Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,

I have a question about a part that I didn't even know existed until quite recently, the Series II rear-door armrests.
I have a 1954 4-door LHD Series II Morris Minor. It was restored about 10 years ago, not very accurately, by the previous owner. I have owned it for about a year, and have been trying to get it nearer to its original appearance and spec.
It is missing the original rear-armrests. I managed to find a pair on eBay. They are in pretty good condition, and are even the right colour.
Today, I removed the panel from one of the doors. I was delighted to find the six holes for the armrest, meaning that the door itself is original, but less delighted to find that the holes do not line up with the ones on the armrests themselves.
This indicates that either the armrests are not from a Morris Minor, or there was more than one type. The eBay seller claimed that they came from a 1954 Morris Minor.
I am attaching some pictures. Does anyone know what's going on?

Thanks,

Daniel

They look the same as the ones in my SII. But I have seen a different type of armrest, with a more rounded profile. I am not sure how these are fixed, exactly, but it could be that your car was originally fitted with these? Surely there are holes through the door panel trim where armrests were previously fitted? Your post suggests that the holes were not visible until you had removed the door panel?

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:59 am They look the same as the ones in my SII. But I have seen a different type of armrest, with a more rounded profile. I am not sure how these are fixed, exactly, but it could be that your car was originally fitted with these? Surely there are holes through the door panel trim where armrests were previously fitted? Your post suggests that the holes were not visible until you had removed the door panel?

Hi, thanks for answering.

Yes, the door panel is not original. It is a reproduction and does not have the holes for the armrests.

I wonder whether early SIIs, like mine, had different armrests to that later ones? There were 1954 cars of both types, I believe.

D.

We had a topic on this last year, where we discovered there were 2 types of arm rest:
viewtopic.php?t=73629

Yes, the rounded style were the alternate ones I was thinking of - but from the picture each one appears to be secured in only two places, whereas the OP mentions six holes in his doorframe, suggesting the type he has bought - but which, apparently, don't fit! Curiouser and curiouser!

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:42 pm Yes, the rounded style were the alternate ones I was thinking of - but from the picture each one appears to be secured in only two places, whereas the OP mentions six holes in his doorframe, suggesting the type he has bought - but which, apparently, don't fit! Curiouser and curiouser!

This is really weird. I'll take another look; maybe I didn't get how they are supposed to fit (wouldn't be the first time...).

I should add that one side could be made to line up perfectly with the holes. In other words, the holes lined up with a single bracket, but when that side lined up, the other didn't.

Thanks to all,

D.

Hi all,

Sorry to have left this thread in the air for so long; my car was off the road for a long time getting just about everything overhauled. Now it's back on the road and I'm back to working on these minor (but interesting) jobs (no pun intended).

Anyway, I can confirm now that I have six holes in each door; I checked both. The triangle positioning and spacing of the holes on each side fits a triangular bracket, but the triangles are too far away from each other to fit the armrest.

The armrests were sold to me as coming from a 1954 Morris Minor.

It would be simple enough to make three more holes for the second bracket, using three original holes, but I would really like to know what's goign on here...

D.

Daniel - if you follow the link to the other thead provided by 'geobernie' above, you will see that I provided he measurements for the triangular brackets and the arm rests themselves. I suggest that you compare these measurements to those of your brackets/arm rests and see if they are the same. From what you say, it would appear that the brackets are the same dimensions as mine, in that the holes line up with the holes in the door but it may be that the dimensions of the armrests themselves are different.

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:18 am Daniel - if you follow the link to the other thead provided by 'geobernie' above, you will see that I provided he measurements for the triangular brackets and the arm rests themselves. I suggest that you compare these measurements to those of your brackets/arm rests and see if they are the same. From what you say, it would appear that the brackets are the same dimensions as mine, in that the holes line up with the holes in the door but it may be that the dimensions of the armrests themselves are different.

Thanks,

I measured my armrests, and they are in the ballpark of the measurements in the other thread. They are slightly shorter overall (24cm = approx 9.5").

What is the likelihood that the door was simply drilled through the brackets as the armrests were being screwed onto it, thus allowing for slightly different sizes for e.g. different batches?

D.

That is a possibility, I suppose. I don't have the knowledge of how they were fitted in the factory. The question that I now wonder about is if your arm rests are approximately 0.5" shorter than mine, does it look like they would fit, were they 0.5" longer?