1929 tourer WE 6554

[Ian Grace]

Delighted to say that I have just acquired WE 6554 from Geoff Colquitt. Geoff has owned this tourer for the last 11 years but is now suffering from back issues and decided it was time to pass it on to the next custodian. Living in the Cotswolds, Geoff brought the car to several Pre-War Prescotts. He acquired the car from Dave Whittle who also brought it to VMR Prescotts and entered in in a number of VSCC events, including Light Car rallies, Brooklands driving tests, etc. Dave acquired it from Paul Harris, who in turn bought it from John Peckham who restored the car in the mid seventies. John bought it from Philip Knight of Gainsborough, Linconshire, who owned it from 1963 to 1977. John Peckham passed it on as he was losing his sight.

As you can see from the photos below, the car is in first class condition and appears to be the only surviving 1929 Minor tourer in brown. Only two colours were offered - blue or brown.

The car will remain in England until our retirement and return from the USA in 2022, but I hope to have it at our Summer Rally next year, along with the Semi-sports.

I first saw this car on the Morris Register London to Brighton run in February 1979. I had entered my SV Minor PJ 5121 - my first Minor, and WE 6554 was the first OHC Minor I ever saw and fell in love with it immediately, after which John Peckham (who had entered it) and I became firm friends until his passing. So it is very pleasing to own it now, after over 40 years have passed.



WE 6554 beside my SV tourer PJ 5121 at Brighton, February 1979.



Taken recently in the Cotswolds, this photo really shows off the Minor tourer's handsome lines.



After John Peckham completed the restoration of the car, he toured Norway in it. Here it is seen on the long long climb up to Rjukan. It has also toured Ireland.



Dave Whittle (left) and Geoff Colquitt with WE 6554 at a VSCC Prescott.

[Ian Grace]

Just putting together a shopping list of parts I'm going to need:

OHC Minor carburetter (SV one currently fitted)
Correct firewall mounting coil - push-in HT lead (modern Lucas unit currently fitted)
9/44 CWP. (Morris 8 ratio currently fitted)
6V Sparton horn (I have a 12V for swap)
Original white-faced speedometer
Set of cast brake drums - either late OHC or SV wide rim drums (which could be machined down to suit the early backplates). The car currently has the original flimsy early pressed drums fitted.

Thanks.

[Ian Grace]

Pleased to report that the car will be going to Lawrence Bleasdale's farm at Bromyard where it will stay until we return to the UK in 2022.

Lawrence is well known to us as he is a Director of Mintex, our primary Pre-War Prescott sponsor. It will be in good company with Lawrence's thirties Bentley.

[Ian Grace]

Does anyone have a 'MORRIS' radiator script for 1929 models? It is clearly missing on this car. Also, I am in need of a 6V Sparton horn, but I do have a 12V model for swapsies.

[Ian Grace]

WE 6554 was delivered to Lawrence Bleasdale's Cowarne Brook Farm at Bromyard today. Geoff Colquitt gave her an emotional goodbye, sending her on her way to her new temporary digs, until our return to the UK. Very excited to be the owner of a really nice 1929 Minor tourer once again.

[Ian Grace]

Today I received a MORRIS radiator script from Tom Bourne to replace the one that has been missing from the tourer for many moons. It was absent from the car when John Peckham restored it back in the seventies - see picture above, taken in 1979.

These radiator scripts were fitted to just the 1929 season Minors - presumably to distinguish the new small car from the ubiquitous Sevens that were on the road at the time. The script is attached with wires that are soldered onto the rear of the badge, which is a nickel-plated brass pressing.





As you can see, this script needs a little careful fettling as the M is slightly bent and scuffed. Once that is done, it will be nickel plated and have new wired soldered on. These wires were folded over a pair of one inch rectangular brass plates on the rear face of the honeycomb before being soldered to the plates.



