What first got you into Minors?

[stag36587]

So here I am sitting up late looking through this excellent website. As I'm a nostalgic kind of guy, I began to think what first might have kindled my interest in Morris Minors. Then I remembered:

Sifting through 44 years of life, I came to the file marked childhood outings. My mother's cousin used to take me away for daytrips between ages of 4-9. I can't remember much about these trips except that she had a brown 2 door, a blue 2 door and eventually a Black Traveller. Then I remembered that a neighbour had a black traveller that he handpainted one weekend out in the street. The end result was a Kermit Green - somewhere between Almond and Limeflower! Oh, and how could I forget Frank Spencer hanging from his exhaust pipe over a cliff........to say nothing of Nurse Gladys Emmanuel?

So, where did your interest first get sparked?

[MoggyTech]

I learned to drive in a Moggy Van, so I think that has something to do with it. When I decided I wanted a classic car, the minor just seemed like the logical choice. Easy mechanicals and electrics, good spares supply, and it's one of the few cars that really does look old and quite unique in it's body lines.

I considered a Mk1 or Mk3 Cortina, but very few Mk3's have survived the tin worm, and Mk1's where going for silly money as they are very rare, again due to tin worm.

[ferret76]

My first car was a 4 door saloon that I used to drive to school, my second was a van. I have very early memories of the whole family (4 of us) driving around Perth, WA in our blue 2 door splitty.

[LouiseM]

When I was born I was driven home from the hospital in a black traveller so I think that my love of Minors must have started, subconciously, at a very early age

[morrisman1]

my old man bought be a paddock basher which was a 61 four door. heap of crap, full of rust and a complete bomb. had some good parts on it though.

i was offered a 63 4-door for $500 so i bought it and restored it (it was a 1/4 finished resto) when i was 14 so couldnt even drive it till i turned 15.

now still have that car as a daily runner and im working on a 65 flatdeck

[wibble_puppy]

Saw a van on a windswept, deserted seafront at Twywn in Gwynedd when I was about 20. Fell in lust on sight.

I was particularly impressed, when I peered in through the driver's window, to see a dog keeping watch while his master slept in the back.

Vans have always seemed to me a completely different car from the other Minor models.

[alzax3]

Back in the late sixties my best friends dad had a green traveller (it may have been bought new, but even back then they seemed a bit old fashioned (he was a school teacher so I guess he had to have one!) We used to get ferried about in that a lot. (My dad had a Morris 1100 which felt a lot more 'modern'!) Didn't think about Moggy ownership at all until early this year when the Mrs confessed to a yearning for one, so now we have a van and will have a white traveller when I get time to rebuild it!

[morrisman1]

i like vans, i would have preferred a van over the flatdeck but i didnt have a back for a van.

[Peetee]

My parents had a Traveller for a time. I remember uncomfortable trips out in it. Either the vinyl seats sticking to the backs of my legs or the back edge of the rear seat digging into my shoulder or wheel arch in the small of my back as I sat in the boot area. There were 6 of us and two retrievers in there usually . Some of the hills on the North Yorkshire coast got the better of 948cc's of throbbing power and we'd have to decamp and walk. I got my fingers caught in the door once too Still got the marks today.
I learned to drive in a hand painted brown 2-door with yellow wheels.

With all that you'd think it would have put me off for life. But once they are in yer blood....eh?

[FrankM83]

My dad used to have a Morris Minor pick-up as long as I can remember I used to help him load it with soft drinks and snacks and go sell by the local football ground, he had a red pick-up which got scrapped due to engine problems, a blue pick-up which was scrapped due to a steering rack! and the series 2 van which still lies in my garage awaiting restoration!

[morrisman1]

its a crying shame how some cars are wasted! a steering rack for goodness sake! thats a 1 hour fix with a part from a wrecker.

you guys probably havnt seen top gear australia but on their first episode they drowned a mini moke! i was devastated!

get onto that resto job, we wanna see it done

[FrankM83]

yes it was quite a shame about the steering rack I was only 13 yrs old when that happened and had no knowledge at all about Minors! a mechanic told my dad he will never find a spare one and if he finds one it will be very very expensive to fix! the pick-up was actually very rotten on the chassis side also but it deifinatly wasn't a candidadte for scrapping! It was much better than the 53 van! but I will definetly restore the van!

