Morris Minor Owners Club

I use my Morris almost every day and the past few weeks I have been tailgated, had cars pull out of side turnings right on top of me and overtaking me in 20 mph zones over speed bumps.
The other day I gave way to on coming traffic when a car tried to drive around me and blocked the road up.

I never had this when I had a modern vehicle.

I have now got a car camera.

The roads seem to be full of Moron's

Alan

As a fellow daily Morris driver I have encountered this. People tend to assume you're going slowly without actually checking their speed, or will try to get past as fast as possible as if you were a tractor that will delay them for a long time.

As always, driving defensively and not being flustered by other people's behaviour is the solution. After all, only the insecure with something to prove (and perhaps the disorganised) are in a hurry!

I have a dashcam but always forget to put the memory card back in after viewing footage so it might have been a waste of money.

If they're not pulling out in front of you, they are 6 inches off your back bumper! Yes, I think they are expecting you to be limited to 25 mph. Even sensible people can have the wrong idea. Took a friend out in my Traveller a few weeks ago and he was surprised how well it coped in modern traffic.

We had a similar discussion a couple of years ago, started as a result of a complete idiot flying past me at 50+ miles an hour in a 30mph zone and showering my car with a meteorite shower of chippings! I do believe they just assume an old car is holding them up and they then drive aggressively - cut in, zoom at you from behind or on a roundabout etc. It can be a bit hairy with an 803cc under the bonnet!
Having said that, there are also a lot of considerate drivers who actually like to see the Morris Minor out on the road and wave, speak to you at lights, car parks etc.

I’m not sure it’s just Minors, I’ve got a ‘modern’ car and get tailgated.

Before I got my Morris I had an A35 van and I had a Mercedes van right up my backside until I came to a 30mph zone which usually has speed trap on it and when I came round the corner and there was a speed camera van parked on the side of the road and the other van suddenly stayed well away from me.

A true and cautionary tale regarding an A35 van, speeding and the police.

One night was travelling under 40mph as in those days vans were restricted to 40mph as no purchase tax was paid - a vehicle came up close behind with its lights on full bean and did not even attempt to dip them. The road was straight and the van tuned so dropped a gear, foot down to the floor and left the vehicle behind. Suddenly blue light flashing from the vehicle, drat or words to that effect, was pulled over and after pleading guilty to exceeding 40mph was let off with a stiff warning.
So there on was always cautious about vehicles behind me at night.
Phil

Monty-4 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 17, 2019 6:42 pmI have a dashcam but always forget to put the memory card back in after viewing footage so it might have been a waste of money.

I keep a spare card and strictly never take one out without putting the other one in. I always delete everything on the removed card after saving anything I want to keep. I do the same sort of thing for cameras. Nothing more annoying than missing a good shot for lack of a memory card.

I don't think this is restricted to Morris Minors or any old car; just something that stands out from the "normal" euro-boxes.
The boss I worked for some years ago had two Rolls-Royces and I often had to run errands driving one. I always found other drivers to be intimidating especially pulling up to side roads, just going slightly over the line into my path. It's only since I had the Morris that people actually pulled out in front of me.

viewsonic1 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 19, 2019 2:50 pm I don't think this is restricted to Morris Minors or any old car; just something that stands out from the "normal" euro-boxes.
The boss I worked for some years ago had two Rolls-Royces and I often had to run errands driving one. I always found other drivers to be intimidating especially pulling up to side roads, just going slightly over the line into my path. It's only since I had the Morris that people actually pulled out in front of me.

Monty-4 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 17, 2019 6:42 pm As a fellow daily Morris driver I have encountered this. People tend to assume you're going slowly without actually checking their speed, or will try to get past as fast as possible as if you were a tractor that will delay them for a long time.

As always, driving defensively and not being flustered by other people's behaviour is the solution. After all, only the insecure with something to prove (and perhaps the disorganised) are in a hurry!

