Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi there people!

Im thinking of going on one of those banger rallies with a few mates over the summer this year -you know the type - buy a cheap car, stock up with a few spare parts and see if you can make it to some far flung point on the map! Does anyone have any advice they would like to share?? what to bring and not? what car to take? I was thinking a Volvo 240 estate would be a good choice.

Thoughts?

Picky

Mongolian rally (if it's still going) is more of a chore than a fun trip. The places you travel through are amazing but you don't get much chance to appreciate them.
London-Tashkent has stopped (IIRC) but that again was a lot of long hard days driving.

Plymouth Dakar rally has got it right in all aspects - although I think they had to cancel this year due to vague security issues.
There are quite a few other 'European' rallies started since the PDC started - however i don't get the point of driving across Europe on Tarmac - you can do that any day of the week!

A couple of years ago I went with some friends to Timbuktu (cross country from Maretania, avoiding the main roads) - that was one heck of a trip. We passed a lot of the details on to a friend (Julian Nowill the guy who runs the PDC) and they now do a similar trip, with the soft option of doing mostly main roads as well as the hardcore version.

Come on picky - use a Minor!! Actually - you should probably use a small/old diesel engined car (or - put a diesel in a Minor!) - the cost of fuel will be a major expense but overseas Diesel is often much cheaper than petrol, and hopefully more MPG too.

I'd love to do something like that, preferably in something with six cylinders like a BMW E34, Alfa 156, Merx W124 etc. Theres still time

A well prepared/serviced Volvo will get you there without any problems - go for it!

sorry - I lost my train of thought on the previous post!
We did the 4wd route to Timbuktu but half of the crew had 2wd. 2wd was no problem itself but the lack of ground clearance in 'normal cars' made it more interesting.
The Merc 123 did pretty well apart from about 15 punctures as (they had to drive at the edge of the ruts due to lack of ground clearance, but only had pretty bald tyres - bad combination). Escort Estate did well. The Mondeo kept bashing its radiator and really needed a new one by the time it got there. The best 2wd was a Volvo 240 Estate which was driven hard and got to Timbuktu without problems despite 3 people and a lot of gear, but then all the sand and greenery in the engine bay destroyed the water pump seal, so with the lack of Volvo spares it had to wait for a seal to arrive - then they split the pump impellor rebuilding it...

My S3 Landrover needed a headgasket by the time it had got to Morrocco but after that it didn't miss a beat and was usefull to pull the other cars out of soft sand and dry riverbeds. The Isuzu Trooper did very well although did loose a few parts due to corrosion! The UMM didn't cope well with the bad terrain and sheare shcok mounts, and later the engine bumped around too much and put the fan into the radiator (I fixed that with chamical meal..)

sorry - I lost my train of thought on the previous post!
We did the 4wd route to Timbuktu but half of the crew had 2wd. 2wd was no problem itself but the lack of ground clearance in 'normal cars' made it more interesting.
The Merc 123 did pretty well apart from about 15 punctures as (they had to drive at the edge of the ruts due to lack of ground clearance, but only had pretty bald tyres - bad combination). Escort Estate did well. The Mondeo kept bashing its radiator and really needed a new one by the time it got there. The best 2wd was a Volvo 240 Estate which was driven hard and got to Timbuktu without problems despite 3 people and a lot of gear, but then all the sand and greenery in the engine bay destroyed the water pump seal, so with the lack of Volvo spares it had to wait for a seal to arrive - then they split the pump impellor rebuilding it...

My S3 Landrover needed a headgasket by the time it had got to Morrocco but after that it didn't miss a beat and was usefull to pull the other cars out of soft sand and dry riverbeds. The Isuzu Trooper did very well although did loose a few parts due to corrosion! The UMM didn't cope well with the bad terrain and sheare shcok mounts, and later the engine bumped around too much and put the fan into the radiator (I fixed that with chemical meal..)

When we did the Plymouth Dakar, there was one guy in a totally overloaded Volvo Estate - apart from a scary fuel bill he had no hassles at all.

Thanks guys, looks like a volvo 240 is the way to go! I have fond childhood memories sat in the boot facing backwards in a 240. Most of them seem to be 2.3litre so fuel is going to be the most significant expense. I plan to give it a good service before we start!