Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello all,
I was just reading the section on what to look for when buying a Minor. Whats the "dreaded cover panel" when refering to inspecting the sills, and why should you look for another car if it's in place?

Here's a link to the page http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?page=310

a cover panel is where someone has just slapped a bit of plate on the sill over a hole as opposed to cutting all the rust out and welding in the correct repair panel.

I would have two concerns with a plate over a hole, firstly how bad is the hole under the plate and if they have "bodged" a repair here what over horrors have they just slapped a plate over to get it through an MOT

the cover panel may be the sill cover which you should ask the seller to remove so that you can see the actual sill sections its the panel between the door posts and is removable ,not easy but not too difficult,once off you will be able to see the state of the sill sections,its the comon area for serious rot and can't be see from the outside this is what it should look like[frame][/frame]this is one side of mine which I did a few years ago

kennatt that is what i originally thought.. i.e. the kick plate, but if you read the article in the link rob appears to be talking about a patch on the sill as opposed to the kick plate

My blue Minor has cover sills on one side. Curiously though, when I removed the kick plate and had a poke around, the real sill seemed to be sound . This is odd given that they were used as a quick and easy means of covering up serious rot.

Let's see a picture then??

Are you sure it is a "cover panel" as these were botch job panels sold in the 70's and 80's to get a car through the MOT and hide all the rust. it may just be an MOT style lap welded large cover patch over the sills.