Buying and living with a Morris Minor - the definitive guide (well, nearly!)

Once you've made the decision to buy a classic car, there are plenty of reasons why a Morris Minor should figure in your calculations.

• Because of a thriving members club, cars are still relatively plentiful, which also means relatively cheap. Good running cars can still be had for less than four figures, and five times that can buy you a fabulous car ready to win you some prizes at car rallies.
• Parts are easily available and cheap to buy and almost every single part is now remanufactured - there are some bits, especially for commercial models, that are not available, but these are few and far between.
• A well-kept Minor is reliable and will start and run in all weathers - none of this 'cant go out in the wet' stuff you have with older Mini's, for example.
• The Minor is entertaining to drive but has a capable chassis - in fact they still perform well in period racing. Its a great introduction to handling of cars from years gone by.
• Minors are still just about new enough that everyone recognises them and has a fond memory to go with it. I've lost count of the times I've been stopped by people who start conversations with "My grandmother used to take me out in one of these" or similar!
• The Minor has a huge grass roots following and during the summer there is a rally on most weekends, even venturing into Europe for those hardy enough.

Plentiful, cheap, fun to drive. Almost sounds like you cant go wrong, doesn't it? Unfortunately the Minor does have its weak points too and when looking for a car you need to be aware of them. Chief among those weak points is the Minors propensity to rust, and rust badly. The most common places to find the dreaded tin worm are shown in the following diagram.

Looks just about everywhere, doesn't it? And that's just on top!  Starting at the front, examine the area around the headlight bowls. Use a small magnet inside a cloth to check that its really steel under that paint and not a couple of pounds of filler. Front wings are cheap (unless its for an early lowlight model) but you might find that the seller has repaired rather than replaced the wing purely because they were frightened of what other damage they would expose once the wing was taken off. They were right to be worried - at the rear of the front wheelarch rust can eat savagely into the A post and easily put the car beyond economic repair. Have a light prod with a screwdriver into the flat forward-facing section between the inner and outer wing right at the back - despite any assurance the seller might give you, rot here will cost a lot to repair. A telltale sign of problems in this area is rust bubbles down the outside of the front wing - again use your magnet to check for bodged repair. If the seller doesn't mind, jack the car and remove the front wheel to get a better look. Make sure the bumpstops are in place. Put the wheel back on and push against the top of it. Play here is worn trunnions and it'll cost you dear to put right.

The bottom of the doors, and the door skins, are good traps too, and while door skins are available both as full and half skins, its expensive to get right. Push the front doors gently shut and see if they line up correctly and shut without lifting - failure here could be serious rot behind the A pillar. If the shut isn't good, check the play in the door hinges first before assuming the worst - with the door open gently lift it and see if it moves up and down. This isn't dear to put right though.

Much more worrying is the sills - there is a cover fitted over the sill sections and don't be fooled into thinking all is well if that cover is okay, as it can hide serious rot beneath. The cover simply lips over the top of the sill underneath the door rubber and screws through at the bottom. Have a prod from underneath and see how soft the area is. Also listen out for the duller sound of your screwdriver hitting lumps of filler rather than metal. The fabrication of the inner sill sections is complicated and needs to be put right by someone well versed in Minors - your local car repair outlet will be out of their depth quickly. Put the car on axle stands* and have a look underneath here too - watch for 'patchwork-quilt' repairs to the floor as it gets to the sill area. Now is also a good time to examine the jacking points which should extend out from the crossmember ends here - they rot badly, and are available cheaply but on non-loved cars they could well simply be missing.

* Never get under a car supported only by a jack, especially the standard scissor type which can rust themselves and just fold up on you - always keep your jack dry. Mine is kept exceptionally dry, easily accessible near the spare wheel under the boot floor.

On a two-door car, the area between the bottom rear edge of the door and the start of the rear wing is a classic rot area, and many many cars are simply awful here. Again, a repair panel is available but its what is behind that's more problematical - often just fresh air! Check very carefully at the front end of the rear spring hanger - this often weakens and can be pushed up by the axle into the bottom of the floor. Four door saloons are not exempt from spring hanger problems either. Also examine the leaf springs themselves - five leafs for saloons and seven for Travellers - looking for cracks.

For all saloons now look at the area directly at the top of the rear wing where it meets the body (on a four door its backwards of where the rear door latches) and get your magnet out again. Also look at this area from inside the boot - there's a sandwich of panels here which rot badly and are expensive to repair correctly. The bottom of four door rear doors can be repaired, with both outer skins and inner repair sections available, but not cheap - budget £150 to repair a grotty bottomed door. Finally for saloon bodywork, have a look at the bottom of the bootlid itself which allows water to sit inside the skin section - these are expensive!

