Morris Minor Owners Club

IaininTenbury wrote:The current concours being 'the best restored car to original spec', a worthy and satisfying aim for the owner when restoring a car. I read once that concours standard would have been how the factory prepared a car for a motor show rather than off the production line which was interesting.
However I feel there should be a class for, say, 'best original car' ie:

??? Not when I was judging, in fact originality gained marks, and I added rules which meant that overpolishing etc lost them.

In fact my Series II is almost totally original, including much of the paintwork, and has not been welded. This car achieved Grand Masters status in 2000.
As for even more originality, what about 'OJO'? (http://seriesmm.mmoc.org.uk/Members_car ... JO/OJO.htm) A possible concours entrant?

PS This posting is not intended to be contraversial, just clarifying the situation as it was when I was Chief Concours Judge. I think most on here know how much importance I give to originality.

Wasn't taking it as controversial!
I should probably have said 'best unrestored car' rather than 'best original' which would distinguish a well preserved car from a top notch resto. Obviously theres a big grey area, in how much restoration work you can do to an unrestored car before it becomes a restored car...

A well known MMOC person once said that a 'car can only be original once', a statement that I quite liked.

As far as the rules went, the '61 saloon I mentioned had about 60% of the orginal paint still on the engine block when I cleaned off the years of gunge, including a curious dab of yellow paint on one side, possibly to indicate it had been through a certain stage, or checked on the production line? Not sure what it meant but it was certainly original. The rest of the engine block was rusty casting where the paint had dropped off. Would I have lost marks by repainting it, or gained them?
The voltage regulator was the original one, with the correct date stamp on it, though the terminals were rusty. Whilst the screws could have been cleaned up, the base would have been difficult to improve. Should I have had it rebuilt, just for appearance, or replaced it with a nice shiny new one?

I'm sorry to say I've not really seen either of your cars in real life, though from the OJO photos it looks lovely. I assume theres been some external repainting done, if only to loose the indicators which is well understandable. Interior looks fantastic and with what looks liek original carpets must be a very rare find. As far as concours goes, would you have lost or gained marks had you repainted the engine and radiator? Not being awkward, I'm just curious. Personally I'd keep it just as it is regardless of any judging criteria.

IaininTenbury wrote: As far as concours goes, would you have lost or gained marks had you repainted the engine and radiator? Not being awkward, I'm just curious. Personally I'd keep it just as it is regardless of any judging criteria.

My criteria when judging a car was that it was as close to the state as when it left the factory as possible. Therefore in the case of OJO it would not have had a Gold Seal engine (fitted in 1963) and the paint would have been intact on the radiator, so marks would have been lost. However I have absolutely no intention of carrying out any 'restoration' to these or any other areas. I much prefer an 'original' car, warts and all.

So as far as concours judging then, a restored car would do better over an unrestored but original car, though personal peference is to preserve the history and patination of the car as it is.
If so I entirely agree, and I think that was the point I was trying to make when I suggested, (light heartedly) a class for 'best preserved unrestored cars' which would encourage retention of original paint finishes where possible.

I have always thought that more consideration should be given to 'original' unrestored cars, as some of my previous posts will show.
Unfortunately 'shine' always seems to win through, even in condition class.

I'm glad to hear there are other people who appreciate a bit of patina and character.

I'm resisting the temptation to get my car resprayed and I'm going to stick with the tradition of painting it with anything that says Almond Green on the tin as the need arises.

I find the most interesting part of looking at Minors is seeing what modifications and accessories have been fitted over the years.

The first year I took my traveller to a national, (Donnington I think) I was parked in the S11 traveller area beside a concours example. My car was rough but an original and very late example, obviously I didnt have the bonnet up for it to be judged, but the judge spent more time looking at my car and talking to me about it than the guy who won the prize!!!