Compare Classic Car Insurance Quotes for Quality Cover for your Vintage Motor

Buying a classic car is a proud moment for any car owner. If you appreciate the history of car manufacture and engineering, it is like having your own valuable museum piece for your everyday use. Or you might just adore the vintage designs and find driving a classic car one of your life’s goals. Most people who own a certain type of car have always wanted to have that make since they saw it in a movie or simply saw one when they were younger and dreamt of owning one.
Therefore, when you do finally manage to possess your dream motor, you will want to make sure it is fully protected, as you would suitably cover a valuable possession in your home. Classic car insurance quotes are easier than you would at first imagine to obtain and will inform you about the specific features you will need in order to be covered with such a special vehicle.
It is important as a classic car enthusiast to find an insurer who understands your needs as well as realising that you are not simply after a quick fix cheap car insurance policy, but a high quality classic car insurance deal. Keeping your car pristine and in good working order as well as aesthetically appealing all contribute to its overall value as a piece and classic car owners are less likely to drive recklessly, as they will want to maintain the car’s value and their general enjoyment from it.

Comparison sites are the best bet for getting classic car insurance quotes, as due to the extra expense of insuring vintage cars and the likelihood of them being targeted for vandalism, it can sometimes be difficult and costly. However, it is worth the extra leg work and hunting around, although these days comparison sites make that task a lot easier.

Specialist insurers acknowledged by such sites can even provide advice along with a policy as to how best to keep your car from danger and securely locked away. These things can also help to reduce your premiums, such as locking away your car in a garage and keeping it off the road so it is less at risk from damage.

Car insurance tips for Morris Minors

One of the most popular British cars in history, the Morris Minor is still revered today for typifying “Englishness”. Understandably, Morris Minor drivers treasure their vehicle and will do all they can to protect it – which is why finding suitable car insurance takes on added importance.
However, just how easy is it to get insurance for this classic car and how appropriate is the cover available?

How can you find insurance for a Morris Minor?

When shopping for car insurance for most vehicles, the process is relatively straightforward – simply use a comparison website to compare as many quotes as you can. However, in the case of Morris Minors, and other classic cars, many conventional insurance providers won’t offer quotes because of the unique nature of the vehicles and the fact that their parts may be more difficult to repair/replace and their values more difficult to determine.

Most modern vehicles are given insurance group ratings on the Association of British Insurers’ database which are used to assess premiums – however, no Morris Minor from the original Minor of the 1950s to the Alderley-Park built Minor Traveller of 1971 are classified into its group system.

Instead, classic cars are divided into categories by insurance companies which are used to evaluate their premiums. The categories include: ‘veterans’ for vehicles manufactured up to December 1904; ‘Edwardian’ for vehicles from January 1905-December 1918; ‘vintage’ for cars built from December 1918-1933; ‘classics’ for cars manufactured pre-1975; and ‘cherished’ for collectible or rare cars that are five- to 10 years old. As the Morris Minor production run started in 1948 and continued until 1971, all Morris Minors are therefore considered ‘classics’.

Some conventional insurance companies do have classic car teams in place and are willing to offer quotes for Morris Minors – however, you may find a more suitable policy by consulting a classic car insurance specialist.

What cover is available for a Morris Minor?

Specialist classic car insurance companies offer cover features that may not be available elsewhere and that are tailored for Morris Minor drivers including:

- Agreed/increasing valuations: If you suffered a ‘total loss’ of your Morris Minor – for example if it were stolen or written off – payouts with most conventional companies would be determined by a market valuation. Unfortunately, a market valuation could undervalue your Morris Minor because their values can be so difficult to determine. However, with an agreed valuation a fixed payout is established when you take the policy out, so you know exactly what you will receive if your Minor is written off or stolen (as long as the valuation is guaranteed). Furthermore, some companies even offer increasing valuations reflecting the fact that Morris Minor values often increase the older the vehicles become.

- Breakdown cover: You may struggle to find breakdown cover from a traditional company due to the unique nature of your Morris Minor – so it might be worth adding it on to your insurance policy for an additional premium.

- Laid-up insurance: If you have bought a Morris Minor as a project that you plan to work on in order to make it roadworthy, look for laid-up insurance which will cover the car against theft and mishaps.

- Multi-car insurance: Many Morris Minor drivers own a second vehicle which they use to run errands, etc. If you have another car, consider a multi-car policy which could earn you a discount.

- Event/hire cover: A classic Morris Minor can be the ideal mode of transport for a special event, so look for hire cover if you plan to rent your Minor out.

How much will you pay to insure a Morris Minor?

Insurance premiums are calculated based on your driving history; your address; your annual mileage; your personal circumstances; and the vehicle itself. You might expect to pay more to insure a Morris Minor than you would for a conventional car, but there are actually a number of steps you can take to bring premiums down:

- Agree to a mileage limit: Specialist insurers in particular offer limited mileage discounts which reflect the fact that the fewer miles you drive, the less likely you are to be in an accident.

