Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello all,
A new member, please go gentle on me, I need lots of encouragement
This is my first foray into Van ownership and restoration, she's a 1958 van just imported to UK from Australia
Best described as a "brave restoration!!"
Having restored a number of classics in the past and always coveted a Morris Van, I did own a 71 pickup many many years ago, this one was available so thought 'sod it, let's have a go', anyway it has now arrived from Australia in the middle of Dry January - my timing sucks as usual - I need a drink!
It's more or less complete (what the God of rust and rot hasn't already claimed), with original engine that runs and box, an interesting cat flap style rear door setup that I imagine some outback farmer cobbled together at one point in its life.
I can see every panel on the bottom 2 inches will probably need replacing... local kids have already started calling it the flintstone car and taking bets with each other if it will live to drive another day....did I say I needed a drink..
Will load some pics later when at the PC to resize them, Now thinking about how I am going to go about this project, I.e. Which bits I do myself, how much to farm out, etc. It's exciting in a kind of masochistic way
Best Justin

Without knowing any more, I wish the very best of luck with your task.

You will enjoy it (some days), think you had a screw loose when you bought it (quite a few days), hate the damn thing, (the majority of the time), and love it when it's finished (once, some time in the future)!

Go for it!

Love to see some pictures

Always difficult to form an opinion with photos, but I think you have an excellent basis for your restoration. Looks to be plenty of mainly surface rust, but not a lot of absolutely rotten areas. Underside may be different, maybe not.

Very interesting substitution of the tailgate. Why??? Because your can, so why not. Putting a cab rear panel inside the van box is another possibility. Parts bin engineering can be fun. enjoy your project.

Topside it's just surface rust, underneath it's another story....
Not convinced the chassis is economically salvageable and will require new floors, sills etc.
Running gear seems good

I will have to keep an eye on fleabay for some rear doors I really don't like the cat flap

Looks a great project and probably better to start with a new chassis .The topside and the gutters look solid and from what I can make out a good solid van and look forward to seeing your restoration