5 cwt. Van replica

[Ian Grace]

I thought I'd start a 'Our Cars' thread for my next project - a replica SV 5 cwt. van. I plan to build one, using up many spares I have lying around plus some goodies I am gathering to throw in the container next month which will return the Bed-Pan to the US along with the McEvoy.

These little vans make great projects and are simpler than most bodies to reproduce. The survival rate of Minor vans is terrible - only around 1 in a 1,000 - or ten times worse than the cars. This is clearly becauss they had a much harder life, so I hope to do a little bit to redress the balance.

I have a set of 1931 wheels and Toby Sears is supplying a 1931 enameled radiator, so this will be a replica of a 1931 van. I'm not certain that I have seen a surviving black rad van - has anyone else? I know they existed because I have photos of them.

The chassis will also be coming from Toby's stock, and David Clark down in Pembroke has very kindly let me have his garage sweepings after his van rebuild, which includes three of the four original doors, floor sections and most of the outer skinning. All of this, plus a superb CD of photos of his stripped body (the van - not him!) should get me started.

Tony Gamble has come up with a Light Van badge for the radiator, and Eric Mouser has a saloon windscreen for me. Thanks to everyone who has helped to pull this project together.

More anon as the project develops.

[Ronald]

Blimey Ian.... is the bed pan not even in the comtainer yet....... the tyres were soft when i collected the car after it had stodd for a few weeks, let alone months!!!! i hope they can find it when it's time to ship it!!

[Ian Grace]

It's actually in the care of John Nagle at Earley right now. The shippers were starting to charge storage. The delay is because my friend Tim is buying a 1925 Sunbeam and shipping it with the B-P and the Mac in a 40 footer. He's also shipping some vintage motorbikes and some furniture from his house in Marlow which he is selling, but has had trouble evicting the tenants. Hence the delay. However, looks like the container will finally ship next month. I couldn't have used the B-P over the winter anyway, or worked on the mac, so nothing lost there. And it has given me the chance to gather some vital heavy parts for the van project which would have been uneconomic to ship separately, so it looks like it will all come good in the end.

David Clark's van remains will also help me with building two MG M Type High Speed van replica bodies I am going to be doing over the summer. One for Ray McCrary in Nashville and one for Harvey Pole in Scotland. His body will be built like an MFI flat pack for shipping to him! I'll be basing the structural design loosely on the Minor van body, which is probably how the 1930 original was made.

[Ken Martin]

Ian
The only Minor van with a black radiator (and hence sv angine) that I recall seeing is the one fitted out for an ice cream vendor and restored by Mike Fenner in the 1970s. I attach a photo that I took of it at the MR Stanford Hall rally of 1978. I haven't seen Mike for a long time. Although from Essex he moved to Devon and last time I saw him he owned and was running a holiday flat business in Teighmouth.
Ken

[Ian Grace]

Mike's van was registered 2/7/31 - not sure of the chassis number, but it has Magna wheels which no black radiator Minor ever had. Here's the contemporary pic (from M 111) I found of a black radiator van - another interesting modification! A nine horsepower Minor? (I hope my daughter doesn't see this picture - it would probably give her ideas ... ) This van has the early wheels and must have been interesting to driver with no window in the passenger door. Would that be legal today? Or is that a removable walkway over the window, to be laid down when the door is open?

[Ian Grace]

And talking of Minor ice cream vans, here is the other one - the Beaurepaire van in earlier days.

[Ken Martin]

Ian
I was pf course refering to existing vans that I was aware of - I knew about the horse box as I supplied the picture above to you for the Mag! It appeared in LC&CC and I have seen a slightly different angle shot somewherer else.
Have you heard anything from Mike Fenner lately?
Ken

[Ian Grace]

I forgot the pic came from you Ken!

No I haven't. He's not on the MR members list and I tried BT.com to find him in Devon - to no avail, so goodness knows where his van is. When was last last seen out and about?

Does anyone by any chance have any van rear springs with the extra leaves?

[Ian Grace]

Just a thought. It should be possible to have a replica made of the radiator on the prototype 5 cwt. van, plus a matching bonnet - see below. This might therefore be a great basis for this replica van. Anyone got an early, deep-dished steering wheel?!

[ashford]

Was there not one of these curved van radiators in the last Hereford Vintage Auction? I also remember one appeared when Brookes sold a collection of 20's Morris's in an old Georgian House in Devon about 10 years ago. The Coach house was full of spares including one of these radiators. I doubt who ever bought it has actually used it so they probably are available.
Although if this was a prototype should there only be one? or was this radiator shape used on another morris van?

[Ian Grace]

The radiator on this prototype was modeled on the rad fitted to the larger 'snubnose' Minor commercials of the twenties. Conventional wisdom is that the Minor radiator was a scaled down variant, but I am trying to determing if it was scaled down - or the same size. If the latter, then I could perhaps find and use one. If the former, then I'd have to get one made in the same style as the larger rads.

[Toby]

Have I lost the sale of a rad! May have sourced a better chassis for the van thanks to Eric, No. is around 4420 so closer to the era you want. Don't forget I can't supply bits till mid June!

[Ian Grace]

Toby,

No - I'll still take the rad as this 1928 option might get very expensive - special radiator, special bonnet, deep dish steering wheel to be cast from pattern, Smiths shockers, transmission handbrake gearbox, OHC engine, OHC instrument panel, and on and on! Chassis sounds great - thanks. Mid June is perfect - John Nagle is in France until 11th June, so shipping can't be before late June anyway.