- Increase security: Consider adding alarms, immobilisers and tracking devices to your Morris Minor as they can reduce the risk of vehicle theft and reduce premiums.

- Increase your excess: The excess is your contribution towards a claim – setting it a higher level can bring premiums down although you should be careful to keep it at a level you can comfortably afford.

- Join an owners’ club: Some specialist classic car insurance companies will reward you for joining a Morris Minor owner’s club.

- Park safely: Keep your Morris Minor in a locked garage overnight.

- Take an advanced driving course: Several specialist insurers offer discounts if you complete an advanced driving course such as the Pass Plus or IAM.

When shopping around for car insurance for your Morris Minor, use a comparison website to compare quotes – most of the leading websites include some specialists in their listings. However, remember to look beyond simply the cheapest deal and ensure you’re receiving value for money with the cover options available.

Bilt Hamber rustproofing and polishes

(Apologies – I promised to put up this article some time ago but have been trying to recover the pictures to accompany it from a seized hard drive. Unfortunately I still can’t get the pictures back, so here are just the words for now)

While we were building this car we spent a lot of time working out how best to protect it from the elements. We knew even then that the car would be doing a lot more mileage than most Minors and that inevitably it would be at risk of corrosion from road detritus etc. After a bit of online research I spoke to Bilt Hamber, who’d had some fantastic reviews in the classic car press. They’re still relatively little known in the UK compared to people like AutoGlym and the other big players but the high praise they were receiving persuaded us to have a chat with them.

After discussing our needs, they despatched some Dynax S50 injection wax to inject into the chassis rails. Traveller Timbers who built the body did the dirty bit for us, though from what they said we needn’t have worried about doing it ourselves. The pressurised cans came complete with a long thin nozzle and actually applying it appeared to be a breeze. On the external surfaces, the S50 stuck well to the metal and stayed ’sticky’  and soft even now some months later. It’s also a lot less ugly than thick underseal (although I can think of better colours than brown!). Since it stays soft, it can also ‘heal’ itself if it gets knocked, which gives more peace of mind.

It was a fairly warm day when it was sprayed, but just to be sure the can was warmed slightly beforehand. The cans went a surprisingly long way – the last thing I wanted was to ’skimp’ at this point and Traveller Timbers were instructed to “give it a good blast” but we still had nearly a full can left over afterwards.

You can’t see the brown anymore as road grime has coated  and stuck to it, so it looks quite ’standard’ underneath there now. More importantly, its definitely still soft and pliant. I’m pretty sure that by now Waxoyl would have gone hard and started to crack, leaving metal open to the elements. I’ve been back under the car this week while its up on the ramps having the rear shocker conversion done, and I couldn’t find any gaps anywhere. Bilt Hamber continue to win huge praise for all their products, so I’m happy I made the right choice. Have a look at the tests they’ve done here.

Morris Minor Car Covers

I’ve often complained here about how irritating it is having to go and collect the Traveller before a run out, simply because I haven’t the room to garage it at home and wont leave it out to the elements. And although I’m not personally into the Concours competitions (mainly because I’m too lazy to maintain the required standards), I do often hear moans from people who’ve spent hours detailing their car only to have rain on the morning of an event spoil the effect. So I got to thinking: Is there a cover on the market that could help in these circumstances?

After a bit of research, I decided to talk to Cover Your Car and look at their range of covers specifically designed for the Minor. I had some rather old-fashioned preconceptions about covers, remembering the flappy tarpaulins that would disappear as soon as the wind got up, scratch the paint getting them on and off, and trap moisture underneath that kept the car wet even when it was dry outside. It was a hugely pleasant surprise to find that covers have moved on immeasurably since then, and CoverYourCar showed me four different types of cover – the Sahara, Voyager, Monsoon, and Stormforce – all custom-tailored for a Morris Traveller. Their covers weren’t cheap (the top one costs about £150) and I really wanted to see if it could justify its cost. After chatting to their representative, I opted for their ultimate cover, the Stormforce, and waited patiently for it to arrive.

The first surprise was how neat it was, in its own tailored ‘carry-bag’, which had for once been designed with getting its contents back into it in mind! It wasn’t as heavy as I expected it to be either – I revised my thoughts that it would be left at home all the time and decided that I’d simply put it in the boot in case I should need it at a show, etc. Unfortunately my own Traveller wasn’t available at the time the cover arrived, and eager to have a look I temporarily loaned it to a friend who was about to go on holiday and leave his own Traveller outside for two weeks. Unpacking it from the bag showed that it was thoughtfully designed, with underbody securing straps and even little ‘bunny ears’ for the mirrors.

