Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi
I have the opportunity to buy a 1953 Split Screen 4 door which is largely original in need of complete restoration, and was wondering what kind of price people would pay for one?
From looking at it all the floors need replacing, the sills need replacing, all four doors need new bottoms on them, it needs a complete re-spray and there is a small patch of rust around the rear window under the rubber seal which will probably need repair.
Thanks in advance!
Jamie

like anything, they are worth what someone else is prepared to pay,what price is the owner asking.Just to put it into perspective,a full respray,a proper one,not just a blow over will set you back about £2.000,If you can't do the welding yourself it will put the finished car way above what its worth or what you will get back for it. Thats without mechanical overhaul which it will need by the sound of it. My advice, find a better one ,in running order requiring a bit of minor fettling, preferable with a new mot(Voluntary one in this case now vosa have stupidly exempted pre 1960 cars) You could be looking at a money pit.It also probably needs chassis work if the floor and sills are gone,they usually go about the same time.

Hello Jamie

I paid £1250 for my 2 door splitscreen 2.5 years ago. It had a 11 month MOT left on it at the time. It required a respray and quite a lot of welding during the year to get up to the standard I wanted. Replaced spring hangers and welded footwells.
If you have the money hold off and look to spend about £1600-£2K for one that will not require welding.

I have spent £1300 on the car since I have bought it so depends whether you want to spend more now on a higher spec or buy cheap and do the work yourself.

If the car is in that much of a state I'd be reluctant to spend more than a couple of hundred on it. It will still end up costing you thousands by the time its finished.

Are you sure that they should not be paying you to take it away?

Mines a four door '53 and has been valued at £2950. It is pretty original, road worthy and is a nice looking car. To be honest, getting quite rare too as I guess they are quite boring compared to MM's, travellers and tourers around the same period. So value may increase one day.

If you take that as a guide to a price when it is done up, then I guess the condition it is in at the moment, it's pretty much a loss leader.

Scrap value is probably £150-£200 (like a previous poster mentioned) and that is all it is. If the seller wants rid and they need the space, lots of people get cars like these for free. It really depends how much you want a '53 four door split screen.

If the visible rot is that bad imagine what the unseen rust is like. If you really want it I suppose £150-200 would be a fair price.

orb596 wrote:If the car is in that much of a state I'd be reluctant to spend more than a couple of hundred on it. It will still end up costing you thousands by the time its finished.

i agree