March 61 Morris Pickup

[bill773mini]

I’ve had this project for almost 4 years now but have been unsure how much interest there would be for it so haven’t posted it. Most cars and projects on here are modified in some way and this isn’t going to be going the same direction hence my reservations.

It’s going to be as close to factory original restoration as I can get. I’m sure there’ll be lots of questions from me as I go through the very slow process of it’s rebuild as I welcome all help/comments/constructive criticism as possible. I’ve never restored a Pickup before and as you’ll see later on 90% of the usual information was already lost.

So a bit of back ground to start with. For those who don’t know me I run the 1959 Mini Register with Trevor Ripley. My interest is mainly in early versions of each model. I’m constantly on the look out for the first year builds of each type of Mini. Myself and a friend have been collecting data on 1960 built Vans and 1961 built Pickup’s and constantly looking for earlier and earlier cars.

In 2017 we had identified 9 1961 Pickups having found the earliest in a museum in Switzerland. This was an April 1961 built Morris originally sold new in Portugal. It was a restored car but with quite a few none original parts. Of huge interest to Dieter and myself was the missing normal Y shaped bracing above the rear wheel aches only previously seen on prototypes and until then never thought to have made it to production. Also the B pillar had two holes instead of the usual one and the lower one blanked off.

53121086-2F65-4355-854E-D69E5D6FE6C1.jpeg

Fast forward to early 2018 and Dieter is trolling random foreign for sale websites and sees this.

CE457E75-D28D-48DC-9604-828D6645EB3B.jpeg

7FFF3B50-2A26-4418-B52B-16F6F68F44B6.jpeg

FC9CBEC1-F77A-4BB1-A39D-D4B0315B1DED.jpeg

Now to 99% of people this will look like an almost scrap stripped shell. But to us two it was very very exciting. The eagle eyed will notice the lack of the brace above the wheel arch, flat tail gate, two B pillar holes, lack of fresh air ducting hole in the bulkhead and early seat mounting welded brackets.

It was in a remote central area of Portugal listed at a very inflated price. Thankfully I have some good friends in Portugal through the 59 Register. An email was fired off to a good friend who promised to see if he could help. 2 months of negotiations later a deal was done for the bare shell and as many spares as could be located. 2 weeks after that it was back home to the UK.

F9E0672B-DE3E-4854-992B-50FAEA231F82.jpeg

I will do another post very shortly.

[bill773mini]

DD86BBF5-497B-4EDA-A94F-BA0E7A257F99.jpeg

6862F523-7B1B-4869-B832-59E04D05281A.jpeg

70868EB0-FDFA-41D3-95A0-834A446D4B66.jpeg

ED21F9C1-6D60-44C8-8E49-CDA7B0160D8B.jpeg

[Pandora]

Despite the first impression created by the missing floors and all over surface rust, it actually looks to be in not bad shape?

Are the floors similar to later pickups, but with front pans similar to the early cars of the same age?

Al

[hanlminiman]

Doug & Joan's Classic Mini Pick up restoration page on Facebook was created by Neal Goldspring. 1970s version but might be worth a look or a chat with him.

[bill773mini]

Now I had the paperwork and chassis plate I could get in touch with Richard at Gaydon. A quick email and I had a build date, 15th March 1961. 6 weeks earlier than the Swiss Pickup and the earliest so far found.

A heritage certificate gave me a Whitehall Beige Morris Pickup with Whitewall tyres dispatched to Angola on 20th March. It was one of two exactly the same spec built on the same day with the same destination.

It arrived in Portugal in July 1969 with a family fleeing the war of independence. It stayed with that family until 1988 when it was bought (in a deal over unpaid bills) by a commercial fridge and freezer supplier as their delivery van. They kept it for 7 years and it passed through a few hands until being stripped and sand blasted in preparation for a1380 and 13 inch wheels. Thankfully the project just sat on the flat bed transit outside for almost 10 years until I bought it.