This is where we noticed our first minor negative with such detailed covers – they are obviously designed around a perfectly standard car. The cover is too precisely tailored for the car to accommodate a roof aerial, for example, or the ‘kidney cutter’ headlight eyebrows that many of us have. Unscrewing the aerial and releasing the screw that holds the headlight surround which locates the eyebrows is only the work of a couple of minutes, though, so its hardly a major flaw. My own Traveller has ‘peephole’ mirrors on the door frame, although these too unscrew from their bases in just a few moments, but I must remember to do that or the cover simply wont fit.

After laying the cover over the roof of the car, we stopped for a moment to talk about the covers construction. The cover has four distinct ‘layers’, starting with a super-soft lining on the car side which wouldn’t worry owners about scratching the paintwork. The second layer has a ‘breathable’ membrane which Cover Your Car claimed would allow moisture out but not in, and given the weather we were keen to see if it lived up to their claims. The third layer is padded, forming a gap between the lining and the outer layer which is UV resistant and wipeable to get rid of the inevitable bird crap. All four layers are then bonded together, and again the attention to detail is shown with things like double-stitched seams and elasticated hems at the front and back.

My pal put the cover on himself to see if it was a one-man job and I took some pictures. Presuming you’re not putting it on in gale-force winds, one man can fit the cover in about seven or eight minutes start to finish. That’s easy enough to make it a realistic proposition to cover the car Saturday night on the rally field at the National, for example, to ensure that if it rains during the night you don’t have to do it all again while everyone else is having breakfast on Sunday morning. I’m not entirely sure what the mirror pockets purpose is, though – they kept falling off the mirror while the cover was going on, and the mirrors themselves (once ‘folded’ in against the bonnet) are protected under the cover anyway. Once fitted, we ran the optional locking kit cable round the underside through the eyelets, but to be honest I don’t think it adds anything in terms of outright security because the eyelets are plastic and would easily be ripped off by a thief. It does prevent the chap in the car next door lifting it up and dropping some bird crap on the bonnet so he can get your first place though!

While my friend was away we had some horrific weather, with a couple of major thunderstorms and some localised flooding again. I did think about popping round to his house to check on the car but resisted the temptation until he got back and we inspected the car to see how the cover had fared. Despite the very high winds (my neighbour lost a couple of ridge tiles and a fence panel) the cover was still attached just as it had been left. As you can see from one of the pictures, the outer layer was still very very wet as it was taken off – the last serious downpour was only the previous day. Underneath, though, the car was absolutely bone-dry. For comparison’s sake, we also looked at his son’s Mini which had been covered with a more conventional single-layer cover, and the bodywork on that was still wet everywhere. More importantly, the Mini also had condensation on the windows showing that there was moisture inside the car, while the Traveller had none. This was genuinely impressive – there’s no point in covering your car and keeping water inside the cover – so the one-way membrane had indeed done ‘just what it said on the tin’. Finally, the cover, once dry, fitted easily back inside its bag (only those who’ve ever tried to get a tent back into its carrybag will know the frustration of a bag that is exactly big enough and not a millimetre more!).

So, does the Stormforce justify its price-tag? In one word: easily. I was hugely impressed with its resistance to the weather, and its ease of fitting and removal. I’ll be more than happy to keep the Traveller at home more often and just cover it up, knowing that it will emerge from the cocoon exactly the same way as it was put away, no matter how much rain has fallen or how many migrating birds had picked my trees as a suitable stop-off point. I’ve got no hesitation in recommending Cover Your Car to readers, and the final icing on the cake is that from reading their site I see they’ve knocked 10% off their prices, so their top cover is now £135 including VAT and delivery here.

How to buy a Morris Minor Pt3

(Back to Part 2)
ELECTRICS

The Minors electrical system is incredibly simple, so there’s little you have to worry about apart from previous owners attempts to splice in stereos or security systems. But age doesn’t help things and the wiring may well have cracked while some of the connections will probably be getting temperamental now. The primitive nature of the electrical system also doesn’t lend itself to modern driving conditions, so it’s worth converting to an alternator for £95 if you’re anticipating using the car every day, as well as fitting halogen headlamps (£40) and an electric screen washer system (£30). Even if the car needs a complete rewire a new loom is just under £100, and fitting it doesn’t take long because there are so few connections.

CONCLUSION
As long as the monocoque is sound, any Minor can be revived, because parts availability is so good. But there will be very few Minors that haven’t received attention to the bodywork. Your mission is to ensure that any work that has been done is up to scratch. But there are few classics that are seen in everyday use more frequently than the Minor, and that’s for a good reason. Not only are they reliable, durable and easy to use, but with a few sympathetic upgrades they make a perfect alternative to a modern car.

