The Dark Wob

https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item ... 564529967/

Free B reg Morris horsebox

Looks ideal* for Squire.

I can't see any reason for him not to have it to be honest. I mean with the executive car he already has he would obviously be needing appropriate transport for the hunters...

SiC wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:17 pm That minor is something that I'd be very tempted with, especially as that's my preferred price point for classic projects. Just with 3 out of 6 cars currently not useable in someway, I really can't justify another that will invariably need work. Even if one car has just gone from the "fleet"...

Living with a Morris Minor as a daily is harder than you'd think. I had a Traveller back in '99 and I was happy to see the back of it. Any car with a dynamo is tricky to live with although I became a dab hand at kickstarting it using the starting handle. The drivers door handle snapped off and a rear leaf spring broke. Just because it had an interesting history as a car owned by Viscount Leverhulme of Lever Bros soap fame I tried to palm it off to the late Charles Ware. He came to see it and promptly valued it at £600, much less than I paid for it. I eventually swapped it for a 1990 Rover 214 and to my surprise the new owner treated it to a full resto. in fact he still had it back in 2008.

I dailied mine for the best part of 12 years, it has only gone to pasture recently. Fitting an alternator was worthwhile as was electronic ignition and some decent seats.

Yes, stuff has broken but usually gets replaced within 24 hours and a few well-chosen spares on board or in the shed have kept me mobile. For the most part of those years it was my only car - fixed on Saturday and driven to work on Monday.

I would do it again and in fact the car will be returned to the road and used regularly soon as I need the storage space to get the camper van back in for the winter. I won't have the necessity or money to spare getting a winter shitter so it will be a case of walking everywhere in the salt season - or nicking the wife's Focus which is only marginally preferable.....

Minors can be wearisome in the wrong context but I do miss mine at the moment.

Warren t claim wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:03 pm

SiC wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:17 pm That minor is something that I'd be very tempted with, especially as that's my preferred price point for classic projects. Just with 3 out of 6 cars currently not useable in someway, I really can't justify another that will invariably need work. Even if one car has just gone from the "fleet"...

Living with a Morris Minor as a daily is harder than you'd think. I had a Traveller back in '99 and I was happy to see the back of it. Any car with a dynamo is tricky to live with although I became a dab hand at kickstarting it using the starting handle. The drivers door handle snapped off and a rear leaf spring broke. Just because it had an interesting history as a car owned by Viscount Leverhulme of Lever Bros soap fame I tried to palm it off to the late Charles Ware. He came to see it and promptly valued it at £600, much less than I paid for it. I eventually swapped it for a 1990 Rover 214 and to my surprise the new owner treated it to a full resto. in fact he still had it back in 2008.

My daily trip nowadays is getting out of bed and walking down to the study to start work. New rules at the company mean I'm not eligible for a NCP permit, so either bus or train when I do start going back in.

Hence apart from my wife's car, they're all effectively toys!

If I did daily a Morris Minor though, I have both Moss Motors and Charles Ware Centre in Bristol. Pretty much any part I would need and available same day during business hours.

The only thing that puts me off them is the interior. The dash doesn't appeal to me much and most interiors are pretty scummy unless you're paying big bucks for a restored one. Even then, they don't look particularly comfortable places to be.

I remember Alexei Sayle taking the piss out Minors in the 80s “have you ever been in a Morris Minor? It’s like sitting inside a 1950’s radio!”

AMCrebel wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 7:52 am I remember Alexei Sayle taking the piss out Minors in the 80s “have you ever been in a Morris Minor? It’s like sitting inside a 1950’s radio!”

That's the best compliment I've ever heard about them! I have to say they don't appeal to me, purely on outside looks.

A Minor is also a bit of a blank canvas. I don't mean Kustomize-innit the bloody thing but you can make them more habitable. Metro GTa seats in mine have improved things considerably. Proper carpets are available, you can make up nicer door-cards, fill in the gloveboxes if need be etc. An old duffelcoat (seriously) pushed in under the rear seat cushion reduces the diff whine quite a bit too.

I saw a split-screen convertible earlier in the summer with those red and cream leather MGTF seats - looked bloody lovely. Which is the other point - they are not rare enough to worry about keeping it original (seats can always be replaced - mine are still in the loft) when for a few quid and a bit of visual distraction they can be made so much nicer to be in.

Although my Cowley is rarer, more original and a decade older it is the Minor that always attracts attention and comments when I'm out and about in it. During it's periods of activity I do like to think I am keeping a little bit of traditional British street furniture alive.

I do like the fact the parts supply is so plentiful for them. Ditto for my MGB. It's why I'm partial to a Spitfire or Midget next too.

Having one or just club supply is irritating on my Dolomite and 1100. I know people like rare cars and the hunt for parts, but that doesn't do anything for me.