Morris Minor - An Car

[vulgalour]

After much deliberation I reckon my next purchase is going to be a Morris Minor.  I know, yawn boring etc.  Thing is, I want something basic, old, and with good parts supply so I stand a chance of fixing it myself in a timely manner and a Minor would fit that bill.

• Economy - I'm used to 25-30mpg
• Safety - Everything I drive will lead to me being killed to death in a crash anyway
• Reliability - Even abused examples seem to always get you where you're going, a looked after one should give very little trouble
• Practicality - It's all the car I need and while a hatchback is nice to have, it's not vital.  It'll lug me and the shopping no bother
• Speed - I don't go on the motorway that often and rarely go over 60mph anyway, so realistically performance isn't an issue.
• Rust - yes.  It happens.  At least when it does I'll be able to easily get new panels to sort it out with unlike just about everything else I've ever owned.

What I don't have is real world experience with one.  What is a Minor really like to live with on the daily?  Are they impossible in the winter?  Will I need to worry about converting the head for unleaded or have they pretty much all been done now?  You know the sort of things you only learn by doing.

What's really surprised me is how affordable, comparatively, Minors are.  From what I've seen on the online market at the moment, for £2-3K I could get something tatty that's immediately usable;  £4-5k nets a tidier example with some restoration work done;  £6-8k seems the asking rate for a really nice looking example that shouldn't need more than regular maintenance.  For a car with such a strong following and parts support, that seems like pretty good value to me.

There also still seems to be shedloads of Minors about, probably because they made them forever.  I'm only after a saloon, not interested in the tudor cottage, post office, or allotment bodystyles they came in and for which you pay considerably more.  I don't mind a later model, and an A Series equipped car would definitely be preferable since I imagine that will be easier to live with on the daily.

 

If you wouldn't mind filling me in with your experiences of owning and piloting a Minor, particularly if you're doing it now, I'd appreciate that.

[Cavcraft]

Had three in total, two on the road. Have to say loved them,  don't know what they're like on long journeys or continued 70mph roads, but on the commute (single carriage roads and bits of bypass) and pleasure driving, they're hard to beat. Comfortable, reliable, easy to fix and most parts available.  Probs sounds cheesy, but they do bring a smile to your face too. 

[Tickman]

Great to daily.

Winter will just be the demist issues depending on how wet you are/the car gets.

Don't worry about the unleaded valve seats, only very sustained high revs for thousands of miles will start the valve seat wear.

You are used to most of the potential issues already.

[HMC]

I’ve dailyed a few over the years. Fun on everything except motorways, and when they are well set up a totally standard 1000 I’ve found to be perfectly usable as is. The heater and brakes are ok if they are in decent shape. the steering feel and gearchange are a joy, and the road holding even with modest power, fun on cross plies.
 

Probably the greatest enemy is rot, or rather previous attempts to repair it this can range from skillful to wishful to dangerous, and sometimes quite well hidden. 

[SiC]

41 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Economy - I'm used to 25-30mpg

30 to 40mpg is reasonably easy doable if tuned properly.

41 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Safety - Everything I drive will lead to me being killed to death in a crash anyway

Don't crash anything old but they aren't too terrible at slow speeds.

41 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Reliability - Even abused examples seem to always get you where you're going, a looked after one should give very little trouble

A-series. It's tough!

41 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Practicality - It's all the car I need and while a hatchback is nice to have, it's not vital.  It'll lug me and the shopping no bother

Traveller is all you ever need. Obviously as you know more expensive but projects aren't that expensive

41 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Speed - I don't go on the motorway that often and rarely go over 60mph anyway, so realistically performance isn't an issue.

1098 will do 60mph and 70mph given a bit of time. 1275 should easily.

41 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

Rust - yes.  It happens.  At least when it does I'll be able to easily get new panels to sort it out with unlike just about everything else I've ever owned.

Panel availablity is very good but many aren't actually a great fit. I found the Midget panels are a revelation on how well they fit.

