KR 5670
Moderators: Ian Grace, Will Grace
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Ken Martin
- Posts: 110
- Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:05 am
Re: KR 5670
Ian - I am very pleased that you are evidently going to keep the car as it is. It looks wonderful! - Ken
Re: KR 5670
I cannot believe it has been seven years since last updating this thread! KR 5670 is tucked away in the garage awaiting work - when I get around to it!
The reason for this post is that I just received some interesting documentation from England dating to the 1960's.
First is the 1960 receipt from when Mr. Willatts bought the car for his wife Olive:
Sixty five pounds was a good deal of money in 1960 - for a thirty year old car (about GBP 2,000 in today's money) - and is perhaps indicative of the fact that the car was, at that time, in virtually new condition.
And then there is this interesting 1963 letter to Olive from the Nuffield Organization. Olive had evidently asked them about the colour of the car, which was black and yellow. She was asking whether the colour was original because, if not, it might compromise the car's score in a forthcoming concours,which she had entered. She had, in fact, entered the 1963 VSCC/VCC Rally at Goodwood 9th to 11th May. The results reveal that Mrs. C. H. Willats came third in Vintage Class 4a with her Minor.
What T. M. Clements could not have known was that the Morris chassis had been fitted from new with a saloon body from a Wolseley Hornet!
The reason for this post is that I just received some interesting documentation from England dating to the 1960's.
First is the 1960 receipt from when Mr. Willatts bought the car for his wife Olive:
Sixty five pounds was a good deal of money in 1960 - for a thirty year old car (about GBP 2,000 in today's money) - and is perhaps indicative of the fact that the car was, at that time, in virtually new condition.
And then there is this interesting 1963 letter to Olive from the Nuffield Organization. Olive had evidently asked them about the colour of the car, which was black and yellow. She was asking whether the colour was original because, if not, it might compromise the car's score in a forthcoming concours,which she had entered. She had, in fact, entered the 1963 VSCC/VCC Rally at Goodwood 9th to 11th May. The results reveal that Mrs. C. H. Willats came third in Vintage Class 4a with her Minor.
What T. M. Clements could not have known was that the Morris chassis had been fitted from new with a saloon body from a Wolseley Hornet!
Re: KR 5670
Update August 2022.
Today I fired up KR for the first time since 2015. Since then it has been buried at the back of the workshop. I fitted a new battery, put in about a pint of fuel (most of which drained out of the fuel tap!) and hit the starter button. I knew there was no compression because I swung it over on the handle to get some oil to circulate. It took a bit of turning over on the starter but then it fired and then picked up. After about a minute it was running sweetly.
The ignition switch is seized solid, so I'm running it with a wire directly from the battery, through a loose switch, to the coil.
I'll see what else I can do with it before the winter sets in, but the overall plan is to ship it back to England next year, where I'll be able to do so much more with it. I'm using leather restorer very gently on the fabric which I will try to preserve if possible.
Today I fired up KR for the first time since 2015. Since then it has been buried at the back of the workshop. I fitted a new battery, put in about a pint of fuel (most of which drained out of the fuel tap!) and hit the starter button. I knew there was no compression because I swung it over on the handle to get some oil to circulate. It took a bit of turning over on the starter but then it fired and then picked up. After about a minute it was running sweetly.
The ignition switch is seized solid, so I'm running it with a wire directly from the battery, through a loose switch, to the coil.
I'll see what else I can do with it before the winter sets in, but the overall plan is to ship it back to England next year, where I'll be able to do so much more with it. I'm using leather restorer very gently on the fabric which I will try to preserve if possible.
Re: KR 5670
Update February 2025. Well, KR 5670 is now back in England and awaiting the next chapter in its long and fascinating life.
I have been advertising it recently in the VMR Newsletters, but there was absolutely no interest in it, which I find surprising.
So, I have decided to keep it - even though I have the fully-restored fabric saloon VG 2007. VG 2007 was in a similarly original state before Halbe Tjepkema restored it, so I will keep KR 5670 in its original state as far as possible. As you can read on this Our Cars thread, the car has a unique history, being originally a driving Minor chassis fitted with a Wolseley Hornet body. Where would I find another?!