[alex_holden]

I was a skint 19 year old student and I needed a cheap runaround for a year or two. I'd already bitten the classic bug, as I was in the middle of a 5-year nuts and bolts restoration of a 1969 Land Rover. I could only scrape together about £500, so the choice was between a tatty classic that stood a good chance of keeping its value or a modern banger that would probably be worthless by the time I was finished with it. I bought a classified ads paper and started looking at Beetles. Anything half-decent was way out of my budget. I next looked at 2CVs and there was nothing that really looked suitable in my price range. Then I spotted an ad for a 1967 Minor 4-door saloon on a farm up in the Dales. My parents took me to look at it, I bought it on the spot (without even looking at the state of the underside ), and my dad drove it back home.

It turned out to be in a bit of a poor state and I couldn't really give it the attention it deserved due to my studies, ongoing Landy restoration, and general lack of cash. I drove it all over the place for a few months, then had to sell it after it failed the MOT on underbody rot (only making a loss of £150 ).

Quite a few years later I was again car-less due to my modern having been written off following an accident (I'd already sold the Landy because it wasn't practical for commuting), and I suffered a fresh bout of the classic bug. I saw a Traveller in a classified ad, my dad took me to see it, I bought it on the spot (this time I did closely examine the underside first), and the rest is history...

[aupickup]

my first minor was an ex pst ofice van that i bought in 1969, and it was used for work for about 3 years or so

cost me £50.00 with a years mot and 3months road tax

[rupert]

I had always wanted a classic, and my Austin 1300 (inherited from my great Aunt) "returned to nature" so I had to find something else. Molly was a trade in at a local Renault garage (where my Dad had his business account), I can still remember her appearing up the driveway driven by my dad as he brought her home for a test drive to show me.

It was complete and utter love at first sight. She had fluffy seat covers on and (what I now know to be) comply rotten wings. The sills were a mess, the gearbox was "tired", she was on crossplies and just sounded and smelled AMAZING!


That was 17 years ago, I've since found a remarkable amount of filler (I've kept some of it to use as a paperweight), had both sills replaced, all the wings, doors, floors, etc. etc...

She was my only car up until 7 years ago when we moved to Scotland and she got some well earned TLC.

[rayofleamington]

I wanted a Minor from the age of 13 and got my first at 17 - never been without one since (although often without a roadworthy one as I keep moving them on to make room for the next pet rescue project)

[Sidney'61]

My mum knew I liked cars and bought me an encyclopedia of classic cars when I was about 7. Just flicking through the pages looking at the pictures I fell in love with a photo of a bright red convertible minor with a white roof and knew I had to have one, I showed my grandad and he told me all about the times when he used to own a minor and how fun it was (worthers original moment). That's where the nagging started, the next year I think santa was a bit surprised to find a morris minor on the top of an 8 year olds christmas wish list!
I finally found one on ebay when I was 15, It was only just down the road and i had to have it, after 7 years the parents gave in to the pestering and agreed it would be nice to have a moggy in the garage, so i got it and I'm still restoring it at the moment.

[markattard]

My father had a morris before i was born then he exchanged this morris for another one when I was 10, this one I still have till today. My grandad had another one for 35 yrs, which I inherited sort of.

I bought another one off the street, then another then another, till I counted 8 .... and eight is Enough.... or not?

[Kevin]

Well I had a mixture of cars during my teens and early twenties but the couple of Moggie saloons I had turned out to be the most reliable especially when it came to cold weather starting so when the classic car bug bit again around 15 years ago there really was only one choice and still is even though there has been a few different ones.

[Sidney'61]

I bought another one off the street, then another then another, till I counted 8 .... and eight is Enough.... or not?

As a wise man once said.. 'If you know how many car's you've got, you haven't got enough'