A minor to get save the winter rust of my MGB

[MGB2]

Hello I am thinking of getting a minor to use through winter to save the rust on my mgbGT. What is the insurance like on minors? (I am 26 and currently pay about 200 on my B). Whats the MPGs like in a morris minor? When buying what should I look out for and any models better than others. I have some mechanical abilty but have not aquireed a mig yet so dont know how to weld so i supose its the structural rust I need to try and aviod as I could not fix it. Any prone rust points. Any advice no matter how bad thanks.

[Cam]

Insurance is pretty cheap. On limited miles (1500) back in 2001 (age 27) I was paying about £50 for a 1098 Minor (as a second car).

MPG is EXCELLENT compared to the B! Mind you the B is pretty BAD on fuel (well, mine is....). you should get 40 MPG easily out of the Minor (depends on how you drive though!).

If you want the 1098 engine then go for 1962 onwards, the 948 engine is from 1956 to 1962 and the 803 engine from 1953 to 1956, with the 918 sidevalve being from 1948 to 1953.

For daily driving, go for the 948 or the 1098. The 1098 is not as smooth as the 948 but has more power and will do 70 easily. They are slower than the B, so don't get any ideas about doing over the ton (like you can in a B) because the Minor just can't do it!!

All models are basically mechanically the same and the bodies are virtually identical through the years. There are a few variants though:

2 door saloon
4 door saloon
Convertable
Traveller (wooden estate version)
Pick up
Van

Prone rust points can be pretty much anywhere, but watch out for chassis legs, inner wings, boot floor, sills, spring hangers, rear chassis extensions, plus others I have probably not mentioned!

You have to remember that the youngest Minor saloonis now about 33 years old, so structural integrity is very important. What sort of budget are you willing to spend?

[Dizzi141]

Um, they do look cool and are great cars but corner like a dog on wet lino. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily mind you.

[Cam]

Diz,

Have you ever driven an MGBGT?? They are not renound for their excellent handling either!!

[rayofleamington]

Yes, they handle like a dog on wet lino, but how often do you drive on wet lino?
One advantage of the Minor's handling is that the break away point is quite slow therefore easy to control.

If you need high speed, then a moggy is rarely a first choice of car. The standard 1098's is still perfectly capable of breaking every speed limit in the country but they are no sports car and they handle like a 40 year old car and stop like a 40 year old car too.
You can find cars with 1300 engine upgrade, front disks and front/rear teleshocks for around the same money as a standard car so if you don't care about originality then they may be better for you.
The cars will rot if left in the elements so you need to avoid ones with bad quality repairs to the uunderside as these will need huge amounts of welding sooner or later.

[Kevin]

If you click on the Technical Tips link there is a section on buying a Moggie that well help you quite a bit.

[d_harris]

I've always loved the handling of the minor......

[Willie]

Handles like a dog on wet lino?? I don't know what's wrong with your cars but mine handles extremely well with radials and is quite a lot
of fun to drive. If you are not driving on radials then it's your own
fault.

[Kevin]

Handles like a dog on wet lino??

Maybe they have a lot more Lino on the country roads Willie

[rayofleamington]

I don't know what's wrong with your cars but mine handles extremely well

It's all relative - The Minor handles marvellously for a 1950's and 60's small low powered saloon, and in comparison to other 50's cars they are leagues ahead of their time.
Compared to a decent sports car or even just a 10 year old Eurobox... well there's no comparison.

[d_harris]

I prefer the minors handling to the fiesta - which is 10yrs old!

[Cam]

My Minor out-handles my Rover and my mum's Sierra....... But not my mate's RS4 though

[iwant1]

what about compared to a hillman imp, my brother and his imp friends all rave on and on about how well imps handle.....

[Cam]

Not compared to Minis or modern cars though. Mind you, if you have race/rally suspension setup then you can get most things handling well.....

[Peetee]

Hmm. Are we getting our technical terms tangled here folks?
I understand handling as the ability (or not) of the car to communicate its dynamic state to the driver. Roadholding its the dynamic ability of the car.

[rayofleamington]

ability (or not) of the car to communicate its dynamic state to the driver

= feedback

'Handling' is an extremely broad term but as a generalistation it is 'how well the car stays on the tarmac (avoids hedges, ditches and kerbs and stays poiting in the right direction) when driven fast', so means pretty much the same thing as roadhaolding.
Obviously the other half of the same coin is driver ability - some cars are forgiving for bad drivers and others are very unforgiving. Making a sensible definition of 'handling' is impossible as an unforgiving car could outhandle a similar car if driven by someone with skill, but if driven by someone with out a clue it may be called a complete pig (anyone remember Clarckson complaining about the Lotus last year? They immediately sent someone to Top gear to show how the car handles very well without an untrained ape at the wheel)

Dan - you may prefer the Minor to the 10 year old Fiesta but I know which one will go round roundabouts faster. Comfort - not that's another can of worms but is often confused with handling.

[d_harris]

Why do you think I drive the fiesta when I need to get from southampton to brighton/back? Theres about 15 'high speed' roundabouts

[Pyoor_Kate]

I would say that the minor can handle well for a car it's age; and it certainly outhandles the 10 year old Yugo I had; but it's not a patch on the MkI Golf I had inbetween. On the other hand it's an awful lot of fun, and you do get warning before it does anything too unnerving. It will bite you though, if you don't respect it.

A well set up minor can be driven with a large degree of alacrity on dry roads with a good surface; but rough roads / poor surfaces and water are not the minor's friend.

Looks wise, they're clearly the most fabulous car ever designed But then I might be slightly biased....

[d_harris]

Looks wise, they're clearly the most fabulous car ever designed But then I might be slightly biased....

Second only to the Mosquito!

[Peetee]

southampton to brighton/back? Theres about 15 'high speed' roundabouts

Tee hee.
I know that road well. Althogh the last few times I have driven down it, it was a little too busy for any "Roundabout? what roundabout?" antics.
I used to drive that way back to Kent and would try my bestest to get away from work sharpish so that I left the oudles of outbound traffic from Fareham and Portsmouth behind me so i could enjoy the drive home in my modded Polo or the Quattro.