Morris Minor Owners Club

Greetings all,

I recently bought a 1957 Minor 2 door saloon with a 948cc engine. She runs, but needs a little work before I can really drive her, but I was just wondering what you guys would consider reasonable.

I was planning to just drive the Mog around locally, but the gas mileage compared to my regular truck makes it awfully tempting to want to drive her "to town," e.g., the bigger city near me. It's about 30 miles away, so 60 round trip, and I usually go there 2-3 times a week. There's two hills to climb. I'm starting at about 4500' above sea level, the hills are maybe slightly over 5000', so nothing real big. Then there's a 6 mile stretch of flat 70mph freeway, and then 50 mph surface streets.

Obviously the little Mog's top speed isn't going to keep up on the freeway, but that's OK. There's an alternative route I could take there also.

But to the point I guess, is what is a reasonable speed (or rpm I guess) for a 948 to be driven frequently for highway use? Is there anything particular I should do in terms of maintenance or mechanics for this type of use? Is it reasonable to expect to put my moggy to this kind of use?

Thanks,
TomK

Tom, I used to give my Minor this type of use although the A9 is nothing like a freeway and the hills are quite as big

You will need to give the car a regular service schedule, changing the oil, checking brake fuild, rear axle oil level, greasing the suspension and checking clutch and brake adjustment every 2/3000miles. On a daily basis check the tyres are fully inflated oil and coolant. Keep spare points, condenser & rotor arm, spare wheel with tyre and a few tools in the boot. The Morris will cope with 50/60mph and will go up to 70 for overtaking. I find that in wet conditions the wipers are the worst thing as they are quite poor really but keep checking the windscreen wiper rubbers are in good condition and they will cope with most conditions. I'm not sure of tempratures in your area but the MInor heater isn't the best and in winter I drive with a rug over my legs to help keep me warm.

The freeway might better for your engine as you can keep a constant speed and use the lower gears for the hill climbs and give yourself an extra 20mins. Be patient with other road users as you will find they wave, smile, slow down for a look and peep there horns when they see such a great car.

Good advice about servicing regularly. Just a few observations about other road users reaction to such a car, I have found that on the whole my 1098 Minor has had positive reaction especially in England. However on two occasions whilst driving in France there has been some cause for consternation. One was when I was on a main road doing about 50 MPH I was overtaken by a young Golf driver who had been sticking to the Minor's back bumper for some time. He was not happy to just overtake but pulled alongside blowing his horn on giving a rude sign with a "bras d'honneur" and then carving me up! Great! Another more frightening occasion was on a road where it was impossible to overtake due to a central wall, at night and four up, we were being vitually pushed from behind by a juggernaut with flashing headlights, blowing horn and about three feet from the bumper. All this at about 60 MPH. Not a nice experience! Having said that the French a very curious about the Morris, they want to know what it is. Someone even asked if it was a Philippe Maurice like the cigarettes, but most think that Morris is an Austin by another name. I find explaining what it is a bit complicated![frame][/frame]

I'm not sure of tempratures in your area .[/quote]
I think that the location answers that question!
Regular air filter changes might be advisable

Thanks for the responses, all! Sounds like it's do-able, I just better keep up on maintenance and make sure I'm prepared for some roadside repairs if necessary. I am somewhat worried that at this elevation I won't have much power to make the hills. But at least the hills are actually in an area where the speed limit is supposed to be 50 anyway.

The temperatures here vary significantly. We're high desert, so it's 90-100 deg F in the summer. Winter can be anything from about 15 to 40 deg F during the day. I'll drive my truck when it snows, but usually the snow stays in the mountains. We have lots of winter days where it is cold, but dry, bright and sunny.

It will be interesting to see how people react to the car. Morrises seem to be sort of rare here in the states, and in my area in particular. I have to admit, that was part of my attraction to it. Although seemingly commonplace in the UK, they are fairly unique here. Hopefully other drivers will be patient. We can get license plates for vintage cars that say "Old Timer" on them, so maybe I'll get one of those and people will not try to push me, knowing I can't go that fast!

So, up to 38 °C and down to -9 °C.
Very toasty to absolute brass monkeys on the London temperature scale .
The car should cope with enough anti freeze for the cold bits.
They are in operation all round the world, and skinny tyres rule in the snow.

The 948cc engine is freer revving than the 1098, and has plenty of tuning potential.