Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,
Long time No post!
Well we finally parted company with our 1953 Series 2 "Jethro" in November 2019.
Had great fun fixing him up and went to a few shows in the 8 years we owned him but work and other commitments meant that he stood unused under the carport for most of the time and being quite close to the sea I was continually battling to keep the elements at bay.
We passed him on to a retired gentleman in Surrey who has THREE garages and was looking for a hobby car so Jethro will continue to be loved and looked after.
I certainly didn't miss the skinned knuckles and head lumps from the bonnet and decided that I would not buy another classic...……...until now!
The carport is being renovated prior to the arrival of a '66 two door from Yorkshire in the very near future. Completely restored with loads of unheard of goodies like Disc brakes! Heater! Alternator! Unleaded Head! CD Player and...…..SUNROOF!!
Watch this space!!
PS It's great to be back...….HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.

I wondered where Grimly Fiendish had gone

Happy New Year to you too! Welcome back to Morris Minor ownership I'm sure I am not alone in looking forward to seeing pictures of your new steed and reading many more posts from you about your new experiences.
You never get Morris Minors out of your system once they've bitten you!

This is William, our new acquisition!
Currently undergoing service and final prep before being transported down South.

I certainly didn't miss the head lumps from the bonnet

Hello Grimly,
Good to see you back!
In case your latest Morris 'William' doesn't have one of these and assuming you'll want to avoid a repeat of the above, here's a link to an extending bonnet stay. I swear by them (rather than at the bonnet -- like I used to.... ). Well worth the money!
Best wishes,
Mike.

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead ... RBD&adurl=

That is definitely going on the purchase list!
Thanks for the link.

Hoping that the car will be transported down from Yorkshire in the next few days (Weather permitting).
He's currently in the body shop for some paint work and then being serviced and Motd.

I spoke too soon!
Looks like the damned weather may delay the delivery of the car.
Mind you I wouldn't fancy driving down from Yorkshire to Clacton with all this snow on the roads.
Hoping it will improve in the next few days so fingers crossed.
PS What's the weather like in your area?

We had in Germany a couple of days ago a unique weather situation. Apparantly very rare.

The south had almost spring like temps at 15° and the north snow blizzards and -10°. This is the same snow front that stretched over to you in the island. I live exactly on the border between the two extremes and experienced another extreme - ice rain. Sunday morning, the car , the driveway and steps down to the road were an ice sheet may be 10 mm thick.

Some people put ice skates on and skated down the main road. It is law to have winter tyres on your car at this time of year and thus the Minor without them goes into hibernation but even with them fitted, driving on the "Glatteis" is not my idea of fun.

William finally arrived from Yorkshire on the 26th having failed the Mot test miserably on quite a few things. Also he wasn't starting easily. Luckily all the issues were put right (at a cost of £3000) and paid for by the seller.
Now waiting for the weather to warm up so I can start smartening up the interior and fitting all the goodies I've been buying in the meantime.

Glad to hear you have your car at last. But all this work was required on a car which you say was "completely restored"? That sounds somewhat alarming. Let us hope that it now provides you with much pleasure.

Now that looks very smart indeed

ManyMinors wrote: ↑Mon Mar 01, 2021 7:15 am Glad to hear you have your car at last. But all this work was required on a car which you say was "completely restored"? That sounds somewhat alarming. Let us hope that it now provides you with much pleasure.

He was rebuilt in 2007 by the Minor Millennium Company and unfortunately seems to have been neglected by the previous owner since the last Mot test in 2017. The car failed on things like worn leaf spring bushes, leaking dampers, binding rear brakes and a severe oil leak from the filter. All signs of a lack of maintenance. The rear bumper valence had to be straightened and resprayed along with the rear nearside quarter and wing which cost a packet and the rest of the bill was taken up by all the replacement parts for the Mot plus new starter motor, dizzy cap and leads, plugs, points and hours of labour!
To be fair the sellers carried out all the repairs at their own expense so I was quite pleased with the result. As with most cars of this age there are still improvements to be made but that's part of the fun of owning one of these little buggers!

Admin wrote: ↑Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:30 am Now that looks very smart indeed

Thank you for that,
We do have a problem with the driver's door paint lifting below the waist line but I'm getting the man from Chips away to sort it in the next couple of weeks.
Any ideas why this has happened?
It doesn't seem to have been water related.

That is a shame. Probably caused by poor preparation, incompatible paints or simply too much paint. If the car was fully resprayed all at the same time, I'd expect to see similar poor adhesion in other areas too? Hopefully that won't be the case because it can be a major job to fix - the only long-term answer being to strip to bare metal.

Lovely car

We do have a problem with the driver's door paint lifting below the waist line but I'm getting the man from Chips away to sort it in the next couple of weeks.

I might have got this round my neck......not for the first time.....but I thought 'Chips Away' was just that i.e. for minor body imperfections such as stone chips and small localized surface rust spots. In other words, the sort of repair that can be done at the customer's home or place of work. The paintwork repair needed to this door, looks to need more I would have expected for a home location repair.

As I say, I am more than happy to be corrected, as I have one or two minor paint imperfections on my Moggy that I would like to be sorted out. I would be very interested to know and see the outcome of this repair and perhaps what experience other members have had with Chips Away or similar.

Thanks,
Alan

Owlsman wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 6:55 pm

We do have a problem with the driver's door paint lifting below the waist line but I'm getting the man from Chips away to sort it in the next couple of weeks.

I might have got this round my neck......not for the first time.....but I thought 'Chips Away' was just that i.e. for minor body imperfections such as stone chips and small localized surface rust spots. In other words, the sort of repair that can be done at the customer's home or place of work. The paintwork repair needed to this door, looks to need more I would have expected for a home location repair.

As I say, I am more than happy to be corrected, as I have one or two minor paint imperfections on my Moggy that I would like to be sorted out. I would be very interested to know and see the outcome of this repair and perhaps what experience other members have had with Chips Away or similar.

Thanks,
Alan

The Chips Away chap has looked at the door and is confident he can bring it up to perfection,needs the whole door repainting though.
He did a brilliant job on our black series 2 which needed a rear quarter respray and mopped the bootlid free of charge.
The job is being carried out next Tuesday so I'll post some pics when it's finished. Hoping to remove the oil filter ,which is still leaking , tomorrow and replace with a spin on unit.

Thanks for that info. May I be a bit cheeky and ask what sort of money is involved here?

Thanks,

Alan