 

[SiC]

Considered a MGB GT? More power, just as solid engines, 70mph easily (around 3k.rpm with overdrive) hatch boot and brilliant panel+part support.

Rubber bumper examples still can be had very reasonably.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I dailied mine back in the mid 90s. Mine was a 1969 saloon with the 1098cc A series lump. It was pretty good on fuel and as Cavcraft said, they do make you smile. They're lovely old things apart from the rot. Check thoroughly around spring hangers and torsion bar mounts and then look everywhere else! 

I don't know if others are the same, but mine was always light on the back end. I hit black ice a couple of times too and did full 180 spins both times. How I didn't smash it up I do not know. 

Verdict? Do it!

[vulgalour]

4 minutes ago, SiC said:

Considered a MGB GT? More power, hatch boot and brilliant panel+part support.

Rubber bumper examples still can be had very reasonably.

I did consider an MG BGT years ago (and I like the look of the rubber bumper ones) but very quickly found out I didn't really like them.  They're okay to look at, but I just don't like the seating position, it feels too low and hemmed in, they make me feel like my elbows are wrong.  I've had a poke at them and tried them out a few times over the years and never really liked them enough to get the wallet out.  They're something for other people to enjoy using, I'll just enjoy seeing the occasional one in the wild.  Midgets somehow feel smaller than they are and I cannot feel comfortable in them, somehow they make me feel anxious to be in quite unlike other similarly sized cars I've been in.  The Midget just makes me feel very vulnerable on the road.

[SiC]

Tiff Needell has a real soft spot for the Moggie

 

[loserone]

Having driven @task's bright orange MGB GT V8 a couple of times (it's the one that was at Chumley a few years ago) you can certainly make them more spacious. I can't properly reach the pedals with his

[RayMK]

Sometime in the late 1980s I bought a  2 door saloon from a colleague who was due to retire. He was upgrading to a Skoda Estelle to enable greater enjoyment during retirement.  The Minor was slightly shabby looking, pale blue and had the reg. letters JNK which proved somewhat appropriate. I paid £90 for it with just a week's MOT left.  The drive home was about 15 miles.  The engine seemed healthy enough and the interior would have spruced up ok.  However, the road holding was unpredictable on its ancient tyres, suspension was fidgety all of the time and the stupid farting noise the exhaust made on the over-run was irritating.  Further inspection of my purchase in the following weeks revealed a chronically rusty floor pan and a very crusty torsion bar anchorage cross member.  I can't weld.  The cost of the readily available floorpan panels (it had surprisingly complicated shapes under there) plus labour charges, and the fact that I decided I did not after all like Minors, rapidly made the whole project unattractive. I sold it for £50 about 6 months later.  By strange coincidence I later graduated to several Skoda Rapids and a couple of Estelles and loved them.  You may like a Minor/1000 as you can weld, but avoid very rusty projects or anything which has fresh underseal liberally applied underneath.  Mechanically they are reliable and for everyday pottering about a half decent one should fit the bill.  Make sure the front steering swivel joints have been greased.  If the steering feels very heavy, they probably have been neglected and a suspension collapse is a real possibility.  I've seen several with a front wheel jammed into the front wing.  Good luck.    

[wuvvum]

I do like Minors but definitely go for a 1098cc car if you're going to be dailying it - the 948s are too slow really for modern traffic and the 803s and sidevalves are almost dangerous.  948 is a sweeter sounding engine though having said that - for some reason the 1098 always sounds to me like it's about to put a rod through the block at above 3,000rpm.

My last one did try to gas me though - the exhaust snapped on the way home from picking it up, I managed to remove the snapped-off bit but the remaining exhaust now exited just below a rust hole in the floor so I had to drive the rest of the way home with my head out the window...

[SiC]

8 minutes ago, RayMK said:

 I've seen several with a front wheel jammed into the front wing.  

Grease your king pins regularly!

