'Van of death'
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 9:56 am
I have owned several Minors, and they have all been a pleasure to drive, and had very safe handling.
However, when I was a young lad, we used to service the vans of an electrical contractor in Winchester, whose policy was to buy ex electricity board vans at Southampton Auction - LDs, J4s and Minors.
One day I walked into their yard, on a nice dry day, to collect an 8cwt Minor van (F reg I think) for service. Pulling out of the gate I gave it a bit of throttle, whereupon without warning it spun through 180 degrees and ended up facing back into the yard on the other side of the road! I was not an experienced driver so I had no input into this spectacular manoeuvre. It was a quiet road and nobody saw it.
I gingerly straightened it out, and found that even the slightest acceleration on the straight made it squirm - like I imagine a supercharged AC Cobra must be to control (or not control!). What it must have been like in the wet I can't imagine. How it had survived for six years or so without wiping itself out is also a mystery.
Back at the workshop I told the boss that it was a bit lairy, and we checked it over to find nothing mechanically amiss - though the rear tyres were very hard due to excess pressure and were over specified for the weight of the van, so were changed.
I didn't get the job of returning it, and it continued in use, so perhaps those tyres cured it, or perhaps my heavy 17 year old foot was the problem all along!
However, when I was a young lad, we used to service the vans of an electrical contractor in Winchester, whose policy was to buy ex electricity board vans at Southampton Auction - LDs, J4s and Minors.
One day I walked into their yard, on a nice dry day, to collect an 8cwt Minor van (F reg I think) for service. Pulling out of the gate I gave it a bit of throttle, whereupon without warning it spun through 180 degrees and ended up facing back into the yard on the other side of the road! I was not an experienced driver so I had no input into this spectacular manoeuvre. It was a quiet road and nobody saw it.
I gingerly straightened it out, and found that even the slightest acceleration on the straight made it squirm - like I imagine a supercharged AC Cobra must be to control (or not control!). What it must have been like in the wet I can't imagine. How it had survived for six years or so without wiping itself out is also a mystery.
Back at the workshop I told the boss that it was a bit lairy, and we checked it over to find nothing mechanically amiss - though the rear tyres were very hard due to excess pressure and were over specified for the weight of the van, so were changed.
I didn't get the job of returning it, and it continued in use, so perhaps those tyres cured it, or perhaps my heavy 17 year old foot was the problem all along!
