Morris Minor Owners Club

It's not a Minor, but just happened to notice this ebay advert this morning, when it randomly came up on the other items at the bottom of the page....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-1800-L ... SwQG5Zu9zp

A different approach to making a sale...?

Bit of a know it all, in his replies. I wouldn't like to do business with him, even if I did want a land grab

Yes, from this comment

"an abject pile of scrap that my father decided to buy, with the intention of me spending 100's of hours on to make worth a fraction of what he paid for it. Needless to say I'm not clinically insane."

you'd think that Dad would have known not to waste his time and money buying anything for the ungrateful whipper-snapper that he has spawned!

I based my remarks on his replies to people who contacted him.

Always had a soft spot for the old land crab.

My dad had one and it was the first car I drove at over 100 mph. (A long time ago officer).

Really odd mechanical speedo that was a horizontal ribbon.

Did you know they did a S version (as in Mini Cooper S) that had twin SUs?

But my god they were pretty horrible and rusted beyond belief. Ours died when the front suspension basically fell off.

Nice and spacious inside. Maxi used the same doors and floor/sill structure with the same inbuilt rust traps. I had a 1982 Maxi for private hire work. Mainly airport work to Gatwick and Heathrow. Averaged 400+ miles a week. Soooo comfortable but less sound insulation than an 1800

I had a Maxi ( company car Mallard Green ) and thought , in some ways , it was great ! Lift up tail gate and fold down back seats were innovative at the time , and space was useful as I towed a boat . Was the gear stick cable coupled to the gear box ? It also had a huge weight at the front of the engine , maybe chassis, to damp vibrations . I remember braking hard and pushing into the seat back which promptly broke and deposited me in the back of the car .

Same thing happened to me about 17 years ago when a white van man crashed into the back of my beloved 1956 1000 'Babs'
It might have saved me from injury but the poor old car was written off

Shropshiremoggie wrote:Was the gear stick cable coupled to the gear box ?

Very early Maxi (from 1968) had cable-operated gearchange. Much criticised and changed to rod-operated by 1970/71. Still wasn't the greatest. Nearly as notchy and baulky as my dad's Chrysler/Talbot Horizon.

Never drove a manual 1800 'land crab' but remember the later (1973 ?) auto having a T-shift mounted on the far right of the dashboard.

I've had three land crabs over the years, all 2200 versions - just what turned up. Really enjoyed them and didn't keep them long enough for them to have problems. Bit low geared being 4 speed, and same final drive ratio as an 1800 but the turbine smooth 'six' would rev enough to worry sales reps in the outside lane....
I'd have one again if one turned up.