March 61 Morris Pickup

[mini_surfari]

14A7795 is pick up I think?

[woodypup no 2]

14A7795 is pick up I think?

Good point

[bill773mini]

I am very very lucky to have been given one by Trevor in a swap for parts.

[nick@dunsdale]

What a great thread

Well done Bill great to see the pickup saved

Some great work went into it

Prob a stupid question but i guess you will be keeping it as a leftie ?

[hugbilly]

Interesting to see that your door hinges are steel. I had a '61 Se7en saloon and the hinges were made of brass. I wonder when the changeover happened . . .

[bill773mini]

What a great thread

Well done Bill great to see the pickup saved

Some great work went into it

Prob a stupid question but i guess you will be keeping it as a leftie ?

Thanks Nick, a huge amount of work went into it, it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have taken it on unless it was so special.

Yes it will be LHD and rebuilt to as ordered new, whitewall’s and all.

[bill773mini]

Interesting to see that your door hinges are steel. I had a '61 Se7en saloon and the hinges were made of brass. I wonder when the changeover happened . . .

They’re all brass hinges.

[bill773mini]

I got a couple of hours out in the workshop at the weekend and got the steel arch trim fitted. I have been splitting time between this and rebuilding a fuel system on a Diesel A series.

And the filler neck.

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Small jobs but jobs none the less.

[LuisM]

Hey Bill,

nice you have created a build post here! It's coming up soo nice, very pleased it went to a good home!
And thanks for keeping it LHD , it will be easier for me if one day i have the chance to drive it in UK eheh

Reg the original registration plates from Angola, true there should be some info about that.. at least cars imported in the 70's they kept a reference to the plate numbers from original country.
In the papers i've provided you containing the history of owners, isn't there any info about the Angolan plate numbers ?
The Archiving pointed by Antonio could eventually have some info, but it is a real challenge to get any kind of info from this place...
Anyway, even if you had the Angolan plate numbers, i really doubt you would get any sort of info in Angola!

keep us posted with the progress.

Cheers
Luis

[bill773mini]

Hey Bill,

nice you have created a build post here! It's coming up soo nice, very pleased it went to a good home!
And thanks for keeping it LHD , it will be easier for me if one day i have the chance to drive it in UK eheh

Reg the original registration plates from Angola, true there should be some info about that.. at least cars imported in the 70's they kept a reference to the plate numbers from original country.
In the papers i've provided you containing the history of owners, isn't there any info about the Angolan plate numbers ?
The Archiving pointed by Antonio could eventually have some info, but it is a real challenge to get any kind of info from this place...
Anyway, even if you had the Angolan plate numbers, i really doubt you would get any sort of info in Angola!

keep us posted with the progress.

Cheers
Luis

Thank you my friend, this whole project would not be possible without you, the restoration is a tribute to your kindness. The keys will be waiting for you when it’s done. One day it would be nice to return it to Frisil for them to see it restored.

[Old English White]

It must be hard to find those steel wheelarch trims now. I had a 1963 Mini Van in the early 1970s and those trims were all rusted and falling to bits even then. I pulled them off and threw them away I think.

[hugbilly]

Interesting to see that your door hinges are steel. I had a '61 Se7en saloon and the hinges were made of brass. I wonder when the changeover happened . . .

They’re all brass hinges.

I stand corrected. At any rate, you're doing a lovely job on the vehicle, best wishes :^)

[bill773mini]

It must be hard to find those steel wheelarch trims now. I had a 1963 Mini Van in the early 1970s and those trims were all rusted and falling to bits even then. I pulled them off and threw them away I think.

It took quite some time and money to collect the correct ones yes, getting steel arch trim isn’t that difficult, I’ve ended up with quite a few spare pieces, it’s getting the correct ones. Commercial rears are different to saloon, they’re longer to accommodate the increase in wheelbase and I needed early long fronts for the full skirt, the NS one being the difficult one to find. The straight pieces are very hard to find but the Mini community is a very special and sometimes surprising place. Some people are very helpful and generous with one fellow pick up restorer actually gifting me a straight piece. I have since passed on that generosity doing the same with some trim to another chap restoring a 60 van.

[bill773mini]

Interesting to see that your door hinges are steel. I had a '61 Se7en saloon and the hinges were made of brass. I wonder when the changeover happened . . .

They’re all brass hinges.

I stand corrected. At any rate, you're doing a lovely job on the vehicle, best wishes :^)

Not at all, it can be quite difficult at times with different lighting to tell, we had to use one steel one when hanging a door while I rebushed a brass one. All sorted now.

[LuisM]

Thank you my friend, this whole project would not be possible without you, the restoration is a tribute to your kindness. The keys will be waiting for you when it’s done. One day it would be nice to return it to Frisil for them to see it restored.

:) Thanks Bill! Happy to help out.
I bet you are brave enough to bring the pup here in Portugal

CHeers
Luis

[bill773mini]

Getting a few bits and pieces done here and there. Small jobs mostly while waiting for the subframes etc to come back from powder coating. I need to find time to put a n order into Rich H for loads of bits I need which is holding me back on progress.

A huge thank you to Paul “Austin” Costin for his very kind and generous help (with a Morris) sending me the switch panel heater blanking nut. A part I thought would be impossible to find.

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[LuisM]

Very nice Bill
First time i see that panel plug !

[java gt]

Great read Bill and lovely to see this so far on.That blank looks different to the one on my 61 Austin van.Was this a Morris fitment.I can understand someone in Angola not wanting a heater but to spec a van in Ireland without one like mine could only mean they loved hardship Looking forward to more updates as progress allows.

[bill773mini]

Very nice Bill
First time i see that panel plug !

I had never seen one before either. We never stop learning.

[bill773mini]

Great read Bill and lovely to see this so far on.That blank looks different to the one on my 61 Austin van.Was this a Morris fitment.I can understand someone in Angola not wanting a heater but to spec a van in Ireland without one like mine could only mean they loved hardship Looking forward to more updates as progress allows.

Thank you.

Yes I agree, heaters are quite a lot more important in these isles we call home than near the equator. Well as for the plug, I just went with the parts book. Jan 61 Morris Van and pickup edition.
What does yours look like?

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