Morris Minor Owners Club

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 10:47 am How sad letting other peoples behaviour stopping you driving your classic. Perhaps you have just stop enjoying it and looking for a reason not to use it or perhaps it the roads/traffic near you.
My local roads are 20,30 and 40,50 limits and I would never use a motorway and if possible avoid dual carriage ways. If people want to drive above the limit then just ignore them, you're are only holding up speeders.
I actually find most are more courteous when in the Minor than in my modern and its also a benefit being small to negotiate past parked cars and small gaps.

I would be interested to here what are these incidents that are fueling your drastic decision. Classic car prices are falling, if you are not going to use it sell it to someone who will.

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 11:12 am If its effecting you that much sell it, looking at it on your drive will just make you feel worse.
What happens when you drive your modern car?
Is it still happening but less stressful?

svenedin wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 9:53 am I drive my Minor at least 4 days out of every 7 and on the days I'm driving it I may do multiple trips. We have two cars, a modern powerful Audi which is my Autobahn mile muncher and the Morris for everything else. The Morris cheerfully transports my large German Shepherd Dog, does trips to the dump, supermarket runs, pleasure trips and whatever else we need. The only thing Morris doesn't do is long distance when I have to be somewhere in quick time such as work related trips "up North".

Although I didn't agree with it, there are a lot of 20 mph zones around my area and so the Morris is not a slow car on such roads.

On dual carriageways and motorways (I avoid motorways if practical) I just bimble along and people can easily overtake me in the same way they would overtake lorries.

I am definitely slow at junctions and roundabouts because I don't have the acceleration to pull out into small gaps. I also leave much bigger gaps to the car in front due to the antiquated brakes and I use engine braking going down hills. I do hold people up on single carriageway country roads because I just can't throw the Minor round corners or power up steep hills.

As I've said before, most other drivers are OK. There will always be very inpatient drivers and truly awful drivers whatever car I'm driving.

Don't mothball your car, drive it with pride and two-fingers up (metaphorically not literally) to inpatient drivers of modern cars!

What are the incidents you are having? I had an incident and I discovered that my brake light switch was failing. The brake lights were extremely dim until almost full brake pedal pressure was applied. This was dangerous and unreasonable to the drivers behind. The solution was to find a new old stock original brake pressure switch (the new ones are prone to internal arcing and early failure) and to fit LED stop/tail bulbs. These are instant on, use a very low current (so much reducing any arcing in the switch) and brighter. No incidents since.

Stephen

stuffedpike20 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 2:17 pm

svenedin wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 9:53 am I drive my Minor at least 4 days out of every 7 and on the days I'm driving it I may do multiple trips. We have two cars, a modern powerful Audi which is my Autobahn mile muncher and the Morris for everything else. The Morris cheerfully transports my large German Shepherd Dog, does trips to the dump, supermarket runs, pleasure trips and whatever else we need. The only thing Morris doesn't do is long distance when I have to be somewhere in quick time such as work related trips "up North".

Although I didn't agree with it, there are a lot of 20 mph zones around my area and so the Morris is not a slow car on such roads.

On dual carriageways and motorways (I avoid motorways if practical) I just bimble along and people can easily overtake me in the same way they would overtake lorries.

I am definitely slow at junctions and roundabouts because I don't have the acceleration to pull out into small gaps. I also leave much bigger gaps to the car in front due to the antiquated brakes and I use engine braking going down hills. I do hold people up on single carriageway country roads because I just can't throw the Minor round corners or power up steep hills.

As I've said before, most other drivers are OK. There will always be very inpatient drivers and truly awful drivers whatever car I'm driving.

Don't mothball your car, drive it with pride and two-fingers up (metaphorically not literally) to inpatient drivers of modern cars!

What are the incidents you are having? I had an incident and I discovered that my brake light switch was failing. The brake lights were extremely dim until almost full brake pedal pressure was applied. This was dangerous and unreasonable to the drivers behind. The solution was to find a new old stock original brake pressure switch (the new ones are prone to internal arcing and early failure) and to fit LED stop/tail bulbs. These are instant on, use a very low current (so much reducing any arcing in the switch) and brighter. No incidents since.

Stephen

I check my brake lights regularly.
I drive with my metaphorical two fingers up all the time. The car is so recognisable, I could not put two real fingers up....I could easily be found.
I know a lot of the problem is my own attitude...I can't suffer fools gladly, but I think there are more fools around now than there has ever been.
Using my nose, it is obvious that there are many more drugged drivers on the roads now too.

svenedin wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 2:31 pm
I agree about the drug-driving. I usually drive my convertible with the top down and it seems pretty much everywhere I go I encounter the stench of cannabis. I went on a branch outing to Gatwick Aviation Museum last weekend. There was an Avro Shackleton Mark 3 on display there. This aircraft operated in a maritime patrol and anti-submarine role and as part of that role it was equipped with a "diesel sniffer". This equipment could detect the diesel fumes of a submarine operating its engines via a snorkel whilst submerged. The police should be using drug detector vans with electronic sniffer equipment! That reminded me of the Monty Python Fish Licence sketch and the cat detector van from the ministry of howsinge (sic)

Stephen

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 12:46 pm 'Getting shot' Les? A professional assassin required, perhaps?

Pete Bags wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 4:33 pm I'm sorry to hear that driving your Moggy is not the smile producing experience that it once was.

Am I right to think that it's the other, modern cars/drivers that are causing this? They believe you are 'holding them up?'

If so, have you thought about doing a few simple things to 'warm' your car up? I did, and for me it was the best thing - my smiles per mile have improved significantly!

My 1963 car has the standard 1098 engine in it, but putting a bigger carb (HIF44), LCB exhaust and servo'd disk brakes has transformed it. I'm not a racer at all, but now the car keeps up with modern traffic, and the improved brakes give a lot more confidence and stopping power. Looking at the car, you wouldn't know anything has been done, and it still returns 40mpg. Worth a go?