lowlight numbers

Post by **Veitchy** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 3:59 am

G'Day.
I have just been given a pair of rough (very rough ) lowlight minors. One has good mechanicals some salvagable body bits and a good dashboard but a smack in the rear quarter while the other one has an almost straight rust free body. Both the interiors are well, shall we say less than concource. (real rough, but there)
I know the lowlights were made from 48 until about 53? but was wondering if there is a serial mumber list to ID the year they were built.
These are 2 door saloons, side valve low lights and have the numbers-
Type MNR/S Car no SMM/47632 eng no 46118
Type MNR/S Car no SMM/29414 eng no 26806

There is enough between the 2 cars to restore one complete car and at some time in the future I would like to try and do one up.

I have tried to post a pic here, but can't figure out how, so if you would like a pic to ID them more, E'Mail me and I will send you one or if someone can explain in laymans terms how to post photos on the board I will have another go.

Thanks for reading this anyway,
Graham,
from Quairading, Western Australia

veitch.partners@bigpond.com

Post by **Onne** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:16 am

those are indeed both Lowlight MMs
Lowlights were built between '48 and '50 I think

If you want to put up a picture, you have to uplink them from somewhere else. I use photobucket.com
If you want to put it in your message, put [img]in%20front%20and[/img] after the link given.

Hope this helps, took me some time too!

Post by **chickenjohn** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:59 pm

Veitchy has kindly sent me the pics, so i've put them on my web space:-

Far from being rough, compared to most UK project cars, they look eminently restorable to me!!

http://homepages.gotadsl.co.uk/~jgm/ekmm/lowlight.html

especially on the one on the right with the split bumper....

Post by **Scott** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:28 am

Hi Graham,

Yes, there is a listing for the approximate production dates & if they are UK assembled cars, you can even obtain a certificate with the production details

.

I don't have my refernce handy for the body numbers but 29414 would appear to be a mid/latish '49.
47632 would be a earlyish 1950.

I'll dig out my numbers tonight.

Post by **Veitchy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:59 am

Thanks for doing that John, it's greatly appreciated.
The one on the right is the newer? (higher numbers) Its body is very sound with only a small amount of rust in the doors and bootlid (both easily repairable) and some damage to the firewall where someone has chiseled a hole through the crossmember to get access to the rear engine coreplug. The drivetrain is mostly intact but the engine has been opened up and most of the accesories (carby dizzy ect) are missing.It does have some of the suspension missing but those parts are on the other car. The one on the left has an intact engine as well as driveline and is surposed to run quite well when last started 20 pluss years ago. I don't think I will risk damaging it by starting it without giving it a good going over. That one all the front suspension members and the members where the brake master cylinder fits are badly corroded and collapsing as is the lower edges of the body in a way I think most of you will be more than a little familiar with.
We are lucky out here, it never snows so we never get any salt applied to the roads. Its very dry most of the time so our rust problems are minor compared to what you have to endure in Britain. We do have a lot of gravel roads, and they can be muddy and cause a bit of grief but most of the time they are just dry and very very dusty. I think the sound car must have lived all its life in the district where I got it as it is sound even by our standards, and where it came from is marginal farming country (low rainfall), if you go 20 miles East you get into the very low rainfall "station" country where they don't get enough rain to plant a wheat crop so it is only used for grazing sheep. The other one probibaly lived most of its early years in Perth (our capital about 200 miles from where I found it) which is on the coast and does have more trouble with corrosion than us.

Oops nearly forgot!
Scott, when did they start building minors in OZ ? I presume they put them together in the "Zetland" plant sometime. I had a look at the plates on mine and can only find UK info, so asume they are fully imported. I know Austin and later BMC assembled cars in Perth, but I don't think pre BMC Morris's were.

Anyway, Its been nice talking to you,

Graham

Post by **chickenjohn** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:39 am

Great! Sounds like the car on the right will be back on the road before too long. In fact, I'd fit it with lights and the missing parts from the other car and drive it to the MOT station (then sort out cosmetics at leisure).

I think even the other car, being an early lowlight, someone would restore it if it was in the UK.

Chassis legs and all the pieces you mention are all avaialble by mail order.

Post by **chickenjohn** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:44 am

I hope you don't mind, but I've added the text from your post to the web page!

Post by **Veitchy** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 11:51 am

No worries John, feel free to shift the text if you wish.
Anyway,
The lights are actualy there.
You can see the left hand one in one of the photos, and the right hand one is under the bonnet, its still conected to the harness, but has been removed from the light base and is just sitting under the bonnet. They both need the reflectors re-silvering, but surprisingly the original pattern lens's are intact !

See ya,
Graham

Post by **Scott** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:52 pm

Veitchy wrote:when did they start building minors in OZ ? I presume they put them together in the "Zetland" plant sometime. I had a look at the plates on mine and can only find UK info, so asume they are fully imported. I know Austin and later BMC assembled cars in Perth, but I don't think pre BMC Morris's were.