[bill773mini]

Despite the first impression created by the missing floors and all over surface rust, it actually looks to be in not bad shape?

Are the floors similar to later pickups, but with front pans similar to the early cars of the same age?

Al

Hi Al

It was ok yes, lots of repairs over the years but nothing that scared me.

The floors are early 1 piece with flat sills like an early van and saloons.

[bill773mini]

Doug & Joan's Classic Mini Pick up restoration page on Facebook was created by Neal Goldspring. 1970s version but might be worth a look or a chat with him.

I’ll look them up.

[bill773mini]

I took it for dipping at Prostrip in Nottingham who I have used numerous times before and trusted.

54BD240B-FE30-414C-A9BE-E66213826838.jpeg

It came out quite well but had lots of repairs.

FD5C4F7B-B19E-4971-B962-E7C270342137.jpeg

20197CF1-1328-4E0D-BFD0-A67EFF4BC041.jpeg

F4708F08-D8C4-4C64-A24A-98B9E85CDB72.jpeg

Interestingly it had never had the tilt brackets on the rear bulkhead which where standard fitment

0F6C4325-F2E0-42A6-914F-9C04CB3BD9EE.jpeg

[mab01uk]

I’ve had this project for almost 4 years now but have been unsure how much interest there would be for it so haven’t posted it. Most cars and projects on here are modified in some way and this isn’t going to be going the same direct hence my reservations.

Bill, this project is of great interest, I am sure there is no need for any reservations on posting it here, I have already learnt several things I did not know about early Pickups!
Martin B.

[bill773mini]

I dropped the shell off at my body guy after a small delay in September 2018. Sadly it took some 3 years to get the shell finished through very difficult circumstances but I was happy to wait for him.

After many hours conversations pouring over the shell and agonising over what we can save and what we should save my usual head viruses heart agony ended with a plan on how we were to save as much as possible but not to the detriment of the finished vehicle. New floors, new rear quarters, new rear bulkhead but we could save the whole front end.

ECD540EB-1133-46A9-A378-5408FCD0A0B1.jpeg

4238C01E-5758-4759-852A-09D48EFD3D79.jpeg

D42175B2-41A4-4702-A4DA-FCA567B72338.jpeg

Donor doors were used to rebuild the door apertures. In doing so we discovered that while it had been sat and moved around from pillar to post with no floors in and probably as a consequence of moving huge commercial freezers up and down Portuguese mountains the shell had broken its back and was bent. It took a huge amount of time and even more skill for Dave to sort it.

This was the sort of issue he to overcome.

A552B1CA-9EAC-429A-A6CC-64A4851A4D84.jpeg

[Catmint]

I’ve had this project for almost 4 years now but have been unsure how much interest there would be for it so haven’t posted it. Most cars and projects on here are modified in some way and this isn’t going to be going the same direct hence my reservations.

Bill, this project is of great interest, I am sure there is no need for any reservations on posting it here, I have already learnt several things I did not know about early Pickups!
Martin B.

Well said Mab, give us all the gory boring details Bill - it just makes me all the more frustrated at my pickup shell in the garage

[bill773mini]

While the shell was away I looked at the parts that came with the shell. Now Luis went way beyond friendship in his efforts to secure the car and as much of the original parts as possible but all he could do was grab parts and boxes of parts he thought might belong to it. There were several engines there and he had no idea which if any were the correct one so took a punt on what looked like a period 850. Quite remarkably it was the correct original engine complete with engine number that matched the heritage certificate

With original ancillaries too.

549A2950-EDE3-483E-8F4B-DE520DB8FABE.jpeg

The January 61 dated gearbox had had a hard life too.

89836598-617C-48A5-9D86-A96CB6132088.jpeg

The original doors and bonnet also came with it.

