1961 Morris Minor
Discussion
After a short and (not very) sweet dalliance with a Daimler V8 (details here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... I have changed tack considerably and bought this:
She is a 1961 Morris Minor 2 door saloon in an apparently rare Yukon Grey. I intend to run her as she is, tidying things up but not going whole hog on the restoration front. She is not an original example, having had the original 948cc engine replaced with a 1098cc engine and drivetrain from a later Minor at some point. She is, however, solid underneath and has been kept for the past 7 years by a MMOC club member who was happy to discuss everything he has done to the car in his ownership.
Due to holiday commitments, I won’t be collecting the car for a couple of weeks and so I will put up some better pictures when I get the car home. For now I am spending a lot of time reading up on Minors and finding all sorts of unnecessary but interesting things to do.
Oh, and one final note. I think that all Minors need a name and Mrs cv01jw advises that my car is definitely a girl, and so I am thinking of a suitable options– sensible suggestions welcome (and not so sensible ones, for a laugh 😀)
She is a 1961 Morris Minor 2 door saloon in an apparently rare Yukon Grey. I intend to run her as she is, tidying things up but not going whole hog on the restoration front. She is not an original example, having had the original 948cc engine replaced with a 1098cc engine and drivetrain from a later Minor at some point. She is, however, solid underneath and has been kept for the past 7 years by a MMOC club member who was happy to discuss everything he has done to the car in his ownership.
Due to holiday commitments, I won’t be collecting the car for a couple of weeks and so I will put up some better pictures when I get the car home. For now I am spending a lot of time reading up on Minors and finding all sorts of unnecessary but interesting things to do.
Oh, and one final note. I think that all Minors need a name and Mrs cv01jw advises that my car is definitely a girl, and so I am thinking of a suitable options– sensible suggestions welcome (and not so sensible ones, for a laugh 😀)
I was flicking around a map of the Yukon Territory in Canada hoping to find a place/town with a fitting girl's name. Nothing!
Connie as a contraction of Yukon?
I normally detest the idea of giving cars names but am with you here in that a Minor seems to need one. Have happy memories growing up around my great grandmother's 1968 minor, hers was Trafalgar blue and named simply 'Mog' or 'Moggie'.
Connie as a contraction of Yukon?
I normally detest the idea of giving cars names but am with you here in that a Minor seems to need one. Have happy memories growing up around my great grandmother's 1968 minor, hers was Trafalgar blue and named simply 'Mog' or 'Moggie'.
Collected her yesterday and the 40 mile drive home was the most fun I have had in a car in a long time 
The kids love her too - although their main attraction is the lack of seatbelts. I am undecided what to do about them - I am not overly comfortable having kids in the car with no belts, but I have yet to see a set of belts which don't look awful. Safety is more important than originality though, and so I expect belts may be fitted in the new few months.
First mod for now though is to order some mirrors - I tend to drive on my mirrors and so not having any door/wing mirrors was interesting. I will get some clip on ones to start with and see if they are of any use before I drill and fit permanent ones.
On the name front - my daughter pulled a really unimpressed face at my suggestion of Connie, and proceeded to name her Betsy.
So there you have it, meet Betsy, the Morris Minor.
The kids love her too - although their main attraction is the lack of seatbelts. I am undecided what to do about them - I am not overly comfortable having kids in the car with no belts, but I have yet to see a set of belts which don't look awful. Safety is more important than originality though, and so I expect belts may be fitted in the new few months.
First mod for now though is to order some mirrors - I tend to drive on my mirrors and so not having any door/wing mirrors was interesting. I will get some clip on ones to start with and see if they are of any use before I drill and fit permanent ones.
On the name front - my daughter pulled a really unimpressed face at my suggestion of Connie, and proceeded to name her Betsy.
So there you have it, meet Betsy, the Morris Minor.
Nearly a year since my last update and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this great little car. Being so basic means even I can figure out how it works.
So far I have limited my fiddling to a full service and ongoing maintenance. I had lots of plans to clean things up, paint things etc but as it all works at the moment and I am loathed to create new problems unnecessarily.
I did, however, get bored this weekend and so attacked the car with some red hammerite and a tyre pen, with this as the end result:
I love it; my wife thinks it looks ridiculous
I am now considering a couple of period Lucas spotlamps on the front to finish it off.
So far I have limited my fiddling to a full service and ongoing maintenance. I had lots of plans to clean things up, paint things etc but as it all works at the moment and I am loathed to create new problems unnecessarily.
I did, however, get bored this weekend and so attacked the car with some red hammerite and a tyre pen, with this as the end result:
I love it; my wife thinks it looks ridiculous
I am now considering a couple of period Lucas spotlamps on the front to finish it off.
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