Morris Minor Owners Club

Morning all,

I am in the process of discovering the true extent of bodged repairs done 20 or so years ago by a certain establishment, and have so far got the hinge pillar cover removed. I need a new flitch and hinge pillar cover, plus a small piece of floor at the bas of the hinge pillar, plus there is a small hole in the inner wheel arch.

Is the car safe to drive in this condition (obviously with the wings etc back on). Reason being I am not confident that I can do the repairs myself so I will have to drive it to my preferred repairers place. Further complication is that the MOT is due on the 8th Jan.

cheers,
Neil

might be a bit worrying that the body might buckle down at that point ?
\ V /
better off scrapping it and giving me the seats for xmas

How far do you need to go to the repairers Neil?

Provided the rot is not within 30cm of a suspension or seat belt anchor it should be ok to drive a short distance, provided the sills and chassis legs are not weakened. If your current MOT was issued by a good garage, it is more than likely the rot is in a non critical area, but obviously should be sorted before it spreads.

I have about 40 miles to drive to the repairers. The hinge pillar cover will be hidden by the wing when I refit it, the small hole in the inner wheelarch will be visible but is more than 30cm from either a suspension or seat belt anchor. It was last MOT'd by a good garage who I trust, but the rust holes weren't apparent then.

Sounds safe enough to me! There's a lot worse running about on the roads all the time.

Sounds safe enough to me! There's a lot worse running about on the roads all the time.

Dont tell him that or i'll never get the seats

I wouldn't worry for a moment about driving the car.
They are very strong and the rust is far from anything structural.
what's the worst that could happen? maybe to door will drop a bit, if you are getting the door pillar replaced anyway it's not a problem.
I'm sure many people here could tell you real horror stories about chassis stuffed with newspapers then fibre glassed and under sealed on cars which didn't fall apart.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if it would still get an MOT.
Mark

MarkyB wrote: the rust is far from anything structural.

It's a unitary design, so it's ALL structural. but it's a fair way away from suspension/seat belt mounts etc. Worst that could happen? A roadside VOSA inspection and the car being taken to the crusher.There seems to be a fad for them just now. Have to agree that it sounds OK to me though

Move it on Christmas Day - unlikely to be any VOSA inspections then!

Unitary design doesn't mean it ALL structural. It means it doesn't have a separate chassis.
The doors are there to stop you falling out or getting wet in the rain.
I think they add little or nothing to the actual strength of the car as a whole structure except in a crash.
As a pioneer unitary car the minor was over engineered to a large degree and I expect we would all be amazed at how rotten and bodged one could be and still all hang together and be drivable. This doesn't include convertibles which have had a major structural piece removed.
As an aside I'm just about old enough to remember people driving lorry chassis with half cabs on major roads (don't tell the health and safety officer) as long as they didn't crash or get hypothermia it seemed to be OK.
Mark

Whatever...

I'm just about old enough to remember people driving lorry chassis with half cabs on major roads

Great reminder there Mark as it reminded me of the Rolls Royce chassis being driven with a temporary drivers seat to Park Wards works in Willesden where the bodies were made and fitted and in those days hypothermia hadnt been invented

OK thanks all, I may try to get it MOT'd or I might just trailer it to Roy's.

Some pics here if anyone's interested:-

http://www.minor946.fotopic.net/c1426463.html

cheers,
Neil

PS-sorry Kev, I don't think the rust extends to the seats! In fact I might just ask Roy to weld them in before I come up to Orkney......

Neil,

If you make sure that you have the car booked into the garage for work to be done - i.e you're not just "turning up", then you are not in danger from having a road-side inspection.

And make sure it's booked in for the MOT as well.

You can drive a car without a valid MOT on the roads - provided it's insured and going to the repair shop + home, and then MOT test + home.
(without miles of detours).

It's a lot easier if you have a letter from the Garage with you confirming this...

Home it all gets together!

Colin

You can drive a car without a valid MOT on the roads - provided it's insured and going to the repair shop + home, and then MOT test + home.

Think that also applies to road tax too.

It must do-if you haven't got an MOT, you can't get tax.

Well yeah now you come to mention it LOL

Pretty sure that driving without tax or MOT is ONLY to a pre-booked MOT station for an MOT test. Never heard of it being allowed to a garage for repairs - unless MOT included of course. It's also not clear that you can drive home again - I think really having won the MOT you are supposed to go get tax and then drive home!

The only time you can drive a vehicle on the road without tax or mot is when you are taking it to and from a pre booked mot station. It has to be insured.There is actually no stipulated distance within the regulation(One the legislators missed) As long as you are on route via the shortest distance to the centre then theoreticaly you could drive from dover to glasgow to the centre,(Has been done ,I in my Plod Days ,delt with such a case ,he was bringing the vehicle back into the country from france,the mot and tax had expired and he had it booked into a garage in the north of england,I checked with the ministry to clarify it ,they replied that he was ok,so long as he didn't travel via wales and the lake district to get there). Not often the motoring regulation show a bit of common sense. If the vehicle is not roadworthy Ie Bald tyres or obviously falling to bits then you could be done under the construction and use regs,I'm going to the mot I know it will fail will not let you off that one.