31FC4134-AE59-462F-B2FE-003FBF28D3F4.jpeg

E6B675F9-79AA-4879-85DC-E7FA8FE8CE91.jpeg

[bill773mini]

I’ve had this project for almost 4 years now but have been unsure how much interest there would be for it so haven’t posted it. Most cars and projects on here are modified in some way and this isn’t going to be going the same direct hence my reservations.

Bill, this project is of great interest, I am sure there is no need for any reservations on posting it here, I have already learnt several things I did not know about early Pickups!
Martin B.

Well said Mab, give us all the gory boring details Bill - it just makes me all the more frustrated at my pickup shell in the garage

I’ve had to be patient with this one so far but couldn’t wait to rescue it. The fact that it’s travelled so far and been used to death but somehow survived makes me determined to see it back to it’s former glory.

Sadly what I will almost certainly not be able to find out is who it’s first owner was and what it was used for. Who ordered two matching white pickups with whitewalls in Angola. When the Portuguese left in 74 the USSR swept in and destroyed any and every remanence of what went before so all historical documentation was destroyed.

[bill773mini]

September saw the restored shell finished after 3 years work.

2660283F-9DF6-466D-A1EC-93F749B6A176.jpeg

DB4D2C4E-24B1-45FD-85CB-3D6305960B49.jpeg

38CF2907-B31E-4666-A53A-34D7A52F5FEF.jpeg

64115B0F-C697-4AD9-A7E0-2F4F47551503.jpeg

[bill773mini]

I had to collect some quite hard to find parts too. Early commercials had stitched seats in a slightly different shade of tan to later seats. Obviously the passengers seat was fixed none adjustable, now these are hard enough to find as anyone restoring a commercial will testify but I needed an early tube seat frame which are very very hard to find. On top of that I really wanted original covers. My luck was in through the 59 register again, a member had found a seat for his basic restoration that was unbelievably a correct tan fixed tubular seat. He was willing to let it go but the cost was a glass washer battle. So I agreed and we swapped. With that seat I had collected a complete original early interior.

I also had further help in Portugal from Upesh who got in contact with the Freezer company who owned the pickup. He even visited them and rang me from there so I could talk to them. They sent me a photo of the pickup from their time with it. Complete with 80 kph sign on the tailgate and Citroen rear lights.

2F779C5D-D647-41AF-97A5-5F78FE521681.jpeg

The last Portuguese owner sent me some photos from it being sand blasted prior to being left outside.

749773F0-F631-40FF-8871-38CDD9B9318E.jpeg

AF1CAD09-67FC-40D1-9355-6045AB4168CE.jpeg

[bill773mini]

After the shell was finished I took it back down to Pro Strip where it was redipped and E coated.

1869AEE3-FBE1-40B3-B46D-C53B097950AE.jpeg

2C866A0B-4C90-4CCF-92FE-E682F2165D69.jpeg

Then it was off for paint.

176ADBBB-5C7B-4ED0-A9A5-01132ECC8B39.jpeg

And it’s now home and ready for the rebuild to start.

D8168DA9-4216-4710-A1D0-54F4CB0214C0.jpeg

BDE79532-DE8D-4C6D-AAD8-76A893A5E027.jpeg

I also managed to spend some time in the archives after the 60th anniversary show and recorded all the Pickups built up to mine. Mine is the 67th shell built, the 53rd Pickup ever built and the 22nd Morris to be built.

That brings the last 4 years up to date pretty much. It will be a slow and methodical rebuild so I can’t promise a flurry of updates but as and when there’s something to show I will.

Thank you

Bill

[SMOKE GREY]

Brilliant, love it.

[Tim]

Thanks Bill, great story, and I'm not the least bit jealous

Tim

[woodypup59]

Its fantastic to see the shell in all its painted glory Bill.

I'm looking forward to seeing its in the flesh sometime.

Colin H

[woodypup59]

Doug & Joan's Classic Mini Pick up restoration page on Facebook was created by Neal Goldspring. 1970s version but might be worth a look or a chat with him.

Can someone point us to this page. We couldn't find it.