The new news 24 thread

4,744 · August 27, 2022

Mini minor ?

Found this in the loft of my elderly neighbour

No manual unfortunately just the oiled paper envelope which I think came with the car bought for her 21st birthday by her father ..

She thinks it was a Morris Minor imported by her dad from Hong Kong in 1964 ...

In the bottom left corner of the envelope is AKD 1975 ,any idea what that is , possibly number plate ?

EDIT; AKD1975 is the part number for the envelope!!!🤔😣🤭

I've shown her the Morris paint colour charts from 1963 and she thinks it was a two door in a brown colour with a full white roof ? Similar to this.

Were Hong Kong export minors given white roof paint to reflect heat or was this available on UK cars ?

Any Morris Mini Minor experts around please ?

TIA

Having said all that I am still trying to piece together a timeline of her strange life ...

Some or all of the information may be slightly wrong or totally wrong ....or totally correct

17,683 · August 28, 2022

On 8/26/2022 at 7:39 PM, HMC said:

WTF

Bully's special prize!

12 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Argh. I rather like it

80s Detroit wants its trim back.

3,987 · August 28, 2022

6 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Any Morris Mini Minor experts around please ?

It says Mini Minor on the envelope so that would be a Morris Mini, 1959 -67, not a Minor as such. Confused....?

33,949 · August 28, 2022

High praise indeed!

4,744 · August 28, 2022

2 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

Confused....?

You, me and her too

40,318 · August 28, 2022

8 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Morris Mini Minor

That was the original name of the Mini.

Austin Seven and Morris Mini Minor were launch names.

Later known just as a Mini.

17,683 · August 28, 2022

Wasn't it the Austin Se7en?

15,288 · August 28, 2022

5 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

It says Mini Minor on the envelope so that would be a Morris Mini, 1959 -67, not a Minor as such. Confused....?

No confusion. There was the Morris Minor , then came the smaller Morris Mini Minor , which just became Mini.

6,607 · August 28, 2022

Smol run in the lacquer (annoyingly) managed to melt the base coat. Usually this means I've got to do it again. But I don't want to. Instead, I'm doing the right thing and splodging on some base with a Q tip and then some lacquer afterwards. I'm still doing some things properly though- the run was levelled with a razor blade and then blended with the rest of the panel

63,030 · August 28, 2022

2 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Wasn't it the Austin Se7en?

Aye - Seven with a v was the early A30. (And the little pre-war car obvs.)

4,744 · August 28, 2022

Were UK market Minors supplied with white painted top and dreary colours for the main body or was it just an export thing 🤔🤔...

Also when did they drop the Minor bit from the Mini Minor as I've seen a photo of them with a lurid green mini that was at the earliest in 71 when they got married and I think they bought it new , it doesn't look too be an early Mini (pre 71) but it is a shitty quality picture 🤷‍♂️

6,607 · August 28, 2022

I'm happy with this. Now to leave the clear to harden up.

11,003 · August 28, 2022

Sorting out the wife’s grandmas house and the boxes and boxes of photos, mostly of people we have no idea the identity of. Naturally I was on the hunt for shite and found this negative of a Morris 1100. I hankered after one of these years ago but even back in the 90s they were mostly terminally rotten.

40,318 · August 28, 2022

6 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Wasn't it the Austin Se7en?

Yeah but auto correct decided otherwise.

53,458 · August 28, 2022

Jensen Healey Mk2 spring set... yeah. It looks exactly the same but every spring is just a bit too short so I had to re-use the old ones, which are what you see in the photo above. Nobody seems to list a brake shoe spring kit for a Princess/Ambassador so it's just as well my springs are still okay. Shoes are some old Moprod asbestos-rich ones that @Mr_Bo11ox provided years ago. Backing plate is silver because I'd run out of black, but you know what, it makes it way easier to see what you're doing so I'm okay with it. They nearly ended up pink, I just happened to have more silver available. Job still isn't done though, I need some large E clips, and I had to take the angle grinder to one end of the flexihose because it's welded the thread into the nut on the hard line and now I have that problem to deal with too. Couldn't refit the outer drum because I hadn't clamped the brake cylinder down to compensate for the extra material on the new shoes. I also learned that I do not own a C clamp, such an ubiquitous tool I just assumed I had one. What was very weird and slightly alarming was that the bleed nipple on the brake cylinder you have to remove to get said cylinder off wasn't seized, didn't put up any fight at all, and even still had its little dust cap on.

