Quick Recap
My friend Jess and I found ourselves at the edge of Exeter looking at a Morris Minor 2dr saloon. A few days before I had been looking at classified adds on Gumtree…Classified Classic Car Hunting
Running?
With a battery attached the engine was coaxed into running for a few seconds. Whilst I might not know much about Morris Minors, I do about the A series engine and this one was sweet sounding. Assessing a Car
Dashboard & General Condition
After wrestling a seat into the empty cabin, I sat behind the wheel, the dash being very different to the later ones. The iconic central Morris Minor Speedo not only stylish but also very practical as it allowed both right hand and left drive vehicles to be made much cheaper.
Yet here was a dash that looked much less 1950’s and more 1940’s. Cream painted tin, chrome, and bakerlite with Banjo 3 spoke steering wheel… The lighter panels offset by the rich blue of an earlier window out respray.
All the tyres would need replacing and to be honest the amount of welding needed scared me silly. Yet… Welding One Small Patch?
Jess and I went back for a little chat beside Bel, my MX 5. He said it was bad, but it could be far worse. The expense being the body on a Morris Minor as the rest is fairly cheap. Yet the engine was good and we gambled on the transmission. He went on to say, Morris Minors seem to have either good oily bits and poor bodies or the other way round…
From the floors up she was solid.
Negotiating a price.
As Jess looked over the Moggie again I sat down with the seller.
We have all watched those shows where people rip the seller off and flip the car for a big profit. Others have described them as sharks with smiles…
I’m not like that, but when I do low ball, I’ve learnt that if we are getting on it is much easier.
After telling the seller that I was going to take the mickey and that he wasn’t going to get upset. He wasn’t, told me up the price by £100 and knowing he was being a gent, we didn’t shake hands, but I gave him a £200 deposit… I knew it that he had come down a long way and I wasn’t going to insult him any further. MX5 Goodbye.
After visiting a nearby supermarket, taking the rest of the money out I paid the seller. Arranging to pick the car up soon, Jess and I left to see a friend locally for a socially distanced coffee before heading back down the A30 to Cornwall roof down…
I’d bought a Morris Minor, and early one, but what had I actually bought?