Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello all,

Many years ago, as a callow youth, I purchased my Morris Traveller as my first car. I subsequently (and regrettably now) sold the car, not thinking that I'd never see another one like it. Every Traveller I've seen since has left and right-hand hinged rear doors. The rear doors on my Traveller were hinged top and bottom, to provide one door which lifted up on sliding hinges, and the other which dropped down and sat horizontally.
I believe that the car may have been manufactured in 1948, although it wasn't a low-light. The headlights were in the higher position. The car had the smaller (875?)cc motor.
Unfortunately, I don't have any of the paperwork for the car, and have not seen it since I sold it. On the scant information provided, can anyone even hazzard a guess as to why my car had this unusual rear door configuration?

Steve Turner
Sydney

Are you sure it was a Minor and not the larger Oxford, which also came as a Traveller variant with the rear doors you describe?

The Minor Traveller wasn't introduced until 1953.

Some Travellers were indeed converted to horizontally split rear doors, though they are rare.

Thanks Maurice,
It was definitely a Minor. The guess at the year of manufacture was only a guess, so I'll defer to your better knowledge. Do you happen to know whether the horizontally split rear doors was a factory option or was it done via an external coachbuilder?

Cheers,
Steve

The traveller was never factory produced in that way. Are you in Sydney Australia? It's just possible your car was based on a van chassis & cab and the body was produced locally.

Sorry for the delay in reply, but I've been away. Yes, I'm in Sydney Australia. Thanks for your response. What is interesting is that I've never seen another one like it.

Can you remember how the cab door locked/unlocked - ON the handle,
or with a recess [for the key] below it?

Again, apologies for the delay. Another matter took me out of town urgently. The key lock for the rear doors was on the handle. Most definitely.

Most Minors in Aus were locally assembled (CKD), the Traveller was not officially imported but some fully assembled Travellers found their way to Aus.

Thanks Mike. All information is gratefully appreciated.