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Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:47 pm
by mikec4193
Hi Morris Minor owners
I am just dipping my toe into the world of Morris Minors and being from the USA I am really a duck out of water but I am wondering if anyone knows where the British Motor Car Company got their steel from to stamp these bodies from?
I have been welding on William Leo Columbus for several weeks and I have to say...this steel is like nothing I have ever worked with before...my MIG welder loves this stuff...I am literally welding 18-16 gauge patches onto the bottom side of this old man and it is taking it in stride...I am rarely blowing through the rusty metal either...
Any insight would be an awesome thing.
Thanks in advance.
MikeC
Re: Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:06 pm
by Matt
I would think its mostly steel from British steelworks?
Re: Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:08 pm
by Matt
P.S. it was unlikely to have been the Austin Motor Company - given they are Morris Minors
It would either have been Morris Motors / British Motor Corporation / British Leyland dependant on the age of the car
Re: Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:19 pm
by geoberni
Back then the steel would have been entirely home produced and I believe that in the 1950s much of UK iron & steel production was using ore imported from North Africa, plus the recycling of WWII surplus/scrap, from both domestic sources and imports from Germany.
UK ore contains up to 50% less metallic content that the best foreign mines.
Re: Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:51 pm
by mikec4193
Matt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:08 pm
P.S. it was unlikely to have been the Austin Motor Company - given they are Morris Minors
It would either have been Morris Motors / British Motor Corporation / British Leyland dependant on the age of the car
Sorry I fixed my first post...British Motor Car Company..
Re: Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2021 2:42 pm
by POMMReg
mikec4193 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:51 pm
Matt wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 4:08 pm
P.S. it was unlikely to have been the Austin Motor Company - given they are Morris Minors
It would either have been Morris Motors / British Motor Corporation / British Leyland dependant on the age of the car
Sorry I fixed my first post...British Motor Car Company..
Morris Motor's, '52 British Motor Corporation, 1/68 British Leyland Motor Corp & then British Leyland.
Metal on LCVs worse post c6/69, determine approx VIN by metal thickness!!
Re: Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2021 4:04 pm
by philthehill
Dec 1966 British Motor Holdings (BMH) - Early 1968 BMH merged with Leyland Motor Corp to form BLMC.
Re: Where was the original steel sourced from?
Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2021 6:40 pm
by JOWETTJAVELIN
It would be the body firms such as B.L.S.P. or Briggs or N.M.P. who bought the steel from the rolling mills and you'd have to find out where they bought their raw steel from. I have heard tales of some using cheap Spanish steel which rusted faster due to its composition, but I don't know. Morris did seem to use very good quality steel.