Page 35 - MM_Sep Oct 2021

The finished, laminated wheel arches are truly a work of art
ABOVE: The design of the steel pick-up was replicated in hardwood
BELOW: The Morris trade name was cut into the tailgate with a router
q Like many LCVs, it was rusting where the floor intersected with the sides of the load-bed and this is when the Minor became something unique. John felt that because he had a business building and restoring wooden boats (http://classicsailboats.co.uk), making a new pick- up bed out of wood was an obvious answer. This pick-up bed wouldn’t be one of the once popular wooden boxes but something that closely resembled the original steel assembly. John liked the lines of the original bed with its pressed swage line at the top of the sides, pressed wheel arches and dimpled tailgate so decided to replicate it all in wood.
Minor Travellers are made with Ash timber frames but John opted for elm, oak and oak-faced plywood. Posts were shaped for the front and rear corners, from solid oak as were the top edges of the bed and the crossmember that carries the tailgate hinges and jointed
to create a solid frame. The sides of the pick-up bed and the tailgate were cut from the oak-faced plywood and then fitted to the frame. The wheel arches were made from a series of thin, elliptical pieces of elm, bonded together and moulded on the rusty originals by steaming to make the timber flexible.
After the elm had cured, the original steel arches were removed. The finished, laminated wheel arches are truly a work of art.
A trade website (https://epoxycraft.com) quoted John about the adhesives used saying, “Using West System Epoxy makes wood a very versatile material and hence
it is feasible to keep to the original design,” John said. “Although the wooden pick-up is made of lots of pieces of timber, by using the bonding quality of West System 105 Epoxy Resin and 205 Fast Hardener the structure becomes ‘as one’. This makes it strong and easy to maintain. It’s the same qualities we install in our wooden boats.”
The frame was almost completely assembled on the partially stripped Minor pick-up before being removed for final assembly and varnishing and then reinstalled on the Minor’s chassis. The Morris brand name was cut out with a router into the lower portion of the tailgate and the letters painted black. Original hinges, and lamps along with appropriate tailgate hardware and Antiluce fasteners enhance the pick-up’s appearance. The restoration and mechanical work to the Minor was contracted out as was the respray that saw the pick-up go from faded green to shiny black.
Since the pick-up’s restoration that was completed a couple of years ago, John and Nina have become regulars at events organised by the North Wales Branch of the MMOC, taking this delightful hybrid of a yacht and a pick-up truck on the back roads of Gwynedd. l
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