Rear spring hangers rust away all too readily, but they can be welded up again.	Kingpin on front suspension wears rapidly unless trunnions are greased frequently.
Floorpans rust away, but excellent new ones can be bought. At least they're simple.	Clutch mechanism is mechanical and gets choked up with debris thrown up from road.
Doors will split at the top if quarterlights rather than handles are used to close them.	Brake servo is a popular mod but not as good as a decent disc brake conversion.
The front lever arm dampers leak. They're retained even if telescopics are fitted.	Early engines are athsmatic, later units are okay. The 1275cc swap is worthwhile.
Rear lever arm dampers also leak badly. Telescopic conversions are the way to go.	Trim is available new or secondhand for all versions of the Minor. Seats are often worn.

WHAT ARE THEY LIKE TO DRIVE? Early cars are infuriatingly breathless, so the minimum you should look for is a 948cc car. Even better are the 1098cc versions although a 1275cc powerplant is surprisingly good fun to pilot. Brakes are okay as long as you dont expect too much and the cars light weight means a bouncy ride and light steering. A car for the track it aint, but a Minor is so charming you cant fail to have fun.

WILL I FIT BEHIND THE WHEEL? Whether youre looking at a tourer, saloon, or Traveller, the interiors are spacious and comfortable. The Traveller has masses of space for load carrying too – in fact the estate version of the Minor could well be the most practical classic car available.

WHAT BODGES SHOULD I LOOK OUT FOR?
Cover panels on underside of floorpan
Electrical nightmares from bad DIY
Converted two-door saloons being passed off as genuine tourers

WHAT SHOULD I PAY? The number of permutations of the Minor available is truly bewildering, so check out the price guide of the latest issue of the magazine.

WHAT WILL INSURANCE COST ME?
Comprehensive cover for a £3000 1967 Morris Minor Traveller in Peterborough:
£341 for 25 years old, two years NCB, clean licence, 10,000 miles, only car, kept on driveway, club member
£83.43 for 42 years old, full NCB, clean licence, 3,000 miles, second car, garaged, club member.

How to buy a Morris Minor Pt2

(back to Part 1)

Series MM, 1948-52: sidevalve 918cc engine, single wiper, sunvisor, offside tail lamp and beige vinyl upholstery. 1950: four door, wing mounted headlamps, also interior light, cancelling trafficators, screen demisters, stainless steel window frames.

ENGINES
Unless you’re looking specifically for a sidevalve Minor you’re unlikely to stumble across one for sale. Although the engine is reliable, it’s pretty gutless and not very easy to source spares for. It can suffer as a result of owners not knowing how to maintain the engine properly. Exhaust valves burn out as a result of incorrect tappet adjustment because they’re not easy to set correctly. Timing settings can also be thrown by wear in the distributor (due to lack of lubrication),

The next engine fitted was the 803cc version of the A-series. Unless you’re happy to amble along at pedestrian speeds these units are best avoided.

Series II 1952-62: 803cc engine. 1954: Horizontal grille, sidelights on wings, body colour dash, central instruments. 1956: 1000, 948cc, close-ratio 'box,single piece screen, larger rear window, 6.5 gallon tank.

The first of the really usable engines was fitted to post-1952 cam, in the form of the 948cc A-series unit. Incredibly durable and reliable, these motors will rack up 150,000 miles quite happily and are the sweetest runners of the three A-series capacities used. When the unit does start to wear out the first signs will be exhaust smoke under power, noisy tappets and reduced performance – and its not that perky to start with. There may also be big-end knocks when the engine is started, timing chain rattle and an oil light that’s slow to go out because of the reduced oil pressure.

1962-1970: Series III 1098cc, revised 'box & clutch, 8in drums, raised final drive. 1963: toughened screen, larger indicators & rear lights. 1964: revised interior & ignition switch.

Which leaves the final – and most usable – version of the A-series. the 1098cc unit. The extra capacity makes the engine less stressed and the most able to cope with modern driving conditions although it ultimately still suffers from the same maladies as the 948cc.

If you’re not too worried about originality it’s worth putting a 1275cc powerplant in, as it just slots into the engine bay without any modifications. The gearbox should cope with a 1275 just as well as it does with a 1098cc unit – although it doesn’t actually cope that well with the smaller engine. The brakes would really need to be upgraded, but you could do the work yourself to keep the cost down to a minimum.

1953-71: Traveller, exposed ash framework, hinged rear seat, separate lower compartment for spare wheel and tools.

TRANSMISSION
Gearboxes are the weakest mechanical link in any Minor, with all the units fitted being weak and having syncromesh that gives up alarmingly easily – although none of the Minor derivatives were fitted with syncromesh on first gear. Once the teeth have become chipped the gearbox will become especially noisy and it will start jumping out of gear, especially second.

The only model that has reasonably good parts supply is the 1098cc car, with the 803cc and 948cc versions having very patchy availability. The casings themselves were different, with the 1098cc car having a ribbed unit while the earlier cars featured a smooth case. Gearbox parts supply for the sidevalve-engined cars is even worse, so don’t count on getting parts very easily. But if you’re looking for a replacement gearbox for a 1098cc car and you’re offered a decent Midget gearbox, your prayers have been answered because it’s the same unit.