One important aspect of re-fitting is to make sure that the wires are spaced correctly to fit comfortably between the cells of the honeycomb. The spacing should be one inch exactly.

Finally, the script should be positioned correctly - slightly above half way down the core - as seen below, with 6.5" between the tops of the letters and the radiator shell.



Hopefully, I'll be able to complete the restoration of the script in time to bring it over to England in July and fit it.

[Ian Grace]

Just ordered a pair of Lucas Difusa transfers for the headlamp glasses. Actually two for the tourer and two for the fabric saloon. The Semi-sports already has them.

If you have an OHC Minor with original R47B headlamps, these can be procured (in Austria!) here:

https://www.vintage-motorcycle.com/en/p ... inside-use

[Ian Grace]

Just won a very original and unmolested Sparton horn for the tourer on eBay.

The car is currently fitted with a small horn - probably an Altette.

It will be posted to Seattle for a sympathetic restoration and returned to the UK for fitting - probably in July.

The data stamp on this horn is 7 29 so is almost correct for this car, which was laid down in June 1929.

Among the next projects will be to have a correct pattern seat spring unit made for the driver's seat. The current one is just foam. If anyone else needs new front seat spring units for either a tourer or a saloon, let me know and I'll see if we can work up a batch.

[Ian Grace]

Courtesy of Lawrence Bleasdale, who is caring for the car at the moment, he's just had the wings repainted - and they look spectacular. It went in for one front wing to be repainted, but came out with all four done. Plus the sidelamps, by the looks of it. How does that happen?! All nice and shiny for Pre-War Prescott!

[Ian Grace]

An update on WE 6554. I was finally able to drive the car during our trip to England last month. Lawrence Bleasdale delivered it by trailer to Prescott and I was able to get a climb in - wonderful! the week after PWP, I visited Lawrence's farm and took the car for a longer run. This was when I was able to check the oil pressure closely. It starts at cold at around 60 psi, which is reasonable, but sags to just 12 psi after about five miles, which I am not happy with.

An investigation is called for and will be organized soon. But before that, I'm acquiring a rebuilt oil pump from Peter Hills, and this could prove useful in the investigation - if only to eliminate the oil pump as the cause of the problem. The oil pressure gauge could be the problem, or the pipe to the gauge could also be partially blocked. Or, of course, it could be the main bearings/big ends, but I must say, the engine sounds perfectly quiet when running.

So fingers crossed that the pressure can be restored without hauling the engine out for rebuild! Watch this space!

[Ian Grace]

Definitely time for another update. Lawrence Bleasdale, who is caring for the car at his farm in Bromyard at the moment, sent some engine oil for analysis, and it has white metal in it. Not good news but not unexpected. I don't think the engine has been rebuilt since John Peckham rebuilt the car in the seventies.

But I was recently contacted by Tony Margel who has had to give up driving and sold his M Type. He had a set of rods and +30 pistons surplus, that were only 200 miles old. He has sent them to Lawrence who will use the rods to replace the current ones. There's a fifty fifty chance that the crank they came off was ground more than the tourer's crank, so it may be possible to scrape them in. If not, they can be re-metaled.

That will not help the white metal rear main, but I'm hoping the problem is with the four relatively smaller big ends and so we might be able to bring up the oil pressure when the engine is hot - currently around 10 to 15 psi.

I also sent Lawrence a rebuilt oil pump and also a replacement external oil filter - just in case there's a hairline crack in the original which would let in air and definitely reduce the oil pressure.

I have also sent Lawrence a set of four SV Minor brake drums. He's going to have the flanges turned down to fit the OHC backplates and fit them while he is fitting new Mintex linings. Hopefully, the more sturdy cast drums will squeak less than the original early pressed steel items.

I'm hoping that this work will be completed successfully in time for our July visit as I will have my hands full sorting the lack of power which the fabric saloon (VG 2007) is suffering from and also rebuilding the deranged vertical drive on the 2-seater!

