Morris Minor Owners Club

odd question for you genius's. should the back door handle on a traveller be horizontal when closed and move down to open, or vertical when closed and move upwards to open? i've seen both recently in photos of morrys for sale in the UK. mine is horizontal but does have a tendency to start to move downwards during driving, i.e. opening the door. it's never gone fully down because the rod is a bit tight

I swear that every traveller I have seen has been different, in this feature. In my opinion it make more sense for it to be horizontal in in 'locked' position. I think it would be in Ray's book? I shall try find out for you!

Mine is facing the UK O/S when locked, and straight down when unlocked. But then mine isn't a standard Traveller lock, but one I had in stock and modified to fit ;)

Makes most sense to be vertical when locked - there is less chance of creep, and it's more difficult to get a screwdriver in the bottom screw.

Mine is horizontal, when locked/closed, and tip of handle pointing to right (UK OSR)[frame][/frame]

Good question! I am just about to refit mine after treating the wood and thought I might go for vertical when locked to avoid any tendency for the handle to descend and for the door to fly open.
John

All the early factory photos in Ray Newall's book have them downwards/vertical. Later restored ones are every which way.....

Absolutely - must be vertically down when closed....

When I replaced all the wood I fitted mine facing down when locked, everyone told me I had it wrong so changed to it pointing to the o/side, now have do I have to change it back? it does seem more logical to have it facing down when locked, but it makes it easier to open when facing to the o/side, so a case of pays your money and takes your choice

bmcecosse wrote:Absolutely - must be vertically down when closed....

But doesn't that mean that to set it "open" the handle then goes left and across the left hand door?

It does and if the wind catches the open door it slams shut on the handle, something has to give

But then "up for lock" should be the correct way round - like on double glazed front (and back) doors - you pull the handle up (for secure lock) BEFORE turning the key in the lock.
I did have another Traveller (1963 model), in about 1983, but don't now remember which way the handle went.

When my Traveller was new the handle was vertical when locked.

[frame][/frame]
Pointing down when locked, then it cant work loose as you drive. As told by an owner who had one from new.

Ive been looking at this and have decided that you fit it as you prefer.

I prefer it pointing down when locked and thats how mine will be fitted. The owners handbook says that you turn it clockwise to open...but the parts book shows the stop pin on the striker plate at the top which would prevent it opening clockwise and this means that you have to turn it anticlockwise to open... or fit the striker plate the other way up!
Edit

The rod mechanism on mine is arranged such that the handle does have to be turned clockwise to open so if you start with the lever facing right when locked it will be down when open ..and if you start with the lever down when locked it will face left when open.. maybe the rod mechanism was reversed on earlier cars? it seems that the striker plate stop pin has to be at the bottom.

T

confusion reigns. i was wondering because i'm going to fit the hinge o/h kits to all four hinges to hopefully fix the sagging, not quite square doors. and whilst thats going on the rods don't seem to be a good fit so the whole lot's going to get sorted and this is the perfect time to change the handle to which ever is correct. i get the feeling to change it from horizontal locked to vertical i might have to rearrange the rods too. hmm something to explore before starting i think. thanks for your comments.

i did a quick survey on google images of 20 pics
12 horizontal 7 downwards and 1 upwards.
discounting the 1 upwards i think taupe has it. whichever you prefer

You dont need to alter the rods, just take the handle out and turn it one flat on the square that it sits in.

Tried to get mine off when I was stripping the wood, failed miserably , it just wouldn't shift

I'm sure that's Dads Travellers (in the '50s and '60s) both had rear door handles facing down when locked. They somehow look right like that (to me anyway).

Yea Panky, I had that problem too, and had to resort to heating it with the welder to shift it after chipping away the remains of the rotten door with a chisel....