Originally Posted by Silk
What was known here as the Morrie Thou. Very popular and still assembled and sold here into the '70's as a van and pickup. My first car was a '54 Minor, the first with the 803 A Series engine...from the Austin A30, before the BMC merger Morris used their own sidevalve engine. Always 12 volt, practically only Fords were 6 volt in the UK...their American influence. The SU fuel pump is hidden on the left firewall. The front shocks are the top arm and inner bearing, Acme threads for top and bottom knuckle....a common failure item.
Monocoque construction, and like all early unit bodies very prone to rust...they were fully dipped in a phosphate tank in NZ, but it didn't help, they still rotted. When I was an apprentice, the panelbeaters didn't want to do the rust repairs, so we would go to the panelshop next door, fold up chassis sections, and I would lie on my back on a creeper and gas weld them in place.
My wife's family lived in Dunedin before moving to Canada in the late-'60s, and had some very fine neighbours, a brother and sister who had never wed. They visited us here in '88. Lovely people, seniors by that time, doing the trip of a lifetime. Anyway, a few years later, Gus sent us a clipping from the local daily. He was standing proudly by his ancient Morris Minor, which had just passed its WOF. He was about 75 at the time. The car looked mint. We visited them in 2004 during our year in NZ, and he had given up driving by that time. I hope the car went to a worthy 2nd owner.