MM Tourer 1948-53: rear sidescreens. 1951: wing mounted headlamps, renamed convertible, glass sidescreens. 1953-69: changes as Series II/III, 1956: plastic hood.

Some owners get round the parts supply situation and the inherent weakness of the gearboxes by fitting a Ford Sierra five-speed conversion kit, which costs around £1000 including fitting. As this gives a taller top gear it makes the car more usable with the ability to cruise at 80mph.

The rear axle and propshaft are pretty reliable, but at some point the differential will wear out. You can tell that replacement is imminent if the unit gets noisy when you lift off once up to speed, so expect to pay £300 for a rebuilt unit. That’s the same price as you’ll pay for a reconditioned gearbox.

STEERING & SUSPENSION

Trunnions and swivel pins at the front wear out unless they’re greased at least every 3000 miles or three months – although twice as often as this, if possible, is desirable. If they’re allowed to wear enough, the swivel pin will pull out of the trunnion altogether, although this will probably only happen at parking speeds when the loading on the suspension is at its highest. But with a new kingpin leg and both top and bottom trunnions costing just £75, it’s not the end of the world if both sides need to be replaced.

The rear suspension is quite primitive and doesn’t give the car great handling characteristics. The general consensus is that the most useful thing you on do is swap the lower arm dampers for telescopics, which will typically cost you £100 per side. But Matt isn’t convinced, as dampers can rub on tyres if the job isn’t done properly (brackets are welded rather than bolted on) and at the front, even if you go for telescopic dampers, the original lever arms will have to be retained. They’ll be drained and not acting as dampers anymore, but they have to stay because they act as a pivot point for the front suspension.

At the rear its also worth checking that the leaf springs are in good order – especially their front mountings. If you do decide to convert the front suspension to telescopic dampers, for which you’ll expect to fork out £75 per side, it’s also worth opting for an uprated anti-roll bar. But  if you’re strapped for cash then the first upgrade should be to the rear suspension.

WHEELS & BRAKES
Pressed steel wheels were fitted to all Minors as standard, and they don’t give any problems. A common swap is the 13in unit fitted to Midgets (Minor wheels were 14in diameter), but using the MG wheels doesn’t give problems.

Drum brakes all round was the norm for all Minors, and if in good condition the system is okay for the job. But it’s worth upgrading to disc brakes at the front for around £600 or fitting a servo (for £300 or so) to make things easier in modern traffic.

The brake master cylinder lives under the driver’s footwell and gets attacked by all the debris thrown up front the road. Consequently it suffers after a while and because it’s out of sight it’s also usually out of mind. But swapping old for new isn’t a problem and at just £50 for a new unit its not a costly exercise.

TRIM
Not only is just about everything available for the interior of a Minor, but none of it is very expensive. A new hood for a tourer is just £120 while a carpet set can be yours for £60 or so. Series I and II can were trimmed in leather while the later car had vinyl trim -but if you fancy a bit of hide in your later car it’s easily done, if not cheap at over £250.

Switchgear and instrumentation is also available, except for the Bakelite switches used on early cars. But plastic replacements can be bought which look the same and don’t disintegrate after a few years.
(Continued in Part 3)

How to buy a Morris Minor Pt1

This article first appeared in the March 2003 edition of Practical Classics and is reproduced by kind permission.
Please remember that any prices are obviously no longer current.

Matt Barwick, who helped with this feature, runs Malvern-based Matt's Morris Minor Services. He owns seven Minors, having raced, restored and run little else.

IN THE LATTER stages of World War II Alec Issigonis was working on a new family car for Morris. Called the Mosquito, this was to be an innovative car from one of the most ingenious of all designers. There would be a monocoque construction and a flat-four engine driving the front wheels. Coil spring and wishbone suspension would feature at the front and it would have rack and pinion steering. Then the piggy bank was raided and it was clear that a less adventurous design would have to be substituted – cue the 918cc sidevalve engine seen in the Morris 8 Series E, driving the rear wheels. The first prototype even retained the Series E’s dimensions, which meant that because of the space-robbing wings and sills, there was hardly any interior space. An extra four inches was spliced into the middle of the car and the Minor was born – or the poached egg, as Lord Nuffield called it when he first saw it.

The Minor made its debut in 1948, as the series MM, otherwise known as the low-light because its headlamps were mounted low down in the grille. The press and public went wild, all madly enthusiastic about the Minor.

Half the value of a good Traveller is in its wooden frame, so check carefully for rot.

