Morris Minor Ratrod

[LynehamHerc]

It may be. However, it is also every inch a Minor the way they were always used and enjoyed since I can remember. Well, at least before the garden chair, polish and club polo shirt lot got involved.

They were standard fare in our sixth form for the lads who could afford a car. Unfortunately a Woolies Saturday job wasn't enough for booze and a car and the booze won.

[panhard65]

Nice to meet you this morning Si. It is what it is as they say. It does remind me of the 80's when you would bung all the tat on them and raid the breakers yard every Saturday morning. It looks solid enough and nothing that lots of time and money won't cure. It pulled into the truck with 4 flat tyres without ripping the rear axle off so mist be half decent. It took a while for me to get back to Weston as there was the usual broken down type2 Volkswagen causing big ques

[SiC]

I'm hoping it's not going to need too much time to get it back on the road! At least drivable and stoppable.

[Scruffy Bodger]

If it's solid that sounds like a great start as you can just bolt bits and pieces off it to your hearts content, leave as is, revert to standard or muck about with it some more, especially for that money.
The Marina brake upgrade was the way to go with these wasn't it? One used to frequent my mates garage years back and that had had a few performance tweeks. The brakes apparently modernised it nicely.

I've always been quite fond of the things. A lad I knew at college used to rag round in an old split screen one, I seem to remember it being especially lively in the wet on roundabouts on its pram tyres.

I can't wait to see if after a clean and some elbow grease is applied.

[mercrocker]

Worst case - entirely new braking system (pipes included), shocks, tyres and a few bushes came in at £700 on the Cowley. That's with someone else doing the work and vastly dearer NOS parts than you would find for the Minor.

Another £300 got me a replacement back axle and springs after using it for a bit.

Have fun!

[Asimo]

Thanks fuck it isn’t one of those half-arsed, half-timbered things.
This should be fun for you, they are that sort of car.

[mercrocker]

Are they Marina calipers on this? Might find there is a problem with some of the pads you get for them these days - the early NOS pads (or at least those supplied by original companies) have a cutout which later ones often lack which inhibits correct fitting.

Also, 99 percent probable that you have the remote under-bonnet reservoir and that this is connected to the m/c output with a length of flexi - bullshite engineering on the part of the Minor "specialists".

JLH Minors can supply a nice reservoir with a rigid pipe link as well as the correctly configured master cylinder rather than relying on blanking off one end so that it works backwards. It took me 15 years before mine needed doing but all through that time I had a wanky pedal feel - its much better now.

[PhilA]

Where you found that at? Looks familiar.

[Bangernomics]

Honest Merc's appraisal of the MMR.....

Mirrors look as shit as they would affixed to a mobility scooter. Flog the square lamps.

Don't even think about the identity of the car any more - you have the V5, you have the car, you have the reg. Job done.

It is one of those "is what it is" cars. Nothing that can be criticised will prevent it being as enjoyable as any other Minor to own and drive. You also have the advantage of "blank sheet" - nothing can be done to the car that will harm its value or originality and that is a massively cathartic benefit.

Look forward to more news!

Completely agree with you.

I’d add do not paint just wash it. Reckon you’ve got a good un there. I went and test drove one yesterday and it was interesting and actually quite nice once you got used to it. Sadly it was a bit far gone in some areas to get the job done I was hoping for. Get a pint of diesel in those plug holes of the spare engines.


Less annoying tag line.

[SiC]

Where you found that at? Looks familiar.

Was originally up in a garage in Frampton Cottrell. The car was stored the last month at a farm down the end of The Stream in Hambrook, where that first picture was taken.