condition

[jtd.75]

I have a chance of obtaining a morris 1000 and I have been told that it is in condition 2, could someone out therre explain to me what that means.

[Chris Morley]

CONDITION 1 - These cars will be in excellent order throughout, but not necessarily Concours. They will be free of visible corrosion in any department and a true representation of the Minor.

CONDITION 2 - Most Minors that enjoy everyday use will fall into this category (patches, modifications, personalised etc).

CONDITION 3 - Will be complete and running but will almost certainly require major restoration work to be made capable of everyday use.

Condition 2 is a bit vague - it basically means a Minor fit for everyday use, without any significant faults, no structural rust or holes and a reasonable paintjob. Depending on your interpretation of this, a saloon could be valued anywhere between £800 and £1800. However, before you go to view the car please look at the numerous posts which explain exactly what you must look for when buying a Minor.

[rayofleamington]

Chris's comments are very fair, and he is correct to talk of a broad price range.
Condition 3 is basically a Minor in rather poor condition (eg with no MOT or a short MOT but many faults) that is at least driveable, and not a complete basket case and is likely to need a lot of work to make it into a good car.

Codition 1 is the kind of car that people will make nice comments about at a Minor rally, so would have a nice clean engine bay, near perfect interior, practically faultless paintwork, and an underneath that either has no patches, but if there were weld repairs, they have been done to an extremely good level (concours is something far above that).

Most Minors fall somewhere in between, so people can call them 'condition 2', however although the car is all the same colour, the wings aren't half rusted off, and it has an MOT, that is usually where the similarity ends. The price of a car depends on hundreds of things. People will pay more money for a car with nice shiny paintwork, but there are other things that are more important.

As for the nice shiny cars, if the car itself is in poor condition this can be a bad move (especially if rust bubbles come through the shiny paintwork, and things keep breaking and it costs a fortune on suspension and weld repairs for the next MOT)
If you want a car for daily use, then shiny paintwork should be a very low priority compared to the structure, running gear and suspension. If it's going to live in the garage, and barely do a few thousand miles per year on sunny days then you can look at it a bit differently.

I would strongly recommend that you get the car inspected by someone who really knows Minors, the faults that develop with age, and how to spot bad repairs.
Otherwise, try and learn as much as possible about Minors if you want to check the car over yourself. This site contains a lot of info, but there are also books eg. Lindsay Porters 'guide to buying and restoring a Minor'. (I might have got the title slightly wrong)
I'm not recommending any book in particular as I've not seen one that is perfect, but just to give you a hint of what type of books to look for, as they are useful for someone who wants to learn. Some of these books come up on e-bay and Amazon, and some are still in print.

The MMOC have made a price guide for condition 1,2 and 3 on each type of Minor from Convertibles to Commercials (vans etc..)
This is why people quote a condition for their car, but really it is no practical use for buying and selling, for the reasons above and because the MMOC guide doesn't give price ranges!!
My 2 door saloon is just at the bottom end of Condition 2 and would fetch around £700, as the bodywork isn't pretty but to me it is great as the structure has been well repaired and the car is is now well maintained, hence passing it's MOT this year with no faults.
A car is only worth what people will pay, and there are a limited number of people willing to pay a lot of money for a top class one - this is presently keeping market prices low. It is also worth to look at a few cars (even if you don't intend to buy them) to get a base to compare from.

One main use (possibly the intention) of the price guide is for classic car insurance, where owners have lost touch of the cars present value if they've had it a long time.