Tag: restoration

Part 1

Yes I did! I bought a Morris Minor Traveller with my partner that is not in the best condition and will more than likely be a number of years long project, but we knew that when we bought it.

Our Morris is a 1969, Blue deluxe traveller with a 1098cc engine. Now for me I know nothing about cars, but through-out this project I will slowly be learning what is what in a car, terminology, various skills such as welding and of course how to restore a Woody. My partner on the other hand has already rebuilt a BMW M3 and knows a lot more about cars and mechanics so whilst it is a joint project most of this will be him teaching me and me helping as much as I can and I do intend on getting stuck in.

The first thing was to look up the car we didn’t know much about them except we loved the car as a classic. What that meant for us was we were going to take a journey with the car. Morris was popular back when these beauties were being made. The Traveller was introduced to the world alongside the Morris Van in 1953 and the last traveller ever made was in 1971. These cars were everywhere along with their competitors, but it was the wooden frame with extra boot space that appealed to those wanting to travel in style.
A fun facts about owning a Morris Minor Traveller or just any period classic car in good period condition is that quite often producers for TV and Film will put out calls for these cars to be used in filming. A great example of this is ‘Heartbeat’ which is a period drama and features a number of fully working period travellers.

So we bought the traveller! Amazing. To be honest we couldn’t believe what we had just agreed to purchase. It needs a lot of work. The wood was rotten, there was rust in some areas, dents in some of the body work and the tyres were perished. But, for the price it was a bargain and to us it’s more about bringing what was once a beautiful example of a classic car back to its former glory.

My partner picked up the car on a hired trailer about an hour away from our home, with his brother and dad as I was working. As far as I was told it went smoothly and despite almost losing the roof on the way back which was firmly ratchet strapped down it made it to its new home.

We got to work stripping and pulling the car apart to give it the thorough inspection it needed. Due to the condition of the car we are having to strip it fully back to its frame so we can flip it and do some well deserved fixes.

All the parts were there in various conditions, some salvageable others not so. One that was not was the back seat as it had corroded to much and was falling to pieces. This was a sad discovery but we are on a mission to make this a period correct restoration so we will do as much research into replacing like for like and do this with care. We’re in no rush to complete this project so can take our time.

Currently the car is sat on our patio under a tarp all stripped of its wooden character, but it is ready for its new beginning to start soon.