I have the opportunity to buy a 1968 Morris Traveller for £250. Although it is running it has no MOT and needs some welding underneath. The body panels and woodwork appear sound and there is not a lot of rust evident though the chromework is poor.
What potential problems should I be looking for and what sort of budget would I require to restore it to a good overall condition?
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The floorpan of a Morris Minor is extremely complex. To restore one properly could cost you the wrong side of £10,000. If I was you I would seek advice from the excellent and very friendly Morris Minor Owners Club, address in the clubs directory on this website.
HJ
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Simon,
You have to spice up you question with something about speed cameras and motorcycles to get it even looked over with this lot.
I think HJ is being a bit cautious but you do need your eyes open for this. Is it dry stored, how long off the road? £250 is cheap for a decent one with promise but could be the start of an expensive nightmare.
If you have space and the cash/interest go for it. You can get huge pleasure from one of these cars and doing a rolling restoration.
Buy one of the classic car magazines and read about the parts costs and what one in "on the road condition" costs.
You might be lucky...£100 of welding, a service and brake check coukld be all it needs.
The chap you want is John Slaughter. Find him on another thread and ambush him about it.
David
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Simon
I've taken David's hint!
Yes, the killer on Minors can be the condition of the underneath, but for £10k you could have a complete new bodyshell, so HJ is being pessimistic. Also it's a Traveller, and the woodwork is a structural member, and so a possible MoT fail, so you need to be careful there. Again new woodwork isn't cheap.
David's right - get underneath the car and probe round with a screwdriver. Check particularly the centre cross member, spring mounts, front chassis legs and the areas under the sills.
If it's been of the road for a while, the brakes may need sorting, and it's likely the front suspension bushes and trunnions will need some work.
Join the Morris Minor Owners club - excellent advice available, and ful of parts supplier ads.
If it isn't too bad, then £250 is fine - but if it looks like it needs much work then think twice - it could be expensive, and there are plenty of good ones out there.
Regards
John
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I saw one for sale today in fact , £550 with a years mot , and it looked in straight honest condition. although it could have done with a bit of cosmetic jiggery pokery.
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Marcus
Yes, if it needed bodywork or interior then it shouldn't be expensive. Bodywork is not cheap, and/or it's very time consuming if you do it yourself, and are prepared to invest in the kit to do it. Although you see some very expensive Minors, in general they are not expensive cars, and if you put any cost on your time then restoration isn't a paying hobby. It's an interesting hobby, but don't try to make a living out of it. The key issue is what state it's in underneath, and I guess you weren't able to check that.
Big advantage of Minors is the ready availability of reasonably priced parts (often better availability than newer cars) for the 1000 models on, although for some series 2's and certainly the really early MMs some parts can be rather more difficult to obtain. Definitely ones for the Minor fanatics.
regards
john
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