Morris Minor Owners Club

We collected our 1970 Pickup yesterday and are delighted but slightly scared by what we've let ourselves in for.

My first of many newbie questions is how can I tell if it's always been a pickup - I think I saw something about door length somewhere. Can I tell from a chassis plate or something. Just trying to prepare myself for the howls of laughter when I arrive at my first branch gathering and discover I've got three cars bolted together.

2nd question - I put unleaded in today. The previous owner was using unleaded but car had been SORN most of his ownership - owner before him said the conversion had been done. Is there any way of telling?

Last question - there are no wing mirrors or door mirrors. I've read lots of lively debates about what looks/works best. Has anyone fitted the "no drilling required" type mirrors that ESM and others sell. Do they work/fall off/shake so badly you cant see anything? I lost an espace-type-thing in the blind spot today so I think they are going to be my first purchase.

thanks for listening

Simon<br><br>

Doors are correct along with bonnet and front bumper. Some vans were cut down to make pick ups. If the chassis number starts MAU5 its a pick up if it starts MAV5 then it was once a van.
Unleaded fuel is fine for normal use. No way of telling if the head has been converted though without taking it off.
The best mirrors are the ones that fix to the little triangle at the front of the door frames. The clip on ones tend to shake about alot.
HTH and welcome aboard

Hi Simon,
First of all welcome to the site!
From that photo the pickup looks quite good, the doors on a pick-up/van are the same as on a 4-door saloon so are shorter than those on a 2-door or traveller, but yours look right to me yours does also have the correct bonnet and front bumper foor a pick-up (which are slightly different to saloon and traveller) so I'm sure you'll have no worries with it.

As for unleaded, it is not easy to tell if it has been converted but even if it hasn't it will still happily run on unleaded without a problem (unless you are planning on doing many, many motorway miles in it)

Please post some more photos of it! oh, and remember, have fun!

EDIT: oh, I see Rich has beaten me to it again!

Looks great Don't forget to the read the 'New Member' sticky at the top of the General Discussion page ;)

Sidney'61 wrote: the doors on a pick-up/van are the same as on a 4-door saloon so are shorter than those on a 2-door or traveller,

but not always

<br><br>

I believe it is a legal requirement for a goods carrying vehicle, ie van, lorry, pickup, traveller, estate car etc. to have a pair of externally mounted mirrors. My personal preference is for a pair of convex glass wing mirrors as these give you a better view down the n/s of the vehicle and also act as a very usefull marker to avoid scraping the n/s wing. Flat glass in any external mirrors is almost useless, giving a very restricted field of view.
This topic has been discussed on this message board several times previously so if you do a search I am sure that you wil find lots of points of view
The pickup and van are the same as far as the join in the cab roof, both having a separate chassis. The doors are the short doors off the 4 door saloon.

Mirrors on the top of the front wings give the best view back!

Welcome to the mad world of Morris Minors !
Life will never be the same again !

Welcome!!!

Gorgeous looking Pick-up, that looks lovely. Hope you have lots of fun with it. (Pick-ups are the best Minors I think!)

Enjoy!

I'm amazed at the capacity of the pick up.

In your pic in the first post you appear to have a transit van in the back!

you appear to have a transit van in the back!

Thanks for all the replies ..
Will try and bring Trev along to the Oxford branch thingy next month, complete with new mirrors perhaps (no doubt mounted on the roof to avoid controversy).

Simon

RogerRust wrote: In your pic in the first post you appear to have a transit van in the back!

I think its a Citroen actually....

Email me if you want any info on Oxford/Berks Branch meeting.
mike.perry@mmoc.org.uk. Branch member.

it is a an mot thing for vans to have an overtaking mirror and possibly pick ups

a suction interior mirror on the passenger side will give u good veiw of the rear

front wing mirrors of the original type are next to useless in my opinion

I believe the rear view mirror rule is that there has to be at least 1 rear facing mirror. In a saloon or pick up the interior mirror is OK but in a van (esp one without rear windows) an additional one would be required on one of the doors.