6,607 · August 28, 2022

I r now haz twin colour coded mirror cappings

I glued it to a stick for lacquering. I managed to get a metallic green forearm first time around.

13,906 · August 28, 2022

Been up to the beach villa and missus wanted to make a start on the storage cupboard it's full of tat.. but found 3 old chairs.. any idea on age and this speedo without a lense.. any idea where from?

53,458 · August 28, 2022

That instrument panel is from a Lada 1200.

24,107 · August 28, 2022

4 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

That instrument panel is from a Lada 1200.

That’s why this forum is brilliant- four minutes and someone identifies a niche dashboard from forty years ago.

33,949 · August 28, 2022

A few of my absolute favourite cars at the Retroshite meet today:

I actually thought this was the same Solara as the one which attended the June meet but it turns out there are 2 in the same area, not far from 'tooSavvy Bridge' in Linwood.

I love these old 80s executive French barges. An oddball choice even back then.

I now definitely want an e39, this 523i automatic was lovely. Grey leather interior with wood cappings.

Lovely GLS

CD. New shape.

Of course, mine too.

13,335 · August 28, 2022

16 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Been up to the beach villa and missus wanted to make a start on the storage cupboard it's full of tat.. but found 3 old chairs.. any idea on age and this speedo without a lense.. any idea where from?

I've got one or two of those chairs, 70's ? maybe.

7,750 · August 28, 2022

21 hours ago, brownnova said:

Then on to then AVRO museum to look at a Vulcan.

Good little museum, well worth a visit.

Was that the 26th you were there? My dad was there with Grandad, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you crossed paths in the day!

6,607 · August 28, 2022

Along with the lacquering I've also begun reassembling stuff on the wing. I polished the indicator lens and glued it back onto the module before struggling to get the spring thing that secures it hooked on the little fixing nub in the engine bay.

Things are looking good.

I the side repeater was a bitch to unplug and I quickly broke the lens on it as well. Instead of paying £9.99 for a new one, I superglued it back together and then sanded and polished the repair (and a corner attacked by the angle grinder) smooth. The cat was most impressed.

Hopefully I can move onto polishing everything up tomorrow.

24,711 · August 28, 2022

17 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Was that the 26th you were there? My dad was there with Grandad, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you crossed paths in the day!

Yes, the 26th!

15,784 · August 28, 2022

3 hours ago, stuboy said:

Been up to the beach villa and missus wanted to make a start on the storage cupboard it's full of tat.. but found 3 old chairs.. any idea on age and this speedo without a lense.. any idea where from?

What material on the chairs? If nasty plasticky, could be late 60's

23,030 · August 29, 2022

Emptied 1.5 wheelie bins full of stuff from the back corner of the garage, mostly Christmas decorations. Need to make a push on to get this sorted.

Plan is this week to relocate the engine to in the car; one nice thing, found the driver's side door trim. It's a bit bent but otherwise good. Just missing one more for the back passenger side.

Propshaft looks pretty rusty.

33,949 · August 29, 2022

I have taken the red 93 off the road for the time being as its got quite a significant oil leak and is making a mess of the drive. It looks like the vacuum pump which I have read is a common point and have ordered a seal kit. Doesn't look too bad a job to change.

1,182 · August 29, 2022

Took apart the old SAM module of CLK - totally fucking fucked with corrosion everywhere so I'm impressed car kept running perfectly for as long as it did. Suspension bits and brake lines also rubbed down, rust treated and painted on all four corners. Rust was creeping through on the underside so that's all now nipped in the bud. Found an aerosol of caliper paint lying around, so gave the calipers a quick spray too. And added the annual ritual of grinding down surface rust on all 4 wings, door bottoms, boot lock and bonnet area underneath grille. Now all filled, primed & painted. Also spotted a registration lamp bulb out, replaced with a bulb from my old XJ-S stash. CLK sailed through the MOT without advisories. Well worth the effort overall for another year of extremely cheap and comfortable shiteing.

11,609 · August 29, 2022

On 8/27/2022 at 8:03 PM, D.E said:

I didn't expect to see this thing at a concours d'elegance...

Poor thing, as much as I love Rover 800s that needs putting out of its misery. The Pride of Longbridge thing is incorrect too as the 800 was a Cowley car.