Morris Minor Owners Club

I'm having work done on my 1971 Morris 1000 van. It went in to have some chassis work done and new rear wheel arches back in the beginning of February then the garage had to shut because of lockdown. I rang him about three weeks ago as my nephew had seen parked outside as he wanted work done on is MG and said still waiting for panels and he could not get them as out of stock. I went there today and its still parked outside looking now very scruffy and he still said he cannot get the panels so I said leave it with me and within 10 mins of me getting home I found a company that had got the panels so he hopefully should get it done.

Sounds like he could have done what you have just done. Not very encouraging after five or so months, let’s hope his work is better than his resourcefulness.

The company that I called is the one the one restorer rang said they didn't have panels the when I spoke to them checked and they had. I will wait a few days and see what happens. The trouble is I used the van a couple of times a week for my work and I am using my dads old car which is now mine as he passed away in March but I will soon want to get rid of but cannot until I get my van back.

Sorry for your loss morris van.

Yes, my sympathies too.

I spoke to the classic car restorer who has my van and he has at last got the panels to finish my van. Keeping every crossed I can get back to using my van as I want to sell my dads car as it now has new MOT.

I went to see my van this afternoon and the new panels are being fitted and should not be long before its finished. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I went to see my van today and all the panels fitted and is nearly ready for the paint shop.

I finally got my van back yesterday six months to the day I took it to the restorer. At some point im going to have the front re sprayed as the welding been done as all the structural work been done. The rest will get done over winter.

My van has gone to the body shop today to have two new front wings fitted and a bit of welding done and the rest of the van re sprayed. Hopefully it will look better than it does now.

I have been to see my van today theres a few little hole along roof edge and else where and they are fitting new inner wings and the wings head lights fit as they were going rotten by headlights hopefully it will look alright when finished. In the same workshop there was an original Mini Cooper, Bentley, Merc and a Robin Reliant van.

Good stuff. Have you opted for the Heritage wings or pattern ones? My Minor saloon had new pattern front wings fitted and they very quickly rusted in the usual areas . I would always pay the extra and purchase the Heritage wings another time. Either way, well worth giving the new wings a few coats of paint on the insides before fitting and then some rust preventative in all the seams etc
It'll look great when it is all finished I'm sure.

The car restorer always uses the better stuff as when he did the rear end on the van a few months ago he put plenty of primer and paint on the van as I saw it in several stages as he was doing it as the workshop is only a mile from me.

I went to see my van and the cost is getting silly and he has done more than I told him to do. When I went down this afternoon I spoke to his wife who does the accounts and said if I knew it was cost almost double I would have scrapped it and bought a brand new van with a warranty. He already scratched one wing fitting it and wants me to pay to re spray it I said no.

Restoration work on old cars, old houses and everything else almost always spirals once the dismantling begins
It is just a fact of life that a job becomes bigger the more you delve into it. These cars can be very good at hiding rust and it isn't unusual to find much more work than you expected. The restorer perhaps should have spent a little more time at the estimating stage to poke around but I know from restoring my own Minor that what looked like perfectly sound inner wings (for example) can be very rusty once the wings themselves have been removed. I think this is particularly true of cars which have received quite a bit of previous repair work.

At least Minor vans are now worth fairly high prices and the work should be more worthwhile doing?

The scratch sounds annoying. Are you saying that they sprayed a new wing prior to fitting it? I would have thought that was simply carelessness and should be rectified at the restorers expense. Personally, I would spray the wing once fitted to the car - not before. The wings require quite a bit of fettling to obtain a good fit.

Don't be too disheartened. I'm sure it'll look great once it is all finished

If I were in a similar situation I think I’d settle up and take the van away.

I popped in to see my van today as haven't heard from him from him for a month and it is nearly done door gaps are a little bad. He still doesn't know how much its going to cost as his wife does the accounts and only works very part time. I am now getting very peed off as I use the van for work two days a week and I decided to check the insurance data base for my van as the insurance was supposed to start yesterday and it comes up not insured and I phoned the insurance company which I have been with for 10 years and there was a cock a doodle diddley up and should be fixed by tomorrow.

I finally picked up my van today it looks better than it did. It was parked outside my house while I put a few things back in it and a couple were having a good look at it said it looked really nice. just got to do some minor little things but hopefully nearly done. If they offered a good price for it they could have had it.

All that time and expense getting it fixed, I’m surprised you’d now consider selling !

I'm going to keep it for while. The trouble is ive for to keep it clean as I hadn't washed for years.