Now we'll have a quick look at the differences for Traveller bodywork before moving to underneath. Oddly enough, the Traveller uses front doors from a two door saloon (they're about four inches longer than four door front doors), while the vans and pickups use front doors from a two door saloon. Check everything from above first, and then move onto the woodwork. Its not widely known outside of the Minor 'scene', but the wood on a Traveller is actually structural, inasmuch as all the rear bodywork simply screws (or in the case of the roof is nailed) to it. Because of this, Travellers can (and often do!) actually fail the MOT test on rot in the wood - in extreme cases the rear bodywork can separate entirely from the front. Check that all areas of wood are not soggy or filled with wood filler. Classic rot points are at the extreme top and bottoms of the rear pillars, tops of front pillar, and the joint of the waist rail with the rear pillar. Individual sections are available but are difficult to put in without the difference between old wood and new being obvious, and even individually they're not cheap.

A full replacement wood set can cost two thousands pounds fitted, so take extra care here. Ask the seller how often the wood has been fully stripped and revarnished - it should be done once a year. Dont imagine that timber replacement is a DIY affair either - yes it can be done but you'll need patience aplenty and not a little skill - as an example of potential problems, the bolts securing the timber to the front of the car are held by captive nuts inside the B post and the welds often snap when trying to remove the bolts. The only solution here is to chop off the bolt head to remove the wood, and then cut out a section of B post before making a new piece with new captive nut and then welding that into the hole you just cut! Its also horrifyingly hard to bend gutter rails neatly from the length of aluminium you'll be sent, before opening the flange and nailing the aluminium roof down to the top of the woodwork and then closing the gutter again.

Underneath again, check the rear mounting points for the spring hangers too - another favourite MOT failure spot is the shackle bracket mounting points. The actual boot floor section is rarely a problem - its well protected by the petrol tank. Moving forwards, have another look at the crossmember and be sure its solid. Its a cheap section but can be dear to put in. Worst of the bits we've yet to look at are the front chassis rails which extend forward from under the bulkhead to the front bumper irons. They are notoriously prone to rot and you might well spot patches welded over the top of the rail from underneath. That isn't unfortunately a long term repair and come next years MOT you'll be under there again - much better to bite the bullet now and put a full leg in, available from all the Minor repairers. The rails often fall victim to fatigue and crack around the eyebolts - see picture. Tie plates (the ones on the engine compartment floor with the round holes in) are usually okay, being protected by oil dripping from a variety of leaks! While you're here also check the front crossmember especially at its corners.

Still interested in the car? Okay, now check out the interior. Carpets are cheap and come in all colourways, but seats and door trims are a different matter. A full retrim from Newton Commercials can cost the thick end of a thousand pounds, but more canny buyers can revitalise sagging seats with new foam bases and webbing straps, both available cheaply. Be more wary though of early cars with 'duo-tone' interiors - replacements are hard to find and expensive. Headlining kits are cheap but hard to fit. Have a look at the seatbelts too - modern inertia-reel belts are frowned on by the cognoscenti but personally I think they're worth it. Don't forget to check the back too if you're considering carrying a couple of passengers. 

Time for a quick test drive. Start the car and allow the engine to warm sufficiently that the choke isn't needed. Listen for deep rumbling which could indicate bearing problems. Look for excessive smoke in your mirror. Pop the bonnet and listen again, checking for top end rattling that could indicate tappet wear. Make sure the ignition light extinguishes quickly as failure to do so usually means a poor charging circuit or dynamo problems. Resistance trying to get into first gear is fairly normal - do remember that there is no synchromesh on first so don't try selecting it while on the move. Come off the accelerator in each gear checking that the car doesn't jump into neutral - second gear is favourite for this but check them all. Hold the steering wheel gently and ensure that the car drives straight, and then brake and check it doesn't veer off to one side. Brake rebuilds are not expensive but are fiddly messy jobs.

Expect acceleration to be near glacial and you wont be far wrong. Drive a sufficient distance to be happy with the car and watch for excessive body roll which could indicate worn dampers or broken leaf springs. When you've got back, open the bonnet again and take off the oil cap. Milky deposits (or mayonnaise as its often known!) indicate that water has found its way into the oil and could be costly to put right. Also examine the dipstick for colour - golden is new, mid brown is okay, black is a bad sign. Look at the condition of the wiring - is the braiding still there and in good order?

A Minor is a great introduction to classic car motoring as long as you don't expect to use and abuse it like you would a modern car. If you don't know Minors, take along someone who does - if you don't know anyone then join your local branch of the MMOC and befriend their local guru. With some decent advice and following this guide, you can buy a Minor that will serve you for years and give a great deal of fun in the process. Buy the first car you see without checking it out could give you huge repair bills and little satisfaction. Which would you choose?!