As soon as we move into our bigger house, with bigger garage this spring, I'll be able to get to work on it.
I have been advertising it recently in the VMR Newsletters, but there was absolutely no interest in it, which I find surprising.
So, I have decided to keep it - even though I have the fully-restored fabric saloon VG 2007. VG 2007 was in a similarly original state before Halbe Tjepkema restored it, so I will keep KR 5670 in its original state as far as possible. As you can read on this Our Cars thread, the car has a unique history, being originally a driving Minor chassis fitted with a Wolseley Hornet body. Where would I find another?!
As soon as we move into our bigger house, with bigger garage this spring, I'll be able to get to work on it.
Re: KR 5670
Among the first jobs to do on the car will be to attend to the original fabric. This has become brittle with age and I have been careful to not leave it out in the rain as that would probably ruin it.
My plan is to go over the fabric with butyrate dope, suitably thinned so as to soak in as much as possible. This should add strength and also will completely waterproof it.
The original Rexine fabric was over painted by Wolseley Motors in cream and black paint (the cream looks like it has yellowed with age - nothing I can do about that). This paint must have been cellulose, and it is safe to apply butyrate over cellulose.
There is a circular hole in the fabric on the rear left side - about the size of a florin. I think this was perhaps made when i shipped the car to Seattle. Using dope, I can now dope on a small fabric patch, spray black and then dope over it again.
Hopefully, this application will preserve the original fabric and enable me to use the car on rallies without worrying about further fabric damage.
My plan is to go over the fabric with butyrate dope, suitably thinned so as to soak in as much as possible. This should add strength and also will completely waterproof it.
The original Rexine fabric was over painted by Wolseley Motors in cream and black paint (the cream looks like it has yellowed with age - nothing I can do about that). This paint must have been cellulose, and it is safe to apply butyrate over cellulose.
There is a circular hole in the fabric on the rear left side - about the size of a florin. I think this was perhaps made when i shipped the car to Seattle. Using dope, I can now dope on a small fabric patch, spray black and then dope over it again.
Hopefully, this application will preserve the original fabric and enable me to use the car on rallies without worrying about further fabric damage.
Re: KR 5670
I can't believe that I have not previously sought the original registration records for KR 5670, but I recently sent an enquiry to Kent Archives. The response was somewhat surprising. I would have thought that the selling agent would have been Maltby, but it was actually Morris agent Arter & Co. in Ramsgate.
The answer, I believe is that Maltby was a main Morris agent and Arter was a sub-dealer (the distinction can bee seen in the list of agents in the back of Morris handbooks - bold type for main agents, normal type for sub dealers).
So I suspect that the first owner - Captain R. Perry - lived in Ramsgate (perhaps he was a sea captain working from the port) and wished to buy a Minor fabric saloon. So Arter ordered up one form their main agent - Maltby.
Now the search begins for Captain R. Perry who, I suspect, owned the car from 1930 to 1960, when it was for sale in a showroom in Redhill in virtually new condition, and bought by Olive Willats' husband Clive as a gift for her. If the car had had multiple owners, I would have thought that it would have had more normal use and gone the way of 99% of Minor fabric saloons by 1960 - namely the scrapyard!
Also, I am on the lookout for an Arter & Co. dashboard suppliers plate!
The answer, I believe is that Maltby was a main Morris agent and Arter was a sub-dealer (the distinction can bee seen in the list of agents in the back of Morris handbooks - bold type for main agents, normal type for sub dealers).
So I suspect that the first owner - Captain R. Perry - lived in Ramsgate (perhaps he was a sea captain working from the port) and wished to buy a Minor fabric saloon. So Arter ordered up one form their main agent - Maltby.
Now the search begins for Captain R. Perry who, I suspect, owned the car from 1930 to 1960, when it was for sale in a showroom in Redhill in virtually new condition, and bought by Olive Willats' husband Clive as a gift for her. If the car had had multiple owners, I would have thought that it would have had more normal use and gone the way of 99% of Minor fabric saloons by 1960 - namely the scrapyard!
Also, I am on the lookout for an Arter & Co. dashboard suppliers plate!