At first it was available only as a two-door saloon or a convertible (the Tourer), but a year after the Series II had arrived (in 1952) an estate was introduced – the Traveller. The low-set headlamps had been relocated to the top of the front wings in 1949 and the four-door saloon had arrived onto the market a year later, so the main change for the Series II was the adoption of the 30bhp A-series 803cc overhead-valve engine in place of the 27.5bhp sidevalve unit that had previously been fitted. An impressive 176,002 MMs were built and 318.351 Series II’s; 18,000 of the Series II’s being examples of the Traveller.

Door base rots but it can be fixed. Decent replacement doors are now hard to find.

In 1956 there were major changes to the car, with the launch of the Minor 1000. Not only was a larger (37bhp 948cc) version of the A-series engine slotted beneath the bonnet, but the split windscreen became a single piece unit and a larger rear window was fitted.

By the time the 1098cc engine arrived in 1962, 644,679 Minor 1000s had been produced, of which 89,000 were Travellers. This includes 350 of what are some of the most collectable of all Minors – the lilac-painted Million of 1961, which was built to celebrate a million Minors being produced. The 1962-on Miller 1000 used a 48bhp version of the 1098cc A-series powerplant and the front drum brakes were increased in size to rein in the extra power. By the time production ceased in 1971, 480,825 copies of the 1098cc Minor had rolled off the lines, I08,000 of which were Travellers.

Check for sagging doors. It might be worn hinges or it could be due to rot in A-posts.

BODYWORK
It doesn’t matter how good a Minor looks on the surface – there’s a good chance it will he hiding major structural corrosion somewhere, because they rot from the inside out. It doesn’t really matter how good the car is elsewhere; if the car’s structure is shot its fit for parts only.

Thanks to excellent panel availability, if the outer panels look a bit ropey you needn’t be too concerned about sourcing replacements, although the cost will add up if a lot of work is needed. But if it looks tatty on the outside, there ’s a good chance that the monocoque to which they bolt is in need of some serious TLC – work that’ll be expensive.

Most panels available at decent prices so dont fret if the car needs the odd one.

Things potentially get even worse if it’s a Traveller you’re looking at, because the woodwork that gives the car such character is also a very expensive thing to fix when it starts to rot away. Because the timber is structural, repairing it can’t be put off and it’s not really possible to patch it up or do a section at a time. That means doing the whole lot in one go, which costs around £2000, so make sure there are no discoloured areas that suggest the work will need doing imminently. The wood should be rubbed down and revarnished annually.

This crossmember is crucial for strength. They rot but replacements are available.

Whether it’s a saloon, convertible or estate, the Minor has a lot of rust traps that need careful checking. The rear spring hangers arc one of the most important things to look at because repair is so complicated. A lasting repair can take up to a day for each side, but the whole underside needs close inspection -especially the rear chassis extensions and front chassis legs.

In the latter case these extend either side of the engine and have a habit of rusting from the inside out. Once you can see evidence of rot it’s time for the whole leg to be replaced, at a cost of £100. For some reason, cover panels on the underside of the floorpan were popular in the 1980’s – great for hiding problems but not so good at solving them. These will probably have been replaced by now, but if they haven’t, whatever original metal was behind them will probably have rotted away a long time ago.

Other common rot spots include the sills and the doors, the latter rotting along the bottom edge and across the underside. Finding original replacement doors for any Minor is difficult, although they can be rebuilt because good quality repair panels are available. Vans, pick-ups and four-door saloons used the same doors as each other while a different version was fitted to tourers, Travellers and two-door saloons. Whichever version you need you can expect to pay around £150 for a decent door.

There aren’t many panels that aren’t available for the Minor, so just about any car can be saved if it’s important enough – but the restoration of a really rough car would cost more than the car will be worth afterwards. That’s why many Minors are fit just for parts – there are so many about that unless they can be saved relatively cheaply its preferable to just buy a better example.

Most of the panels that are on offer are from the original tooling – crucial pressing, like the floorpans and crossmembers, which braces the whole shell, are common rot spots.

Because we Brits have a love of convertibles, and with an ever dwindling supply of good genuine examples, it’s possible to buy a kit to convert a two-door saloon into a drop-top. Done properly there’s no cause for concern. But not all cars are converted safely, and the other catch is that sometimes such conversions are passed off as genuine cars. To make sure you don’t get caught out, read the section on identifying marks.

(Continued in Part 2)

Trunnions

Let’s not argue about the spelling…….. They are the swivelly [sic] bits at the top and bottom of the front legs of your moggie. There’s a top trunnion and a bottom trunnion and they are very different but do the same job. One thing they need is grease. The owner’s manual probably says something like 10,000 mile intervals but believe me, I do this three or four times a year on my 5000 allotted miles. It’s not a hard job to replace them but it’s a real pain of odd sized sockets, ring keys and open ended, 15mm and 16mm split pins to drill out and replace and a steering arm to heat up, cool down, heat up, cool down, bash out and hope you haven’t wrecked the threads, grease nipples to clean out, packing pieces to make if they’re lost, rubbers to grease and split pins to find. It’s much simpler and easier to look after your Trunnions!!

