created the illusion of looking like a standard Traveller.

Paul Humphries