Morris Minor Owners Club

An easily restorable 1967 factory convertible just sold on fleabay for £720.

Has some kind of bubble burst?

Wait until you see another at that price !

So what is a decent convertible worth? I have a Trafalgar Blue 1966 that has been in my family since 1967.

So what is a decent convertible worth? I have a Trafalgar Blue 1966 that has been in my family since 1967.

Between 5K and 10K depending on condition etc. Though you will see some with 'traders' for more than that......
But don't tell the wife, otherwise you might find she suddenly wants a new kitchen or an extension..........
Best wishes,
Mike.

stuffedpike20 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:07 am An easily restorable 1967 factory convertible just sold on fleabay for £720.

Has some kind of bubble burst?

I wouldn't have described that as "easily restorable"

Is it because it's a convertible and needs the additional strength that the sills are solid metal within the circular holes rather than an air gap? (or is that a trick of the photos?).

Chief wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 3:57 pm Is it because it's a convertible and needs the additional strength that the sills are solid metal within the circular holes rather than an air gap? (or is that a trick of the photos?).

Yes Chief, I think you are right about the sill strengtheners.

No. It is because it has been horribly bodged in the past. The extra strengthening from the factory (which is the same as the Travellers) is not visible in such a photo.

As the item has sold and there's no image to reference, I have no idea what you're all talking about....

Can I assume there were images showing a lack of these holes.....?
download/file.php?id=16260

Yes those holes, but for your reference here's the auction:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1967-MORRIS- ... 7675.l2557

Chief wrote: ↑Mon Nov 01, 2021 10:10 am Yes those holes, but for your reference here's the auction:

Ahh, thanks for the update. So someone had reinforced the area, presumably because of the rot that had been there.
For future reference on this topic once the listing is ancient history, I've copied it below.

'90% of the structural repairs have been done' - sometime in the last 54 years!

A few years back I was quoted a rough £10k to do the bodywork on a 2 door saloon I'm rebuilding which was a runner with a dubious MOT. If you sank that into this convertible plus all the other parts it needs then I'd imagine you might be lucky enough to just break even one day.

A few years back I was quoted a rough £10k to do the bodywork on a 2 door saloon

jagnut66 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 11:19 am

That's what I thought - and from a Minor specialist. On the strength of that I'm now a reasonably good welder and part way through spraying my own panels for a fraction of the cost. Never be afraid to try things so long as you're sensible about it!

I've spent the last three and a half years restoring my traveller and still have a way to go. I've done everything myself and still spent an awful lot, I'd hate to think what a professional would have charged. Good thing I charge myself £50 an hour, I've made a fortune

panky wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 2:09 pm I've spent the last three and a half years restoring my traveller and still have a way to go.

I just want to go out, do one job, and not find another job to add to the to do list !

Take yesterday as an example:

I need to replace the outside weather strips in my doors (been around 10-15 years since I last did them).
I decide they'd be much easier to do with the windows wound down.
Result, discovering that neither rear window handles will turn any more.
Take off the door card/plastic on one door, everything looks clean (amazingly rust free) and okay as far as I could see.
Figure maybe it's the (exploded with rust) weather strips jamming the window (after gentle tapping on the glass/frame did nothing) so continue the job of replacing them.
Result, one of the rusty bits of metal takes off the paint from my doors exterior straight to bare metal - now dabbed with direct to rust black paint, and with the weather strips out (in many pieces) the window still doesn't budge, by now it's too dark to continue fitting the weather strips so have to give up for the day (and todays other job I had to get done before getting to the Minor took longer, so again it's getting a bit too dark to work on - and cold!).

Up until this point, my to do list was finally shrinking

A 1952 split screen convertible just sold for £1020. (sorry I can't put link up)

It had many boxes of spares.

Are we sure a bubble has not burst; or do people just shy away from restoring convertibles?

I think that the number of people prepared to take on a restoration of that magnitude would be small. Restoration costs are high - even if you can do most of the work yourself. It was another very rough car in a dismantled state with a lot of missing/incorrect parts. Late MMs and Series11s are not the most sought after models and it is difficult and expensive to obtain the correct parts for them. I'd have been surprised if it had fetched much more.

Ebay drops photos very soon after an auction ends so I've copied the photos from the auction here for any future reference

Classic car prices are very hit an miss at the moment, and I can't work out why.

I have seen several examples where car X sells for far more than I would imagine, and car Y selling for prices which are ridiculously low - where both cars are similar and it may only be 2-3 weeks apart.