Back home, but not quite done

The trouble with using someone else’s facilities is that you have to work at their pace. This is particularly problematic when your usual rate of progress is much slower than theirs! As some of you may remember, last month I was using a friend’s spray shop to repaint Lily, my 1967 Morris Minor four- door saloon, and at the close of play last month I’d left the car in primer.

My friend has since applied the colour, and once the topcoat had hardened, we embarked on a busy and intense period of work to put Lily back together enough to make her road-legal to drive home. To those of you who have re-assembled a classic car, or most mechanical things for that matter, it will come as no surprise to you that it takes considerably longer to reassemble something than it does to take it apart. The windscreens, for example, can be removed in a matter of minutes, but refitting them is several hours’ work.

This was the first job I decided to tackle. We’ve had plenty of trouble with leaking front and rear screens in the past, and so used plenty of windscreen sealant along with new screen rubbers. The front screen went in easily, but the rear was a real battle to get right and required several attempts. Sealing them is a horribly sticky job and despite our best endeavours, of course black sticky sealant went all over the lovely new paint. Thankfully paraffin and soft cotton rags got this off the paint whilst still wet, but all the same, it’s rather disconcerting to see your lovely new paint plastered with jollop.

The next task was to re-fit the boot and bonnet. These are also very easy to remove, particularly when you aren’t too worried about the paintwork. Re-fitting them is a different affair, as you’ve got to be far more conscious of panel gaps and getting them to close and

latch properly, whilst every screw, nut or washer never seem to fit back together quite as easily as they came apart.

I then turned my attention to the door tops, before moving onto lights, wipers, screen washers and number plates. Finally the car was in a condition where it could be safely driven home.

Once safely back at base, I needed a few days to catch up with the rest of my life before starting on the rather long list of jobs to complete before the car could be pushed back into revenue earning service. This also included jobs that it made sense to do while the car was taken apart, such as repainting the sill finishers. With these removed, I also thought it sensible to take the opportunity to get more Waxoyl into the body cavities.

One really good thing about Morris Minors is that you can look right into the cell structure of the car, once the finishers are removed. After seven years on the road in all conditions, I was curious to see if there was any rust present. I’m glad to report all was well, despite some water ingress – a bit of time and money spent spraying Waxoyl in all those years ago has done a good job of preserving the structure. Before I refit the kick plates, I’ll clean up the area inside and apply plenty more wax. Hopefully, this will keep the shell solid for another seven years or more!

One of the few remaining paint jobs outstanding was the front panel. This always takes the full wrath of whatever the road has to throw at the car and often deteriorates quickly, letting the rest of the car down.

Mine had suffered this fate and was covered in rust spots. Because of this I grit-blasted the grill and applied a couple of coats of zinc paint. This is quite an awkward component with lots of sharp edges, so I did this at home before taking it round to my friends for painting in Old English White, ready to fit into the repainted front panel.

As I had driven the car home with just the radiator inner panel fitted, I was able to refit the grill, finisher and top chrome rail at my leisure. Unfortunately this month

I’ve fallen slightly short of getting the car back onto the road, but I am only a few days away from completion. I just about managed to catch the bodywork on Lily before it required a lot more work, and I don’t think the pictures will really show the difference between the old cellulose paint and the new two-pack, which has a real depth of colour and makes the smoke grey paint colour come into its own.

I’m really looking forward to driving the car and taking some of the load off the Lowlight, but I’m not going to rush the job. Once a car is working, I seem to have difficulty finding the time to finish it off. This project has spurred me on to consider a number of different improvements on the car this year. Needless to say, this has meant the 1950 Lowlight Tourer and the 1970 Morris Minor Van haven’t moved forward much (or at all) this month!

“It’s rather disconcerting to see your lovely new paint plastered with jollop”

Lily, Will’s 1967 four- door Morris Minor, was re-assembled into a fit state to drive the few miles back home.

Whilst they were removed from the car, Will took the opportunity to re- paint the sill finishing plates.

The rusty front grill was de- rusted and repainted in zinc primer.

After a few days solid work Lily was ready to be driven home.

Although there are some rust flakes, the wax inserted into the sills seven years ago has done a good job at keeping rust at bay.

Front grille re-assembled and ready to fit onto the front of Lily.

When re-assembling the front panel, it became necessary to replace the bonnet spring after the original broke on re-fitting.