Travellers car

[Blaketon]

One of our suppliers (A family business) have a Minor Traveller, that's not getting much use and they are thinking of using it (Perhaps sparingly) as one of the small fleet (Some of the moderns are causing a few problems with rectified faults that still show on the computer). I suggested that a few two door Minor saloons would (As they don't need the space of a Traveller for the purpose) require less maintenance in regular use. Granted perhaps better brakes, a 5 speed box and a few more horses wouldn't go amiss but it would be interesting to see how it turns out.

Of course, the Travellers car was just that and I recall tales of the ironmonger, who had a shop next to my grandparent's grocery shop, running a Traveller for the shop (It was one hell of a mess by all accounts). Although I am old enough to remember Minors when they were still available new, I was not old enough to drive in those days and by the time I was able to drive, most Minors were in the banger phase and were even used by hippy types (I was unaware of what was happening in Bath at the time). The question is how well does the wood stand up if a car spends a lot of time out in the weather? Although my 1971 Traveller is nominally the runabout, it really lives the life of a classic car and in the 15+ years I have owned it, all the wood has needed is polish. I know that the original wood was changed in 2001 and that the first owner had the car for twenty years (I have all her bills). I don't know whether she garaged the car over night but it did seem to get regular maintenance. The other issue is when Travellers were rear ended, back in the day, was wood damage regarded as a writing off episode (Say on a car of up to five years old) and did BMC/BL dealers have facilities to repair it or would the factory take them back for repair? Today good Travellers seem to command good money and are "Worth" repairing but if they were still making them new, would the cost be any less than what some cars are now fetching?

[ManyMinors]

Minor Travellers were indeed popular as company cars back in the day. However, the timber frame required quite a bit of looking after if they were to remain attractive and I remember seeing them only a few years old with peeling varnish and moss growing in the window channels. I bought my first traveller as a discarded "banger" which came in part exchange at the garage I worked at. It was barely roadworthy and very tatty. I paid £20.00 for it but looking back to that day nearly 50years ago it was "only" 10years old at the time and would probably have been scrapped if not bought and renovated. All the timber sections were available from the manufacturer and a Morris dealership like the one I worked in was perfectly capable of repairing the rear body frame. Many were written off but, as with any other car, only when and if the repair costs came close to the market value of the car.

The assembly of a Minor Traveller is very labour intensive and such a car couldn't be manufactured economically now - quite apart from safety and emissions problems. The Traveller was not a good seller new even in 1971 when production ended and unsold cars were still available for several months. My guess would be that British Leyland lost money on every one built in the final years as labour costs grew.
In my opinion, a Minor would only be economical now for a company to run if they could carry out the maintenance in-house. A Minor requires much more maintenance than any modern car and small modern cars can be purchased (or leased) at low costs.

[SteveClem]

I agree, the Traveller was,and is, a practical car in many ways but its construction and vulnerability to outside living limits its use in modern times.

[Blaketon]

I think with cars like the Minor (Like my MGs and the Minis I had years ago) it's a case of little and often, whereas with modern stuff it's a case of "Sealed for life" and then replace or scrap (Bikes are going the same way). I have heard of cars with dual mass flywheels being scrapped when the clutch goes and the cars concerned weren't that old. I once had a VW Golf GTI, which now would be old enough (1987) to be a classic car but it was still more "Modern" than most of what I have owned. In many ways, it was the best all round car I ever owned; not so fast as the MG V8 or as roomy as the Travelller but it would do 120mph, carry four or five people and a fair bit of luggage and yet it would return best part of 50mpg if you were steady. It wasn't bad to work on, as everything was well made and fitted. However I did miss the grease nipples of the Minis and the MGs. Whilst the car was easy to work on, I never had any electrical issues and from what I have seen, the Bosch system doesn't have the logical layout of the Lucas system (I'm sure an electrical fault would be easier to sort on the Minor). There was also a lot of plastic and plastic isn't the indestructible material it was once believed to be. It may be hard to get rid off but it becomes brittle and isn't so easy to repair (With Triumph TRs, this is one drawback of the TR7/8, which had plastic dashboards; all the others had wooden or metal dashboards). I don't know how easy it is to get MK2 Golf spares now (I expect mechanical bits may be OK) but I'm sure the Minor will be more completely served and I wouldn't go back to one.