Morris Minor Owners Club

Oh my god. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
I have been running a 1984 Mercedes 280SL. However, with petrol at £1.30 a litre and the car only doing 18mpg, whilst "Driving Miss Daisy" and single figures if you welly it, it was time for something cheaper.
Having found a car fairly local, with MOT and tax exempt, I thought I would bite the bullet with a rolling restoration. Enter Daffy a 1965 saloon.
Even getting the car home was an adventure, torrential rain didn't help. The drivers side wiper fell off, and even after refitting it only occasionally touched the windscreen. The passenger side wiper stripped its splines half way home, so stopped working. Add to that an intermittent misfire and you will see it was fairly stressful.

I have just been out to look over the car in the cold light of day. A horrendous amount of work to do. My rolling restoration looks as if it has turned into a full strip down.

The mechanicals look ok, it runs alright and returned well over 30mpg on the way home. It looks as if the engine hasn't been serviced for a while. The air filter is black and the plugs are rusty otherwise not too bad.

The seats and interior cards are in pretty good condition considering the age, apart from the drivers footwell card. The vinyl on this is ok, but the card is trashed, so should be repairable. Both sides of the parcel shelf have slumped so will need replacing. There are also no carpets, so a new set will be needed.

The bodywork is in dire need of some tlc. It looks as if previous owners have repaired it to get it through MOTs without much thought for preserving the car. One sill has a plate welded on over the rubber door seal Most of the panel gaps are out, the doors need severe remedial work if not replacement and most of the panels have rust on them to some degree. One my biggest areas of concern are the roof gutters which appear to be difficult to repair. The body colour is a non standard baby blue. Given the amount of work required, I will be returning it to Smoke Grey. Looking at the amount of work I have to do, the respray is some way off The car is in far worse shape than it looks in the photo [frame][/frame]

Hello.
Not wishing to put you off as they are lovely little cars and I have spent more money than makes sense fixing them.(and paying people to fix them as I realized that with my best efforts I was just not up to doing a professional job.)
Just remember: whatever you spend to make it better you wont get back when you sell.
If you want a good one, buy it from someone that has fixed it up and now needs to sell.
Everything will cost more than you ever imagined.
In my opinion the only folk that should buy tatty moggies are folk with the time and ability to repair them as a hobby.
Anyway Good luck and read lots of posts in the resto section.

I'm not worried. I have restored plenty of cars in the past, 4 MGBs (one a complete nut and bolt restoration), a 1951 MG TD, two midgets, a Triumph Herald (again a complete strip down) and just finished a Riley Elf for my daughter.

I dread to think how much I have spent on repairing and restoring cars over the years. I have spent £2000 just repairing my Merc in the last 18 months. I am fully aware that I will not get back a fraction of the money I spend. The car is for me to drive as my daily transport, not a way of making money. However, having already stripped out the insides, it doesn't look as bad as some projects I have tackled. Looking at what I have, the hardest problem is going to be making it watertight. I looks as if water has been getting in around all of the glass. I know from experience this isn't that easy to stop.
The car is never going to be a concourse winner, but that was never the object. I just like tinkering with old cars. The fact that parts are cheap, as is the insurance and no road tax, makes it a fun and relatively economical daily driver. I am semi retired, so time is not an issue, there also aren't many jobs I haven't tackled before, so I shouldn't have to pay for much professional help. I have done plenty of body repair work and have previously resprayed 4 cars so that should save a few quid (having a compressor and spray gun in the garage has saved me a fortune over the years).

No doubt about it, they are lovely little cars and its great that so many parts are cheap and available.
It may be worth just replacing the window seals, they are cheap and fairly easy to replace.

The window seals themselves look new and are still flexible, so I presume not fitted that long ago,
just not very well.
A close inspection shows some puckering of the rear inner seal, so it may need re-fitting or adjusting.
The rear sides and windscreen have some corrosion in the frames, so when repaired and refitted they may
sit better.

Work started. Interior stripped out, just left the front seat in so that I can drive it to the local garage if required.
Fixing the pedals was the first job. The return spring on the brake pedal was rusted as was the spring bracket. New one made and fitted pedals greased and chassis rail treated - fairly rusty[frame][/frame]
Took the opportunity to rust treat and repaint the front floor panel. Unfortunately the brake cylinder cover was beyond repair so I made a new one, not bad for a homemade effort.[frame][/frame]
Also started work on the panels under the rear seat and interior wheel arches, showing signs of water ingress from the rear and rear side windows The hole in the rear floor pan is booked in for welding next week - the first of several trips [frame][/frame]

Work continues slowly. I'm still waiting for the floor repair. Booked in for Monday. I have started work on the drivers side roof gutter. It looks as if several gutter repairs have been made, there are several layers of rusty metal. Just about managed to get it back to a manageable level. A lot of repair required not only to the seam, but also to the roof/gutter joint. The gutter repair panels seem to be unavailable at present. I have made some from plastic but am debating how to fix them. It will have to wait until next week when the car is back from welding and I can remove the side window.[frame][/frame]

looks a nice car and shouldnt be a problem considering your other restos

Looks can be deceptive. There is far more rust than shows up on the photos so far.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Plus whilst under the the car having a quick survey I found that the fuel tank has a leak, so that will be a fairly urgent
priority

Latest update. Slow going, despite 4 hours a day spent on it. The more I do the more problems I find.
I have made and fitted the drivers side roof gutter
[frame][/frame]


A long slog ahead

Sad to say, that's usually how it works. My two-month restoration turned into a six-month resto turned into a two-year resto. Happily, there's nothing left on the car to hide any problems! Keep plugging along, don't give up (I don't expect you would), you'll get there and be a very proud person.

Things are moving on.

I have repaired the nearside door (had to cut the best part of an inch out of the depth - previous poor repair).
Built out the body tub behind the drivers door, again a previous poor repair.
Hammerited the underside
Repaired both rear wings
Removed and discarded both valances and bumpers (trashed beyond repair)
Made and fitted new roof gutters and lower front wing panels (to replace the valances)
New fuel tank fitted
Car primed, wet and dried and the first top coat applied - photos to follow

New carpets, seatbelts etc waiting in the spare room


Starting to look like a car now, rather than a pile of metal and rust

Well, after some pretty rough days, one step forward two steps back, I think I am getting somewhere.
The front of the car is just about complete
Just the rubbing down of the paintwork on the rear of the car, fitting the interior and windows to go.

Almost forgot, still have to get new tyres, renew the brakes and paint the wheels, not necessarily in that order.
Hoping to be back on the road by mid August at the latest.

Not an ugly duckling any more! Looking good

Thanks. A bit more cutting back on the paint still to do and refit the interior and I might get to drive her before the summer ends

Just doing some work on the interior today. Had to cut some new hardboard for both door cards and the panels in the foot wells.
Thought I would give the vinyl on these and the seats a bit of a clean whilst I was at it.

I always assumed the interior of my car was dark grey, because that is what it looked like. Having spent some time with Mr Muscle, Fairy power spray and upholstery cleaner, I have discovered that it is all pale blue

Looking at the water and the colour of the latex gloves I was wearing, it looks like 40 years of nicotine can have a weird affect on colour perception.

Just about finished. Phew. Between 4 and 8 hours a day almost every day since February. No more restorations for me.

You must be very pleased with yourself. She looks fantastic.

Pretty chuffed, not sure I would do another one. I have been working on it an average of 6 hours a day every day since February. MOT booked for 17th August, although it still has a current one.
I wont be driving it until then as it needs 3 new tyres, brakes all round and a new wheel cylinder.