Jack up the car a side at a time and remove the front road wheels. Support the car with stands under the chassis and let the bare hubs just hang. There is a grease nipple at the very top of the leg, probably covered in grunge and another at the bottom, just behind. Various sizes have been fitted and retro fitted clean the surrounding area and use a pair of pliers to unscrew them. Clean the nipple. You don’t want any road grit to find its way in with the grease. Test the little ball in the end of the nipple isn’t rusted solid by holding the nipple against the delivery nozzle of the grease gun and squeezing the gun just a little until you get a half inch of nice clean grease through it. Screw them back in and now they are nice and clean, nip them up with whichever spanner. [Wipe any grease on to a convenient brake pipe, not your overalls!] Any that won’t let the grease come easily through should go in the bin.

Order new nipples and they should be with you the next day in the post. www.tomroy.com or similar. It’s not a second mortgage. Hold the delivery pipe against the top one and squeeze the handle until clean new grease appears in a wave at the rubber three or four inches down the leg. Do the same at the bottom and the wave of grease should appear at the rubber sleeve at the top of the trunnion of the swivel pin, much the same as the top one. Sometimes the grease will also appear at one side of the trunnion cross piece where it meets the bars from the torsion bar. This is normal and at least you now know the pin isn’t seized solid. If it’s been some years since the last greasing you might have some difficulty. At the top, recon Trunnions tend to allow grease out in a circle around the nipple. This is bad machining of the trunnion and there isn’t a lot you can do except strip off the trunnion and apply grease manually on to the swivel pin threads.

If the grease simply won’t go in but squirts out of the side of the nipple then try warming the trunnion with a blow lamp, gently at first and then more positively but not so low down that
you singe the rubber bush where it meets the leg. Let this cool a little and then try again. Several attempts should get it. Same at the bottom. If your wave of grease comes out only at the bottom warm it a little above and try again. But while you’re there………. The track rod end has a grease nipple on the top………….

Laying up the Minor for the winter

Well, do you put your car away after the last rally? Or do you use it on Sunny afternoons all through the winter? Are you one of the innovatives who puts a calor gas stove in the passenger footwell to use the car the whole year round?
The service list is similar for all these eventualities. Skip them and end up by the side of the road, five o’clock on a busy roundabout in fog and rain with the temperature hovering around freezing, the mobile phone battery dead or worse, no credit, a hungry child in the back and a whinging SWMBO who will be late for a hair appointment. It’s not that I’m sexist, these things just happen this way.
Rule Number one: a battery will not last a fourth winter. Yes, there are weird and wonderful chemicals you can add to the electrolyte from recipes in magazines aimed at mini enthusiasts and these will foam and bubble quite excitingly. But the battery will not last a fourth winter. Replace it in September/October just as the first frosts are waiting around the corner and you’ll not fall into the frosty morning trap. [Swing the handle if you must, but there’s an art to not breaking your arm in the process…..!]
Rule number two: fill with antifreeze. Ok, so you didn’t drain last year’s. So get a hydrometer and syphon off some of the coolant and check. Bet you used cheap glycerine antifreeze anyway and it only lasts a year because it evaporates faster than water. While you’re heading for the sun in August or ticking over merrily at a concourse for the judge, the antifreeze is busily evaporating. Sort your hoses first and then refill with two litres of antifreeze and the rest water. If you do it in September then any leaks will show themselves before the worst of the winter and it’ll be an easy Sunday Morning job to sort. While you’re at it, invest in a bottle of screenwash additive and pour the lot in.
Rule number three: buy some points. I presume your distributor cap and leads are in good working order? Aren’t they? Grab hold of them while the engine is running and you’ll soon know! Fit new points in September whether your car needs them or not. New ones will last right through until spring with only one adjustment after a hundred miles while the old ones might not. The silver tarnishes with age as well as use. How much are they? £2.35 at my local shop. Is it worth it?
Rule number four: see to your brakes. Braking on snow and ice is no joke. Personally I back off my front shoes by one notch in the winter so that gentle braking brings the back brakes on first. This is pure preference. Make sure you have plenty of lining left to last until spring. Pack some grease onto the pipe unions behind the drum and the bleed nipples too. This prevents corrosion from salt and makes it dead easy to strip and replace if you need to later.
Rule number five: see to your lights. The hanging connections at the front inner wings are a constant source of trouble in the winter, bad earths, bad connections, dim lights. Take them out and scratch the connections with a strip of sandpaper. Check the earth connection at the nearside. Fit new black connectors. Buy a spare headlight bulb or sealed beam and put it in the boot.
Rule number six: Buy those spares you’ve been meaning to for years. A fan belt for instance. It lies on top of the petrol tank, takes up no useful room. A petrol pump. A hammer keeps an errant pump going for a few miles but if you’re on unleaded then the diaphragm might be the problem and the hammer won’t sort that. Let’s face it, everyone gets a petrol pump problem sooner or later, a spare in the boot is insurance against one failing in the snow on Christmas Eve.
Rule number seven: change your torch batteries. Enough said. Carry the torch with you, see if it’ll fit into the well in the boot and leave it there.
Rule number eight: While you’re in the boot, blow up the spare too. Consider an aerosol of instant punture repair, wrap it in a towel with a bag of silica gel and leave it in the boot. Do I have to tell you punctures only happen when you’ve got a white T-shirt on!
Rule number nine: stock up on CD’s. What better way to relax while you’re waiting for the breakdown service because you skimped on the previous! [Requests to the site please, I’ve been buying Deep Purple and Grateful Dead!]
Rule number ten: Print this and fasten to garage wall!!

