Page 38 - MM_Sep Oct 2021

Rekindling Early Memories
IN JANUARY 1963, my parents placed an order with Broughton Motors of Slough for a Morris Minor four-door Deluxe in Rose Taupe complete with duo tone red and beige trim with a delivery time of around 16 weeks. When you now see photographs of the works car storage facilities at Cowley taken around that time they appear to be full to the brim with cars ready for delivery
so it is difficult to see now why it should take so long to acquire one. In the event the factory was crippled by industrial action and consequently delivery did not take place until August.
It was registered as 2208 KX and may have been one of the last with that style of
number as very soon after the A-suffix arrived on the scene. I still can recall the smell of the new vinyl interior
and the shiny slightly ‘orange peel’ paintwork. Dad had the car undersealed and tubes put inside the ‘new fangled’ tubeless tyres even though the garage insisted this was not necessary. In this car the family was treated to holidays and outings for several years, I learned to drive and passed my test in it. By 1972 I had left home and, without my knowledge it was part exchanged for an Austin 1300, which was a pity as I was
quite attached to it and would have liked to have taken it on.
Over the intervening years I have owned a Morris Eight, Lanchester 21 and a Riley Monaco but I have always wanted to rekindle those early memories and acquire a Minor 1000. Initially I did search for 2208 KX but unfortunately there was no trace of it. The next best thing I thought was to get a 1963 Rose Taupe four-door saloon bur these appear to be rare as hens’ teeth. At this point the urge dissipated until June
2020 when I saw SPL 168F advertised
on eBay. This was a 1968 (built 1967) Maroon four-door Deluxe saloon, totally original as it left the factory with 39,000 miles on the clock. The last two owners were elderly ladies living in Ferndown and they between them, had it from February 1977 until April/May 2020. As an indication of usage between April 14, 2015 and April 9, 2018 it had covered only 1057 miles and had been serviced and MoT’d regularly over that period.
Since purchasing it on July 13, 2020 I have made some slight changes, my
Back to Daily Driving
YOU HAVE TO BE A BIT MAD to drive a classic car daily, especially if you only own a classic car and not a modern car, but for the past three years (on and off), it’s what I have been doing. I have owned Jean, my 1966 two-door Minor, since
I was 20. Jean is named after my late Grandma, Jean Beebe,
who had a Morris Minor for over 30 years, and is the car I always remember from my childhood. I’ve been using her daily whenever she’s been on the road and I have had some wonderful times, such as driving myself and my friends at university, going to my friend Scotty’s wedding, helping people move house and just going to the shops.
Of course, driving a car designed in World War Two is hard enough, but I also have dealt with my disability, in the form of chronic sciatica, issues with my spine and my joints. I often have to walk with a cane, and my legs are not the best, something that never will mesh well with driving a classic car but still I carried on driving the car and loving almost every minute of it. I wouldn’t give up the car for the world, even when age caught up with her.
At the end of 2019, I had just finished uni and I had been using Jean for about 1.5 years but after an inspection, I had to
take her off the road. This was because of the sheer amount of well-hidden rot underneath meaning she wasn’t safe to drive.
I decided to restore her back to a roadworthy standard. I had already done most of the mechanical issues in the past near two years of ownership so I decided to get her body-shell restored so I would have a good car. At the time I was living at my parents’ house, still looking for a place to live, while Jean sat under a car cover at the side of the house. My plan was to move out but keep Jean at my parents until I could get the welding done. Then, due to Covid-19, lockdown meant my plans went out of the window. The idea of getting a flat fell through and I was left with a lot of spare time so I spent that time working on getting Jean ready to take to Morris Millennium for welding while working to save up the funds. I spent many evenings and cold winter days taking parts off of her and rebuilding them,
as well as filming for my YouTube series, Project Daily Drive, where I show what it’s like driving a Moggy as your daily.
After Jean was sent off for welding, the level of work needed was quickly apparent. There were so many poor repairs that it was a miracle she had driven so well. The rear spring hangars looked straight when, in reality, they were mostly made from expanding foam and body filler. The floor was four layers
thick in places and the chassis legs were bent over an inch out
38 | MINOR MATTERS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
Members’ Cars