Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, I'm a writer and in a scene I am attempting to write, my lead character is driving his boss in a 1958 Morris MInor Van. The scene occurs in 1969. Having never been in such a van... can you tell me what it would be like to go for a four mile city drive? Would it be noisy? What kind of noise would the engine make? Was the steering easy? Would there be a radio? What kind of dials would there be? Did the windscreen wipers work well? What were the common problems with such vans? What would the seats feel like? Was it comfortable to be a passenger? Did stuff in the back tend to rattle about? How many gears did these cars have? How much could you get in the back? Were they popular with corner shop owners? Could anyone describe the interior... the more information and detail the better! Thankyou.

In 1969 it would be common enough although the driver might be hankering for something newer especially if he was young.
The steering is light and vans are always noisy, on the Morris the exhaust exits just below and behind the drivers right ear.
When you come off the accelerator the exhaust is likely to make a trumpeting noise, AKA farting!
4 gears + reverse, very unlikely to be a radio, unless he brought his new fangled transistor along.
Everything worked OK for the time, seats were OK, interior as Spartan as possibly, rubber mat? Luxury .

sounds like heaven Marky forgot about the rattling back doors

It was draughty because you had the quarterlights open to let the smoke out, almost everyone smoked then.
And if it was a green GPO telephones van the ladder would rattle on the roof rack as well.
And if you turned the ignition off for a couple of seconds then turned it back on there would be a terrific backfire.
Frightened a good few people on Kilburn High Road, Oh, I was wild in them days!
Everyone loved the Minors and hated the replacement Bedford HAs

Do the LCVs with the short/side exhaust make the 'fart' noise?? I thought it was peculiar to the full length saloon exhaust.

I would suggest that you track down a van in your area and experience the sensation first hand. That will be sure to add realism to your scripting.
Try the LCV Register

thanks guys.. all very useful.. any further thoughts would be appreciated. I almost want to get into one...

bmcecosse wrote:Do the LCVs with the short/side exhaust make the 'fart' noise?? I thought it was peculiar to the full length saloon exhaust.

I am not sure that the LCV exhaust is actually any shorter?

Yes vans still make the same exhaust noise, and as Mike says the exhaust is probably about the same length as the saloon, it just goes off in a differnent direction aft of the passenger seat!
As the cars, the amount of overun rasp varies, prob down to manufacturer of the exhaust system.

Engine timing also affects the overrun noise as does a chrome tail pipe extension.

.........and dont forget that you are likely to crunch the gears or make a 'ping' sound when selecting 1st,even if you are only slightly moving.You must actually stop to get 1st, as there is no synchromesh on it. Can usually move off ok in 2nd.

The braking is unlikely to be as good as you are used to.

You can even get the experience of using the manual starter handle, if you want to, as it was probably the last car to offer this feature. Can anyone confirm if it was the last with this?

Manual choke to start.

Demisting will be poor.

'Flip out' semaphore indicators, not self-cancelling.

If it has original type cross-ply tyres, it will feel 'different'.

If lightly loaded, easy to get rear wheel spin in lower gears if accelarate too hard, due to low gear ratios [lower than the car version]. On slightly iced roads rear wheel spin can prevent restarting from a stop! Need a passenger to push off and jump back in when moving!

Tony Hodgekiss

Land Rovers had starting handles after Minors
It is quite easy to change down into 1st gear at up to 10mph, in fact it can be necessary on a steep hill. It just takes a bit of practice at double de clutching