'Van of death'

[j.davis200]

I have owned several Minors, and they have all been a pleasure to drive, and had very safe handling.

However, when I was a young lad, we used to service the vans of an electrical contractor in Winchester, whose policy was to buy ex electricity board vans at Southampton Auction - LDs, J4s and Minors.

One day I walked into their yard, on a nice dry day, to collect an 8cwt Minor van (F reg I think) for service. Pulling out of the gate I gave it a bit of throttle, whereupon without warning it spun through 180 degrees and ended up facing back into the yard on the other side of the road! I was not an experienced driver so I had no input into this spectacular manoeuvre. It was a quiet road and nobody saw it.

I gingerly straightened it out, and found that even the slightest acceleration on the straight made it squirm - like I imagine a supercharged AC Cobra must be to control (or not control!). What it must have been like in the wet I can't imagine. How it had survived for six years or so without wiping itself out is also a mystery.

Back at the workshop I told the boss that it was a bit lairy, and we checked it over to find nothing mechanically amiss - though the rear tyres were very hard due to excess pressure and were over specified for the weight of the van, so were changed.

I didn't get the job of returning it, and it continued in use, so perhaps those tyres cured it, or perhaps my heavy 17 year old foot was the problem all along!

[palacebear]

Similar memories of an H-reg Minor pickup at the place I worked in the late 70s. We had a body repair contract with British Telecom. The Minor frequently carried engines/gearboxes... piled high and 'secured' with nylon rope (pre Health & Safety days), recovered from written-off Commer PB and Bedford HA vans. To handle the excess weight, the Minor was fitted with Town & Country tyres but only on the rear (cheaper than a bigger truck but pretty pointless). It was rather skittish when unladen!

[StillGotMy1stCar]

I agree with palacebear regarding the pickups. Mine was tail happy, a mixture of over firm rear end soft front end and very light on the back. Mind you I had old Michelins off a V12 Jag on the back, can’t remember the size but was so wrong…
Regards John