Officially, it was 1950 when Zetland started local assembly of the Morris Minor. However, I do have a mid '49 that was assembled in Zetland so that sort of confuses the issue somewhat

.

Good luck with your project(s), but if the rust in the rails has extended all the way back to the master cylinder, then I have a feeling that the rest of the car might be fairly rusty also. For some reason (in my experience) early Series MMs in Australia are either very rusty or virtually no rust at all compared with later 1000s.

If the other car is fairly rust free, then that would be the better car to restore.

Post by **Veitchy** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:28 am

Thankyou Scott,
Hopefully I can nail down an acurate date sometime.It looks to me like these two are fully imported as I can't find any referance to B.M.Cs Ausy plant on the cars anywhere.
If I do one up it will be the rust free car. I am lucky that it is the one that doesn't have any accident damage. The other one has had a wack in the passengers rear quarter and bent the body somewhat. It is repairable but with the other body rust free and straight there's no question which one will get done.

Graham

P.S.
By the way, I love the look of your MM. I hope one of these gets to look like that one day.

Post by **Scott** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:18 pm

Graham,

After a bit of research, I've found this info:
#29414 is November 1949
#47632 is April 1950

The Heritage Certificate would provide more accurate information, but they're not very cheap to obtain

(though very worthwhile having for the car you choose to restore

)

Here's an example of the Heritage Certificate:
http://www.j-l.dk/images/MG/Diverse/Her ... 461981.jpg

If you need any "local" help, get in touch with the Morris Club of Western Australia:
http://geocities.com/morriscarclub/

Post by **Veitchy** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:04 am

You know your Morrie's Scott !
The numbers tie in exactly with what you said off the top of your head several days ago, well done.

Where do you get those heritage certificates from, and how much "not very cheap" are they ?

Thanks for taking the time to check out the numbers, I really apreciate it.
Graham.

Post by **Scott** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:58 am

I have a soft spot for lowlights (as you might have gathered

).

Veitchy wrote:Where do you get those heritage certificates from, and how much "not very cheap" are they ?

Around $80-$85 now

See:
http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/ ... efault.htm

If you get stuck into the restoration you'll have it finished in time for the next National Rally in 2007 (just around the corner in Perth

).

Post by **Chris Morley** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:19 pm

A really fascinating post - it's unbelievable to think these two have just sat in the open under the sun for 20 years....

I would agree the sensible thing is to restore the 1950 car with the best of the bits from both. The earlier 1949 bodyshell shouldn't be junked either - the wings, bonnet, engine parts etc are all rare & would all be worth serious money (in the UK anyway). However it should be easy enough to fit the mechanicals from a later Minor into the earlier car so that it could also return to life. New repair panels are available for the floorpan, chassis legs etc and we have a glut of the later 948cc/1098cc parts in the UK should you wish to go down that route.

Post by **Onne** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 10:36 pm

The A series conversion doesn mean you have to alter the beam below the battery tray.

Post by **Veitchy** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 3:51 am

Don't worrie Chris the damaged body certainly wont be "junked"
Its not unusual to find cars sitting out in the open here. There was virtualy no recycling of car bodys back then, so when people were finished with them they just sat or were sent to the local shire tip to be buried.

(very sad)

Graham

Post by **vilebrequin** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 3:55 pm

To get a Production Trace Record from the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon will currently cost you £33 sterling plus £2 postage & packing (USA & rotw; £1 for mainland Europe; inclusive for the U.K.) £33 is about AUD 77.30.

Go to: www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/ and click on 'Heritage Certificates'. You can then complete the application form and pay online; or complete it and post it snailmail, as you wish. 'Allow 28 days for delivery' (U.K.) - how long to Oz? You'll know better than I! Good luck....

Vilebrequin.

Veitchy wrote:G'Day.
I have just been given a pair of rough (very rough ) lowlight minors. One has good mechanicals some salvagable body bits and a good dashboard but a smack in the rear quarter while the other one has an almost straight rust free body. Both the interiors are well, shall we say less than concource. (real rough, but there)
I know the lowlights were made from 48 until about 53? but was wondering if there is a serial mumber list to ID the year they were built.
These are 2 door saloons, side valve low lights and have the numbers-
Type MNR/S Car no SMM/47632 eng no 46118
Type MNR/S Car no SMM/29414 eng no 26806

There is enough between the 2 cars to restore one complete car and at some time in the future I would like to try and do one up.

I have tried to post a pic here, but can't figure out how, so if you would like a pic to ID them more, E'Mail me and I will send you one or if someone can explain in laymans terms how to post photos on the board I will have another go.

Thanks for reading this anyway,
Graham,
from Quairading, Western Australia

veitch.partners@bigpond.com

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Post by **Onne** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:15 pm

am I glad I got mine last year, £5 dearer now..

Post by **Scott** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:02 pm

Yes, not cheap but certainly a good bit of kit to have.

Morris Minor Owners Club

lowlight numbers

lowlight numbers

Re: lowlight numbers.