The acquisition of the pistons and rods from Tony also had another benefit. The nearly new pistons are +60, which is what I need for the McEvoy rebore over here in Seattle. There's always something to do!

(The reason Tony had the low mileage rods and pistons was because they were in his M Type engine and the crank broke 200 miles after rebuild. The rods were OK, but the bores got slightly scored, so he sleeved them back to standard.)

[Ian Grace]

Update November 2024.

Now that we have repatriated to Herefordshire, I have finally been able to take delivery of WE 6554 and since it has been off the road for many years, the task of tuning and road sorting can begin. The car has spent the last year or so with a Bromyard garage to investigate the poor oil pressure. They fitted a replacement oil filter housing (in case there was an air leak) and also had the sump off to remove a thick layer of gunge that was burying the oil pick-up pipe. They ran the engine for some time and then drained and refilled again with fresh oil. They also blew out the oil pressure gauge pipe. That improved the cold oil pressure from 40 to 60 psi but when hot it is still at just under 10 psi. However, on the garage's oil pressure gauge was apparently showing 25 psi when hot. I will source another gauge but I'm not entirely convinced it is not a big end/main bearing issue.

I did collect a spare 1929 engine recently, so Plan B will be to rebuild this and do an engine swap.

The Bromyard garage also worked on the brakes, fitting new linings supplied by Mintex. They certainly work well and don't squeal!

However the other big issue is the lack of power. It requires a full on tuning and I'll overhaul the ignition system - new plugs, leads, distributor cap, rotor, points. I may also jury rig in another 6V coil to see how that improves this, just in case the coil has gone weak. I do actually have a brand new Lucas 6V sports coil, still in its box which I can try.

Having listed out all of the bad news, I drove the car around the lanes yesterday morning and I have to say that it drives much more nicely than my totally rebuilt fabric saloon VG 2007. The steering is far lighter (the fabric saloon need two hands on the wheel when maneuvering at low speed) and it is far less bouncy on the road, so I suspect that the Smiths shocks on the fabric saloon are doing nothing. The gear change also seems a lot smoother.

Apart from the above there is a long list of smaller and cosmetic items to be addressed, but now I finally have the car home, I can get on with all of this over the winter.

The photo below was taken on Saturday afternoon when I collected it.

[Ian Grace]

Interesting discovery. Last week I finally collected a box of documentation for the car from Lawrence Bleasdale who had been looking after the car for me since I bought it three years ago.

The box contains a collection of files and a restoration photo album.

It will take me some time to go through the hundreds of invoices that go back to the sixties, but one in particular caught my attention this morning.

It is an invoice from Walter Fox & Partners, Sheffield - see below. So I immediately went out to the garage with a magnet and, sure enough, the entire body tub and doors are aluminium! And GBP 264 was a hefty bill in 1977. I must admit that there is no visual clue that the panels are not original. It also means that the body, is as sound and solid as it looks. I wonder how much weight the alloy paneling saved.

[SV_Minor]

According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, the cost is £1,516.05 today.

[Ian Grace]

That was a hefty sum to spend on a Morris Minor back in the seventies. I think this might have been the first Minor to get a major restoration. The body was also resprayed at considerable expense by Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations by Dave Whittle in 2005 and is still pristine. It is just a pity that the brown colour is more milk chocolate than the correct plain chocolate! (See the picture of the car in Norway above for the correct colour.)

The most famous Minor in the early days of enthusiast-owned cars was Roy Hogg's '29 tourer back in the early sixties, but that was more of a re-commission than a deep rebuild. Same goes for Bev Hicks' well-known McEvoy at the time - the one for sale in Germany at the moment which I would love to see repatriated.

Incidentally, WE 6554 was taken off the road in 1937 and not put back on the road until January 1979. I have all of the MoT's since then and also all of the tax disks since 1935.

I did have one of those accurate replica 1929 tax disks on the car but decided to replace it with the earliest original from 1935.