[2flags]

I never ran a Minor but did run the mechanically similar Austin A40.  The 1098 is perfectly adequate. A steady 60mph on the motorway will return 40ish mpg. Compared to anything modernish, then slow and steady is the name of the game. What's happening to your other cars? What are you doing with the Maestro, the Princess or the Daimler? Are you selling any of them or just increasing the collection?

[2flags]

Sorry Lanchester, not Daimler

[SiC]

Ford Ka seats fit well and won't do your back in like the originals do. They don't look massively out of place either. Helps to re-dye them to the same colour. 

E.g.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/retrocarparts/permalink/5978729012143533/

[garethj]

33 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

 for some reason the 1098 always sounds to me like it's about to put a rod through the block at above 3,000rpm.

I found the same.  I had a Beetle in the late ‘80s and my brother had a 1098 Minor.  The Beetle sounded comfortable at 55-60, the Minor really needed a higher gear at 35.

I think the key will be, as with other cars, find one that hasn’t been fucked about.  They’re pleasant things to punt around 

[barrett]

I was thinking about these today actually, as I have unfinished business with them as I never had mine on the road and sold it quickly when I was broke (and definitely pissed away the money). Anyway, I was eyeing this beauty up and reckon it looks great!

Carlos Fandango wheels, bumperless badboy

Great steering wheel (MG 1300 GT or something?)

Says it's a 948 but it's got twin carbs and big trumpets!

Also reckons 'no rott' (sic) and one previous owner. I really like all the mods and it looks fundamentally solid. £2500 sounds alright to me!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/897943384340237/

[bigstraight6]

I’ve never owned a Morris Minor but have borrowed a few over the years and they are a very endearing driving experience on local journeys or B road blasts. They are one of the few cars of this era you can practically drive on a daily basis.

[vulgalour]

1 hour ago, 2flags said:

 What are you doing with the Maestro, the Princess or the Daimler? Are you selling any of them or just increasing the collection?

One out one in, and it'll be the Maestro that goes to make room once I've finished the jobs I want to finish on it.  I've got the rust on the Maestro under control, and a few cosmetic jobs I'd like to address, and of course I need to book it in for an MoT (I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day).  Once I've got the Maestro all sorted I'll be looking in rather more earnest for its replacement.

Ideal world would be a Minor owner looking for something similar but newer that's a bit easier to drive that wants to do a straight swap or part-exchange on the Maestro.  I feel like that's not too far fetched a notion, I can well imagine someone wanting a car that was easier to drive (lighter controls) but not too far removed from a Minor finding the Maestro a good fit.

The only real challenge is finding a Minor that's ready to go and not asking for immediate attention.  I'm very much not looking for another big project.

[mrbenn]

We've had ours for about 20 years now. We don't use it as a daily car but every one of the previous owners did. The last of those used it as her only car for 5 years and she was not mechanically minded in the least. It did very well though did need a fair bit of work when it came to us.

Despite not getting as much use nowadays as it perhaps used to it has done all sorts of journeys from a short local trip to 100 miles on the motorway. It doesn't complain and is actually very competent. Light controls, good visibility and a willing drivetrain all help here.

Though we don't use it in winter it has previously been out in all conditions. The narrow tyres are actually quite good in the snow and the heater is fierce so demisting was not an issue. The front quarterlights can be opened slightly to assist with air flow.

The engine in our car is a 1275cc. I understand the 1098cc is perfectly fine for daily use, and due to the longer stroke (?) actually turns over slightly slower at speed. We've never done anything to the valves in our engine. It used to run on standard unleaded with a shot of Castrol Valvemaster. We now run it on E5 "super" unleaded, still with Valvemaster added.

The parts supply is brilliant as you know. If we need anything we use ESM as it tends to land on the door mat next day. In our limited experience (sample size of one) they're very cheap to run, assuming you can do the majority of the work yourself.