I have a dashcam but always forget to put the memory card back in after viewing footage so it might have been a waste of money.

People seem to judge things by their own standards and since they only have experience of old cars, as old bangers, they judge old cars accordingly. Therefore, if their 12 year old whatever was clapped out, anything fifty years old must be four times as bad. I am a cycle trader and have ridden bikes for years and you get the same kinds of assumptions made towards bikes. Because many can't make a bike go much over 10mph, that's what bikes do and it causes people to attempt manoeuvres that are not suited to the speed of the bike. They come out with the old chestnut "I didn't see you", as it sounds less negligent than "I saw myself on the bike and assumed you were only doing 10mph". I have proved this to be the case, as at night, with powerful lights, fewer people pull out of side roads or turn right, across you, into side roads. This is because such people assume that bikes don't have lights or that they are puny Ever Ready lights on a lamp bracket. When they see a powerful bike light (If you ask why do I need it, I can say that I have done 50mph in the dark on a bike), they assume it to be on a motorcycle and they assume all motorcyclists are lunatics.

It's a case of people assume too much and think too little. There will always be animosity between different types of road users but just consider that stupidity comes not as the result of the activity but as a result of the species. Whatever people do, they do stupid things.

If it's any consolation, a number of years ago I had a Brattmobile (Aggressively driven BMW) in my boot, as I passed through a 30mph zone (With totally inappropriate speed bumps). I was in the Traveller and we were coming towards a 60 zone, that crossed open moorland. I decided that the Brattmobile would probably pass but that I was going to make him work for his ego. As the 60 zone began, I had the Traveller in 2nd (It does have a 1275 engine and close on 80bhp, disc brakes and LSD) and let it go. There soon came a downhill swoop and then some up hill S curves. There then followed a straight section of a mile or so and I had made so much time up in the twists, that the Brattmobile was only just getting nearer, as we neared the end of the straighter section. Then came a twisty downhill section of some four miles and that was the end of him. At one point the road passes an old quarry and it's a popular location for car magazines to take pictures. As I drifted the Traveller through a left bend (Tyres scrubbing not screeching), the people all looked up and I thought it might have seemed comical, that half a minute later, there came a Brattmobile, attempting to keep up. I just hope the next time he came up behind a Minor, he was a little more courteous.

Oh and yes, I get the same thing in the MG Midget and the BGT V8. That said, back in the day, V8s suffered from looking too much like standard MGBs.

Defensive driving, just let em go.
Preferably just as you reach the speed cameras, timing is everything.

I had a van follow me yesterday, six inches from the bumper, only to see the idiot driving it with his phone out taking a picture of my car!

I was out in the Morris again today and driving in a 20 mph zone with speed bumps when all of a sudden a moped rider over took me on the inside. He nearly had to ride up the pavement, I was lucky I saw him coming and I moved out to the centre of the road. WHY over take me on the inside, It would of been ok if he went to the right.
I think he was a pizza boy with 'L' plates.
It just drives me mad, I bet if I had hit him it would of been my fault into the bargain.

Not your fault, but it could have been messy!
For the first year ever I've put the old cars away...apart from the Landy, of course. Nobody messes around with that.
Off to Lanzarote tomorrow for some winter sun and no driving!

"Not your fault, but it could have been messy!"

A bit off topic I know............but a few years ago in mid summer I came out to my car parked on the drive and found that someone had "wiped" the back window with the business end of a warm pizza for some reason unknown to anyone.
I don't know if anyone has ever had a go at removing solidified and baked on mozzarella cheese from a window, but believe me you don't want to try.

Phil

One evening I had pie and chips placed on my windscreen,some people have no taste...

John

".....but a few years ago in mid summer I came out to my car parked on the drive and found that someone had "wiped" the back window with the business end of a warm pizza for some reason unknown to anyone." .......Possibly even to the person who had decorated your car so creatively

There are more nutters outside, who should be locked up, than are locked up.

Trouble is that locking them up costs the rest of us a fortune!