Austin Morris Van 1971

I do love my Austin Morris’s

This is one of three Austin Morris Minor cars that I have. When Nanna and Grandad had Walkers Coaches at Hexthorpe, Doncaster, they used a van for their mad ex Police dogs. It stunk in there, and a place even as a kid stayed out of. No man could get near these guard dogs except me and my sister who used to pull them all over and we never got a nip. If the workers walked near they would lunged at them and only the great big chain stopped a big bite. The men would throw dog food from a distance they were so scared!

A van really was the last car my Nanna drove me in after their retirement in the late 70’s and she stopped driving by the early 80’s. As a teenager I would help Bill service cars like this on a weekend until he died.

Theres something about these cars – they are cute – tiny by todays standards. It’s always the same sentence when I’m parking a modern car in a car park and there never seems to be enough space and I always tell Alice they’re still designing car parks for Morris Minors!

I bought this as usual unseen! I wasn’t expecting a fantastic car. It was taxed and tested and drove when it came – all I wanted. I thought I’d just leave it in the shop on show. We had it on the ramp at our local garage who said it has so much welding on the chassis that it was bent. Now these guys are younger than me and not used to these old cars and they didn’t know the suspension could be adjusted as it was limping to one side. So I’ve done nothing to it apart from – for one open day we rubbed it down to give it a bit of patina and look older and we hitched a trailer with Scooter on for a show. One day I’ll restore it – he says – another project, every things a project. It just needs a good look at the chassis to see how bad it is. Repair or new chassis, the rest of it really is good, no rust or rot anywhere and nothing is missing. Just how I like them making a perfect car to restore.

And this does stink of dogs – memories!