Morris Minor Owners Club

What is the feasibility of keeping a Morris Traveller on the road, rather than in a garage? The Morris Traveller would be used daily.

The only difference between the Traveller and other Minors is,of course, the
wood, so it needs to be well varnished and regularly reburbished since it is a
failure point on the MOT as it is structural. If I was forced to leave a traveller in the open and it was in regular daily use I would probably trickle
Waxoyl all over the wood. It has never let me down yet! In my shooting days I would treat the wooden gunstocks with Linseed oil which,when properly
applied, made the wood impervious to absolutely anything but, the' proper'
application would be impossible on the Traveller.

In my opinion its perfectly feasable to keep a traveller un garaged, however the cost is that you will need to maintain the timber condition more frequently. There are several options for wood finishing, from oils, wax, microporous, and varnish. Our experience has been mixed with the microporous, but have had no problem with varnish so long as it is maintained meticulously. The main problem with todays timber is that it is really still a 'green' wood, which has been force seasoned rather than the old fashioned time seasoned. Which ever finish you have, or are about to use maintenance will be high on your agenda, with outdoor parking at all times.

originaly the frames were in a sealed tank so that the varnish could be heated. this would cause the varnish to penertrate deep in to the wood making it last many years.
the original frames were also made of solid pieces, some of today frames are laminated .anyway i would figure that it would not be the first time in its life that the traveller is parked on the street. i am sure it can handle it.

there is the modern problem of vandels,Theft is a big one with insurance difficulties with agreed value discounted insurance, if not garaged overnight.

We have had to keep our traveller outdoors on the street for two years since we sold our house and lived in a flat. We now live in a house again but it hasn't a garage so we bought a Dancover frame tent like thing to use as a garage and it works very well.

While outside the wood took a real hammering so we had much work to keep it up to scratch, we used the Burgess two pack process and it works well.

We did try a car cover, but that just held the wet and condensation in and was worse than leaving it in the open.

My Traveller lives outside and has done for over 10 years. The wood isn't very pretty (black patches) but is still solid enough, but I do rub it down and re-varnish it every summer. It would be better off in a garage but then my Sprite would be outside. Sprite wins as the Moggie's got a proper roof.

To be honest it's more work looking after the underside than the wood, but then I do drive it every day.

johnm wrote:We did try a car cover, but that just held the wet and condensation in and was worse than leaving it in the open.

Car covers do work. I have a fully breathable one bought from the states. Granted it cost about 4 times the average cover cost but it's like the Gortex of car covers. On a wet day my car stays dry. The rate of evaporation is pretty close to that without a cover so moisture does not stay for long. Like many (but not all!) things though you have to spend money to get quality. Many people on this site have suggested the cheap(ish) covers that are available in Halfords and many motorfactors. These don’t work well as the quality of material prevents the necessary breathability. I've tried about 4 types and the one i now have is the only one up to the job.

Also, with a locking cable and a stencilled (4ft wide) reg number on each side of the cover it’s a pretty good theft deterrent as well as keeping those pesky scratches you come back to your car to find off the paintwork.