Mechanically speaking, they're simple. I've done the clutch in ours, had the engine out, head off, refurbed the suspension all round plus back axle, brake rebuild etc... if I can do it then you certainly can.

Interior wise I've put Ford Ka seats in ours. The standard items were ok but tended to cause back ache on anything over 40 miles. Personal preference, of course.

Rust is the main issue, as you know. Ours has had a few bits of welding done in our ownership, mainly in the early days, but living in a garage and keeping out of bad weather means it stays in good shape. As others have said, pay particular attention to the spring hangers - front and rear, cross member and chassis legs. Be wary of anything covered in underseal.

They're brilliant cars!

 

[leafsprung]

Echoing everything that everyone else has said so far really, they are fun to drive but not so much on faster roads. The standard seats aren't the most supportive, maybe better if restored perhaps, and the fug stirrer wasn't up to the job of heating and screen clearing in winter.  Address those three and I reckon they're hard to beat. 

The main annoyance I found wasn't really a fault of the car but the attitude of other drivers. The assumption that old car equals slow moving target to be beaten still prevails, and I'm sure is common to other marques too. Almost without fail there was some prick overtaking for no reason, pulling out, cutting up or desperately trying to get past at the lights. It just became tediously predictable. The appeal of an utterly bog standard looking sleeper with 150+ bhp became quite strong. 

[High Jetter]

Mum had one (MMO 314) when i were a lad. Learned to drive in one on school premises, aged 16. So much support out there, go for it. Though please, not pink, unless it's a Million!

[vulgalour]

There's several factory colours I like.  Maroon, Highway Yellow, Almond Green, and Rose Taupe would be my preference, with a heavy leaning toward Maroon.  So I'll probably end up with one in a colour I'm not as keen on like Trafalgar Blue or one of the whites.

We'll just have to see what pops up when it's buying time.  I have seen a Minor at a show years ago in Rover Nightfire Red and that worked really rather well, so custom colours aren't out of the question providing it's something that still keeps the quaint Great Aunt look of the thing.

[Asimo]

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/578045874051261

This one even has it’s fresh-air tube in place. 

.

[skoda_fan]

I had one for a while, really just to see what all the fuss is about. I bought it from a dealer so it was reasonably nice. I found it charming but archaic (as you would expect I guess). It was so antiquated compared to anything made in the last thirty years. Everything was tinny and clanky, it was noisy and desperately needed another gear. I found the lack of temp gauge a worry. It was basic beyond belief, including those penny-pinching door straps that feel like they're gonna break instead of a proper door pull. I guess they're characterful and amusing to doddle around country lanes in if you live in the sticks, but it just didn't feel like the thing to be driving in the manic modern traffic around here. A boiling hot place to be in summer too.

[skoda_fan]

9 hours ago, leafsprung said:

The main annoyance I found wasn't really a fault of the car but the attitude of other drivers. The assumption that old car equals slow moving target to be beaten still prevails, and I'm sure is common to other marques too. Almost without fail there was some prick overtaking for no reason, pulling out, cutting up or desperately trying to get past at the lights. It just became tediously predictable. The appeal of an utterly bog standard looking sleeper with 150+ bhp became quite strong. 

Exactly. I guess that's the real reason I soon gave up on it. I love seeing them on the road and at shows (despite their ubiquity) but in the hands of other people, not me.

[DSdriver]

Take a magnet with you when you go to inspect so you can find out how much of the sills are made of wob.

My first experience of travelling in a Minor was at the age of two when four adults and three kids went on holiday from Penge to Crantock in Cornwall. Later experience included commuting to London in a bright yellow one driven by a colleague which only stopped on the handbrake and buying a Traveller for my wife which rusted apart before she even passed her test. The Traveller was quite a good load carrier before its demise.

[J W Pepper]

The A Series is a great engine and in reality they should have updated it, made it bigger, fuel injection etc

[martc]

Whatever engine is in it you really need to make sure it parps on the over run.