Brake failure

Tech tip for this month – The Mystical Case of Brake Failure.

Most of us run a VW, an Audi, a Vauxhall or BMW as well as a moggie. Some of the more unfortunate among us run Fords! Service interval 60,000 miles, courtesy car and check the tyre pressures one Sunday morning just before you belt down the motorway on holiday. The dealer gets the car once a year, plugs it into the computer, changes the plugs and the air filter and charges you £300.00. Know the story? Way back in the 1950`s and 60`s when our moggies were built, life was a little different. Everyone washed his car on a Sunday morning and while it was drying, he opened the bonnet and went through the weekly checks. Oil, Water, Tyre Pressures, Brake Fluid, Lamps. Along with re-gapping the points and greasing the nipples once a month, the owner driver more-or-less did his own servicing and it had to be regular and often. The first service interval would be 100 miles, oil change and filter. The next service was 1000 miles, the next 3000 miles. In between you did your weekly checks.

How we forget! In those days it was common and a must. Now, it’s unknown. But the car hasn’t changed. It still needs its weekly checks to make sure everything is A-OK. And the case of the girl with the 1963 convertible……lost her brakes going down a long slow hill…..Managed to stop on the handbrake and called the AA who towed her home. Hubby hadn’t checked a thing in five years. FIVE YEARS!! Passed its MOT every year, where was the problem? The problem was that the master cylinder was dry. Bone dry. Nearside rear brake cylinder was leaking very gently. Had someone checked the fluid regularly it would have been spotted before it became something of an emergency. Okay, so now he checks everything weekly. It cost him a set of brake shoes on top of the new cylinder and a new pipe because the old one wouldn’t come out. The pipe should have failed an MOT anyway but it was well gunged up so the tester probably didn’t spot the rust. When we got to the other end of the pipe we found a split in the flexi too. But that’s another story………

1. For a car in regular use at least a couple of journeys a week, regular Sunday morning checks should include: – Tyres. It’s easier to spot wear on a particular place early if you do this
every week. A bent steering component would alter the tracking and wear would be on the outside edge or inside edge of one or both tyres. Evidence is “feathering”. The edge of the patterns rises to a “feather”. 2. Brake Fluid. The master is under the driver’s toes. Unscrew the cap and just have a look. It should be just half an inch or so below the filler neck if the
brakes are adjusted properly. If it goes down, adjust the brakes up and check again. Still down? Suspect a leak at a wheel cylinder.

3. Water. Or should that be water and antifreeze? Check the level. Water normally finds its own happy level and this varies from car to car. If it’s above the internal fins in the radiator
leave it alone. If you really need to top it up, use a mixture of antifreeze and water made up in an old pop bottle.

4. Oil. The A-series engine unlike modern lumps was designed to use oil. The amount varies from engine to engine but half a pint over 500 miles is not undue cause for concern. Top it up. When the colour becomes anything darker than caramel, consider changing it and the filter.

5. Dashpot oil. The black plastic or brass knurled nut on the top of the carburettor unscrews to reveal a plunger. If you remove it and then pop it back there should be some resistance
and you need to force it back. If not, top up with 3in1 oil or similar, about a teaspoonful or two.

6. Battery. Check the electrolyte levels. The liquid should be above the plates. Remove the battery and wipe with an old cloth, smear the terminals with Vaseline, very lightly, The negative end of the battery will most likely need topping up regularly. Here you can use water defrosted from the freezer or a bottle of de-ionised from the corner carparts shop or, if it isn’t a new battery, from the tap. Wipe the tray and remove leaves and debris.

7. Washer bottle. Enough said. It’s not in the Haynes manual but then washer bottles hadn’t been invented in the fifties. Unblock that nozzle on the bonnet that you’ve been meaning to see to for three weeks too!!

8. Lights. Just make sure they all work and replace the bulb, scrape the rust, as necessary. Reminds me, my interior light………

Next checks at 1000 miles…………