Morris Minor Owners Club

hi there,

i'm stripping down my van prior to a restoration

the bonnet badge is in good nick and looks like the original one, so I want to keep it. The (?enamel?) colour is rather worn though, does anyone know a good way to refurbish it? or do I need to put up with the worn look if I want to keep the original?

cheers

juliet

See Shawn's posting Hubcap 'M' Colour

I believe nail polish has been used to good effect...

Gareth wrote:I believe nail polish has been used to good effect...

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

cheers vernon, will have a look

for anyone else interested, here's the link to the thread on hubcaps: http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... pic&t=7383

(it just says what colour to use if you want to use nail varnish lol )

anyone else got any ideas?

juliet

I've used oil based model aeroplane paint on car badges. Humbrol 'enamel' paints work well, especially the gloss colours. Probably cheaper than nail polish too!

Cheers!
s

Maybe an idea for the missus then! Model aeroplane paint! that is about, let's say £1,25 instead of £15 or more for something like Rimmel (not that I use it tho, I prefer model aeroplane paint)
humbrol stuff is quite Ok btw! I have used it for years, before starting on a 1:1 car

"... I say Algy, the Flight Lieutenant's wife's fingertips look just like the propeller tips on the Group Captain's Spitfire!.."

ROFLOL @ shawn

yeah, humbrol.... good plan

Onne if they are charging £15 a bottle for Rimmel where you live then you need to report it to trading standards... it's one of the cheapest, about £3-£4 a go

Thing is, isn't it meant to be covered in a transparent material? At least [some] of the M bonnet embelems I've prodded at at shows have had a sort of translucent, actually, red hard substance in so you can see the texture of the 'gribbly' bit behind the M (but the chrome on all of them has been uniformly terrible. Mine the chrome's fine, but the colours all gorne). Doing it with paint'd mean that you couldn't see that....

yeah, good point kate

i'm guessing that the translucent colouring material is enamel (not enamel paint but "real", baked-on enamel)?

my own badge has opaque colouring on it - but that could be paint which a previous owner has applied after noticing that the original enamel had worn away?

just checking, we are talking about the same badge aren't we? the bull motif with wings on the side and the word Morris underneath, which goes on the centre of the bonnet underneath the bonnet flash? (as the saloons have that other badge thing in the rolly bit of their bonnet flash) (am i making sense?) Thought I'd check as on my bonnet badge there is no "M" (in red or otherwise); the only coloured bits are the bull, in red, with three wavy lines underneath it, in light blue, and the surround of the word "Morris", in light blue.

oof

juliet xxxx

Ah, I was thinking of the flash, I suspect, though I'm not sure, that the badge (wiv Morris on it) um, yeah, that's probably the same semi-translucent stuff?

I'm not sure though, to be honest. Mine's got Red & Blue Humbrol Enamel in it! Ahhh, originality [grins].

I don't think it's enamel (glass melted on to it) - it doesn't look like enamel (too thin), it doesn't wear like enamel, and I can't imagine that 'they' would have gone to the expense and trouble of enameling them (a kiln to melt the stuff on etc etc). Not very helpful, but I think it's paint of some sort.

Thing is, isn't it meant to be covered in a transparent material? At least [some] of the M bonnet embelems I've prodded at at shows have had a sort of translucent, actually, red hard substance

The early cars had a different badge in the flying M (handle thingy). They were sepearate badges held in by some clip or spring. The later ones were all in one with some paint.
As for the LCV bonnet - I expect there's no flying M to worry about...

Yup. LCV's had no 'handle', and the same bonnet bagde as the seies II, just like in Juliet's sig pic

rayofleamington wrote: As for the LCV bonnet - I expect there's no flying M to worry about...

indeed! it's got a plain chrome flash with no "handle" thingy

it's the bonnet badge I'm interested in - the one with the bull and the wings, which says "Morris"

any ideas ray?

juliet

bigginger wrote:Yup. LCV's had no 'handle', and the same bonnet bagde as the seies II, just like in Juliet's sig pic

oooh well spotted andrew - nice one

Well........... the LCV bonnet badge is like the Series MM one (so is the flash). The series IIs are the same as the later Minor 1000 ones except the bonnet handles are different and have the inserts as opposed to the later one piece casting as has been pointed out.

Yup, I was mis-remembering my Skilleter - Series MM it is. Sorry, cheers for the correction (NB not sarcasm, since I seem to be misunderstood quite often!)

That's OK. I did not want to be too pedantic, just adding to the info base.........