Slow going…
Another year gone, Matt’s convertible is still in bits
Ihad told myself that my convertible Morris Minor would be finished by the end of 2017. With so much of the hard work already done, and the car on the ramp in the corner of the Practical Classics workshop, how hard could it be? As the new year chimes rang in 2018, though, I was forced to face the reality that life, and other projects, had got in the way. Very little had actually happened on the car in the past few months, it still sits as a rolling shell, and my May holiday plans with the car get ever nearer.
Shining delight
It’s a shiny shell, though. Shay Shannon, from My Beautiful Car, is a detailer with a huge wealth of experience when it comes to making things glisten. Be it a barn find that needs total paint restoration (he helped bring Danny’s Rover 80 ‘Olive’ back to life (PC, January 2017) or a priceless one-off requiring preparation for a Concours d’elegance, he’s your man. When it came to flatting and polishing the paint on my Morris Minor then, Mikey and Steve from Gilbert Michaelson having made a start on it at the PC Resto Show in 2017, I gave him a call.
Paint rectification, as Shay calls it, is a process of completely flatting back the surface of the paint, removing pits and peaks, then polishing the surface to a high-gloss shine.
Shay started by using a P3000 Trizact disc on a DA polisher, using interface pads to allow the Trizact disc to follow the contours of the panels. Following that he used varying grades of cutting compounds and refining polishes to achieve a perfect shine ready for wax. Now comes the challenge of completing the restoration without scratching this perfect surface. While Shay was polishing I finally had chance to fit my Beaulieu booty from 2016… chrome window tops. This little detail really lifts the overall finish and won’t be scratched by the hood going up and down as a painted frame would. Baby steps, but this car has been so long in the restoring, that the fi t and finish has to be superb before I call it done.
I mentioned previously that MMOC engine guru Alan Scott had contacted me offering to take a second look at the engine (an original 948cc unit over-bored to take 998cc Mini pistons with A+ con rods, a Metro camshaft, duplex timing chain and appropriate slot-drive oil pump) and fit a 12G295 Cooper head, ported and polished to perfection and converted to run on unleaded. I collected the engine at the MMOC’S technical open day where Alan was running ‘How-to’ sessions at the club’s new Derby HQ. Resplendent in MOWOG green, it is a beautiful object to behold. With the whole ethos of this restoration being that the car needs to look as
close to how it left the factory in 1960, but with a few minor (excuse the pun) upgrades to suspension and mechanicals, proper wheel and tyre selection is of great importance. So when I received a phone call from Dougal at Longstone Tyres asking to use my Traveller as a test-bed for a new period-correct high quality tyre for the Morris Minor my interest was piqued.
Treading carefully
There has long been a gap in the market for a tyre for the Minor that combines period performance and correct rolling radius with modern radial performance. Dougal is working with Pirelli at the moment to develop such a tyre in the Cinturato range, to be sold exclusively through Longstone Tyres. The chosen tread pattern was first used in 1955, so it’s bang on period. The prototype tyres performed well on the Traveller’s standard rims, and also looked superb when fitted to the slightly wider (4.5J) Morris Minor van rims, now available new through ESM Morris Minor spares. The tyres, then, are decided, and the choice of wheels narrowed down to two. Keep an eye on our New Kit pages, and we’ll be sure to let you know once these new tyres are available. Christmas morning saw me opening a large box from Autosparks (thanks mum and dad!). Inside was the new wiring loom, beautifully cloth-wrapped as per factory spec, but with additional wiring for 12v accessory sockets, radio, speakers, electric washers, fog and reversing lights. Not all of these wires will be used straight away, but it’s useful to have them in the loom just in case. This has given me both means and motivation to really crack on. The clock is ticking.