Morris Minor Owners Club

I saw this walnut dash on a car currently advertised for sale by one of the Northern dealers.

I can’t quite decide what I think of it. Part of me loves it (except for the stereo system & cigarette lighter positioning, far too indiscreet!). Part of me thinks the standard painted metal is much nicer.

I guess it’s what a Vanden Plas version might have looked like if they’d made one?

What do you all think?

I think I like it! Looks well carried out.

Alan

Looks like nice workmanship, but bit out of context with the rest of the car for my taste.
Terrible design too, having radio behind the steering wheel with gauges down low.
Totally opposite to what's needed; radio should be where passenger can adjust if required and gauges more in drivers field of vision.

It is quite incongruous. A better idea would be the stick on sheets of 'woodgrain' which was popular in the 1970's.

geoberni wrote: ↑Tue May 25, 2021 12:50 pm Totally opposite to what's needed; radio should be where passenger can adjust if required and gauges more in drivers field of vision.

Looks like centre gauge is obscured by the key fob too.

Mick Lynch wrote: ↑Tue May 25, 2021 2:29 pm

geoberni wrote: ↑Tue May 25, 2021 12:50 pm Totally opposite to what's needed; radio should be where passenger can adjust if required and gauges more in drivers field of vision.

Looks like centre gauge is obscured by the key fob too.

So obscured I hadn't even noticed there were 3 of them.....

Yes, you sum it up well geo. The workmanship looks good, just a shame whoever did it has let it down with how things have been laid out.

geoberni wrote: ↑Tue May 25, 2021 12:50 pm Looks like nice workmanship, but bit out of context with the rest of the car for my taste.
Terrible design too, having radio behind the steering wheel with gauges down low.
Totally opposite to what's needed; radio should be where passenger can adjust if required and gauges more in drivers field of vision.

It is nice work but it’s gentrification of an everymans car

Nice idea and well made but not keen on the modern CD/Radio unit.
Willum has a similar player fitted, albeit hidden away in the passenger glovebox, which will be soon removed to make way for a nice original AM Medium Wave radio I just acquired on Ebay.
Thank God Radio Caroline is still broadcasting!

I think that's a fun dash although I would have hidden the radio behind a glovebox door - I've often wondered what the Moggy might have looked like if it had been developed as a model over the decades - rather like the VW Golf has evolved from what was actually quite a spartan and basic car in 1974 to the current, fully loaded version of today. Perhaps the modern Mini Countryman is not far off...

But looking at the photo, what are the two cables/wires that protrude from each end of the dash?

Heated windscreen??

Yep , with a little more thought/care he could have done a " proper job " .
John ;-)

Not sure I would want to drill through outside of the screen lip, if any water does get in there it's going to end up inside the car.

The dash looks well executed but as others have said the layout could be improved, If I wanted to create Perhaps what Wood and Picket would have done if they had been asked, as they did for the mini's, I would be aiming for something like this (My elan +2S130)

adding the crash pad on top would modernise it too.

That said I still prefer the character of the original.

My elan

Nice car.

Once people start worrying about driving a car without 'crash pads' and other modern safety features, like air bags etc. etc. etc. then they may as well get rid and buy a modern IMO.
Classics simply didn't have them.
Best wishes,
Mike.

I must correct you there because yes, they did. Foam filled dashboard tops started to appear in the 1950's and even the Minor 1000 publicity made a big deal of the new steering wheel - dished for safety, and the padded parcel shelf.