Summer is sulking. Really sulking. We have gone from warm days full of sun to wet, windy misery. Its quite a shock. We all know it happens but nothing prepares you for when the weather decides a week of Summer is quite enough to be going on with.
Note: extremely long, over enthusiastic, boring ramble about cars will follow (where I pretend I know what Im talking about, and don't, but continue anyway)...
We went on a quick trip to Exmouth yesterday evening to view a Morris Minor that was up for auction on ebay. We were interested to see what £1500 would buy you. Something rather rusty and needing major work by the look of it.
It turns out that my 1959 original probably isnt as bad as we previously thought, and there are murmmerings of restoring him. I use 'restore' in the loosest sense. He won't be restored, he will be made roadworthy, which is a very important difference to note. Mr F has restored vehicles before. It takes much time and much money, and then more time and more money. I really don't want him to have to go through this with my car so I am opting for him being made into an original, not restored to original (the car, not the Husband). Looking into the possibility of having riveted patches uppermost on the body panels, brass hinges and all sorts of repurposed changes. Also have decided that a nice bright tweed on the interior panel trim would look rather snazzy too. He will be an ongoing project thats driveable. Being a 1959 classic he is MOT and road tax exempt, and with fully comprehensive insurance at £130 he is a cheap runaround. I bought him in 1987 for the princely sum of £650. I drove him till I couldnt fit anymore children and prams into him and took him off the road in 1997 I think it was. Ive missed him ever since :(
Husband put a hefty servo on him so the brakes can stop on a sixpence, the engine was rebored and restored and runs a treat, plus it was the 1098cc which makes a huge difference in a Morris. The 948cc engines couldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding... It did over 30 mpg which isnt bad for a classic (old landrovers do about 13/17 mpg so its very important to have access to a press that can replicate £20 notes). It had good ground clearance for off roading, which I have to do sometimes up here in the woods. The lights were so bright, the horn so loud, the heater so hot...
I am crossing fingers and toes that I can have him back. Looked underneath today and the rust falls out by the handfull. Not good. He shall have to be stripped of trim, seats, carpets etc and be tipped on his side I was informed, thus exposing his 'nether regions' to close scrutiny and the welder. Mr F informs me this is 'the only way' to cut all the rot out and 'do it properly'. Hoping to keep parts costs down to under £1000, which as I won't be buying a donor car is acceptable. What can you buy for £1000 and run yearly for £130? I see it as a good long term investment.
Ive got some major creeping to do...
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