Sun shines on the righteous
Matt’s drop-top is ready to enjoy some summer sun
Ican scarcely believe it. My Morris Minor Convertible, the static object that’s been draining my time and bank account for the past three years, is finally on the road. In a flurry of plans coming to fruition, I took the repaired, prepared and epoxy-primed bootlid to Tom at Nene Valley Body Repairs in Oundle, Northants, and once again used his booth to lay on the topcoats of HMG’S cellulose direct gloss.
Leaving the lid to dry I immediately headed to Paris in the ‘Lowlight’ Morris Minor (PC June 2018), and on my return the paint was hard enough to hang it on the car. With this in place, things really started to come together.
I fitted the rear bumper iron and assembled the bumper itself in situ, first squaring up the new valance then fitting the new chrome – lathered in rust-proofing wax on its underside to help prevent corrosion. Rear lights went on, complete with hidden LED orange flashers and high intensity red stop and tail lights from Better Car Lighting’s impressive range of safety upgrades.
Wiring took some head scratching, indicators not working being traced eventually to both a faulty trafficator earth and the LEDS not having sufficient draw to activate original bi-metallic flasher relays. You live and learn.
Although the car was rolling, running, driving and stopping, the suspension had been assembled just in time for the car to roll onto a trailer to go to the NEC show a year previously. Therefore I thoroughly checked each and every nut and bolt and finished fitting the tie-rods five minutes before the time booked for its MOT.
Why there’s a test…
The Convertible fired up on the first pull of the starter and I made my way across the yard to see Nick, our local classic-minded MOT tester. One missing split-pin replaced, one tab washer bent over and a tweak to the headlight aim and she was declared roadworthy.
It’s worth noting that this car had been subject to an extremely thorough restoration, and I’d checked it over myself to ensure nothing could possibly fail the MOT – but I’d still missed two issues that could have resulted in a dangerous failure at speed. So, thank you, Nick; the MOT did
exactly what it is supposed to to do, and I’d implore anyone to have your classic checked, even if it is now exempt from the annual test.
After driving off the test centre ramp, new pass certificate on the front passenger seat, I pointed the nose west and set off on a test-drive. That Friday, some friends and I had planned to meet up in Coventry then head to the Pride of Longbridge rally the following morning.
As I headed cross-country adjacent to the A14 trunk road, I became aware of a glowing ignition warning light. A quick probe with a multimeter revealed that the dynamo wasn’t charging. Thank goodness for LED lighting all-round!
We reached Coventry before darkness fell and the following morning set to work diagnosing the charging fault. Three dynamos and three voltage regulators still failed to charge the battery, so an alternator conversion was requisitioned from a friend’s car and all was right again with the world.
Unfortunately, flooded ground meant that the Pride of Longbridge event had to be cancelled, but we satisfied ourselves with a roof-down run down the Fosse way to Bourton-on-the-water in convoy with friends.
I returned to the PC workshop on Monday morning with a huge grin on my face. Although there was still much fettling to do, I’d driven more than 300 miles and the car was running beautifully – a whole month before I’m due to take it to Spain on holiday. Result!