Morris Minor Owners Club

Attached are a couple of pictures of a 1950 MM from NSW and newly registered here in Adelaide. Australia luckily has salt free roads so rust is often not an issue.

Lovely. It would be very rare to find a rustfree "lowlight" in the UK now where salted winter roads have seen off a lot of earlier cars.
Most cars of this age disappeared many years ago.

Those front damper mounts are interesting! I do not recollect seeing that type of mount with the formed plates extending above the crossmember before.

Me neither, but if you google Minor lowlight there are a few images showing the same setup on other cars.

Phil P

You learn something every day

Very nice. Unfortunately the salt over here has killed any chance of a "Rust Free" car.

It would be lovely to have that in my garage to tinker with.

Good luck with her.

Very nice. Unfortunately the salt over here has killed any chance of a "Rust Free" car.

It would be lovely to have that in my garage to tinker with.

Good luck with her.

Lovely Car, but who on earth installed that battery!
The car is +ve earth, no problem with that, but that is irrelevant to what is shown in that top image.

This car has got a bare copper braid connection from the live battery connection to the Starter Pull.
THAT MUST BE AN INSULATED CABLE!
There's a foot of bare copper braid just asking to be shorted to the bodywork. If anything connects that braid to the bodywork, the entire amperage of the battery will cause one huge arc, just like welding. The sort of thing that will melt a spanner or screwdriver.

I would guess that someone who hasn't got a clue about electrics has got an Earth Strap/Cable designed for a -ve car and because of the different post sizes on the battery has used it to connect the Live to the car electrical system.

Well picked up on the battery connections
I looked at the pics. and completely missed that- a disaster waiting to happen.

Well picked up and very dangerous as is .
Having enlarged the picture I think that you will find that the earth is positive but uses a negative lead between battery post and body. That is why the lead is a poor fit on the terminal post.
If I am right the problem can be easily overcome by changing the leads over so that the insulated lead is between the negative terminal post and starter pull switch.

philthehill wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:24 am Well picked up and very dangerous as is .
Having enlarged the picture I think that you will find that the earth is positive but uses a negative lead between battery post and body. That is why the lead is a poor fit on the terminal post.
If I am right the problem can be easily overcome by changing the leads over so that the insulated lead is between the negative terminal post and starter pull switch.

I'm not sure about the quality of fit onto the posts.
As you clearly know, a modern battery has a slight difference in the diameter of the posts (approx 1.6mm), so it's almost certain that the new Copper Braid has the right size clamp for the -ve post on the modern battery, but the Red cable may be older and predate modern sizing standards (or just be badly fitted).

pgp001 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:10 am Me neither, but if you google Minor lowlight there are a few images showing the same setup on other cars.

Phil P

My June 1950 low-light is like that and the recess is handy for placing things into whilst working in the engine bay The battery has since been replaced with a correct one for +ve earth cars where the posts are to the rear.

I've just checked the photos of my March 1951 High-light and the recesses are the same. Forgot to say - a very nice new acquisition - looks fantastic.

George.

I rather suspect the mount for the lever-arm shocks changed around the same time the firewall was redesigned to add a slight recess in the crossmember to accommodate the longer Series II engine.

That would have been in the months leading up to the first Series II four-door saloon in August 1952.

JohnV wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:27 am I rather suspect the mount for the lever-arm shocks changed around the same time the firewall was redesigned to add a slight recess in the crossmember to accommodate the longer Series II engine.

That would have been in the months leading up to the first Series II four-door saloon in August 1952.

I have four 1950 cars and they all have this arrangement for the lever arm dampers. I have a mid 52 tourer - highlight but sidevalve engine, can't remember if it had these also or whether it had changed by then. Must check and see.

Also, does anyone know the colour ? Is it porcelain green as Mike suggest ?

Lovely little car. Wish we could find them like that here.

Thanks for the interest. I’ve only had the car for a few days and can’t believe I didn’t notice the bare negative battery cable. That issue is fixed! Being chassis number around 75,000 I’m guessing it’s a late 1950 model, maybe November or December (will get the info from the Heritage Records in due course), so not sure when the crossmember strengthening plates were added. The is a very early MM around chassis number 22,000 for sale in Adelaide, (? Early 1949) will attach the Gumtree link shortly, I will find out if that car has them.
There is also a rolled moulding between the roof and panel above the bootlid, which is not on the earlier cars, when did this appear?
Finally, I think the colour is Mist Green, and I’m not sure it’s original. Will enjoy the car is it is for now. Maybe when it’s stripped for a bare metal respray I might find out. The insides of the wheels are Romain Green but they may not be original.
Cheers Richard

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/north-p ... 1259064071
This would be an interesting car. I’ve not seen it yet but spoke to the owner, it’s been in dry storage for 40 years and lived here in Adelaide all it’s life ( the driest state in the driest continent in the world) so rust isn’t likely to be a problem.
Richard

Thanks for posting this, Richard. Indeed, looks quite rust-free indeed from what's visible.

If you talk to the owner again, you can tell him that with serial # 27839, it's very likely an October 1949 car.

RichardBarnes wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 7:00 am https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/north-p ... 1259064071
This would be an interesting car. I’ve not seen it yet but spoke to the owner, it’s been in dry storage for 40 years and lived here in Adelaide all it’s life ( the driest state in the driest continent in the world) so rust isn’t likely to be a problem.

RichardBarnes wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 6:56 am ...
There is also a rolled moulding between the roof and panel above the bootlid, which is not on the earlier cars, when did this appear?
...
Cheers Richard

Richard,
My June 1950 low-light (originally exported to Belgium with LHD) does not have the Long Body Moulding (LBM) but my March '51 High-light does. Later cars, had a shorter body moulding stopping at the edge of the rear window, whereas the LBM went on past the edge of the window for a couple of inches.

George.