Saloon remains on eBay

[Ian Grace]

The saloon remains on eBay have now been identified:

First registered London, late 1932 as YY 968. Chassis SV20912, engine U21431. No paperwork though - just the plates, and the chassis plate.

No idea what the reserve is, but hopefully realistic.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MORRIS-EIGHT-SPARES ... a6&afsrc=1

[chris lambert]

Reserve is £150

[Ian Grace]

Thanks Chris! Looks like a good deal for someone. Unless there is a bid fest, of course!

[Toby]

Sadly it all looks rough with some terminal rust on a lot of it (back of chassis, wings, front of engine) Has it been stored underwater?! Wrong steering wheel and presumably column, looks like they're the morris 8 bit of it!!!

[Highlander]

This must be a good buy for one of us? I had thought of my Morris Garage special but have been out in my two seater yesterday and this morning (cold!!!) and it goes like a dream and I really now cannot be bothered with another restoration at my age. Over to one of the youngsters. Highlander.

[Ian Grace]

Imagine if this were a Austin 7. It would undoubtedly go for about a thousand pounds and appear on the trials scene this autumn with a smart new ali 2-seater body and an obscene number of horses under the bonnet. And it would be a source of considerable fun and enjoyment for some young, impecunious driver. The problem is - there is extremely limited equivalent opportunity for Minor owners - particularly young ones. The LCES is great, but Minors have to be vintage and standard to be eligible for their events. That places a severe restriction on potential entrants. The VSCC now accepts ANY pre-Ruby Seven, and provides endless great events for them - be they standard, modified our out-and-out special. But the SV Minor has been shunned (which might be more understandable if the Seven were overhead cam!)

This might be getting dangerously close to the debate about specials, but it is self-evident that a great many Sevens are out and about and providing endless fun these days, and helping young enthusiasts get a foothold in the old car world with cheap pre-war motoring, while their Minor contemporaries languish like this sorry pile of junk on eBay.

Similarly, Bev Hicks' Morris Specials Group has taken root very nicely, since there are numerous owners of mortal remains of Flatnose Morrises which are way too far gone to restore to standard condition (like this eBay Minor), but are VSCC eligible, and so they get rebuilt as specials with clever, quality engineering, and certainly grace the vintage scene rather than gracing the back of someone's shed.

There is an interesting thread on Minor brakes on the PWMN forum at present - the discussion being how best to stop a Minor. Perhaps we should have a similar discussion on this forum as to how to make them start. The great majority of Minors don't suffer from poor brakes - rather than from the prolonged and often terminal malady of under-bonnet silence! If only we could find an incentive for owners to get them out on the road first, and then worry about how best to stop them!

Thoughts, anyone?

[Ian Grace]

Sold for GBP 256.