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Unfortunately my last thread was deleted by the IT glitch so here goes again. Photos as found in 2011 and of the painstaking bodywork restoration by Chris Spennewyn. The car has now been painted and should be back on the road this summer.

The car is a 1966 factory supplied in Surf blue. Originally registered in Burnley. The final spec includes a mk1 1275 S engine, carbs, servo, brakes etc; a woodrim Formula steering wheel; a custom interior in powder blue / gold brocade including Microcell recliners; Rosepetal wheels; a Benelite grille and Styla flowline mirrors. The colour scheme will be monotone surf blue with new woodwork!

That's going to look GREAT My favorite colour by far.
Can't wait to see further pictures
I suspect that is the dream Mini for many of us - a Mk1 woody traveller/countryman with "S" motor and running gear!

Old English White wrote: I suspect that is the dream Mini for many of us - a Mk1 woody traveller/countryman with "S" motor and running gear!

And in the best colour! Certainly versatile, track days, shows, lugging parts around!? (though I doubt you be chucking any oily lumps in it any time soon James?)

Indeed - powder blue carpet and oily lumps are a bad combination! I hope to have it back on the road by Beaulieu and I'm planning on taking it to Goodwood revival in September. More photos of the painted shell, trim etc to follow...

Liking the idea of this project - but then I am very biased with my own Cooper S Traveller project

Must get the project rolling again myself. It's been too long since I worked on the Traveller.

New pics added above.

M

that dealer sticker is great

I hope that mr. Herbert Morris refused to sell austins and would only supply the superior Morris, as befitted his name!


I also think that the bmc missed a trick in period by not offering cooper and s versions of the estate - its a trick that BMW have certainly capitalised on with the new ones!

Thanks Mark!

The new pictures are of the shell which returned from being sprayed at the end of last week and is now being fitted up.

There are also a couple of photos of parts of the seats - the fronts are microcells in powder blue /gold brocade (photo of lower part only) and I've had the rear seat trimmed to match. I'm keeping all of the original powder blue interior panels which were in very good condition.

Finally there is a photo of the original dealer's transfer (Herbert Morris Motors (Burnley) Ltd - does anybody have any information about this dealer?). This has caused me a bit of a dilemma - had it not been there on the top dash rail I would have covered the dash rail and windscreen pillars in black vinyl. As it is and as it is such a fantastic period piece I've decided the top rail will remain surf blue!

More photos as work progresses...

Looks very nice indeed.
Cooperised estates is the way forward.

InimiaD wrote:Looks very nice indeed.
Cooperised estates is the way forward.

with hatchbacks, of course!

Very nice traveller. And I'm happy to say, very similar to mine though I'm going to stick with the wee 850 for now.

See my thread...

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12528

So, having paid a visit to Chris Spennewyn's workshop on Saturday ahead of Beaulieu the Traveller is coming along well. The wood is on and rubbed down ready for varnishing, the engine and gearbox are in - and the engine is running. Brakes and suspension are fitted - but not the servo yet. Still lots to do but hopefully we should get the car on its wheels and running this week.

Still to do this week: fit the new Dunlop tyres to the new Mini Spares Rosepetals; fit the petrol tank (I'm unhappy with the fixing kits that are available - the selftapping screws are considerably smaller than the originals - something that could have disastrous consequences with a full tank of petrol!); headlamps, rear lights, indicators, grille moustage etc on; windscreen fitted; remainder of load floor fitted and more of the interior trim. Hopefully the doors and bonnet will have been sprayed and polished (We've put this off because they are hard to store once painted).

The spec remains: 1275 S thin flange block engine with 163 Head; 1128 all synchro gearbox; 7.5 Cooper S brakes with servo. In terms of period extras: Styla flow-line bullet mirrors, Rosepetals, Formula wood-rim wheel, Lucas 608 dipping mirror, microcell recliners (trimmed in powder blue / gold brocade with rear seat to match), Dulles Dash with Smiths full scale oil and temp guages and 10,000 rpm positive earth rev counter, flip top arm rest (trimmed in powder blue)with casco cigarette lighter. I've decided not to fit a Benelite grille and two 576 foglights - too much with the wood, wheels, mirrors and colour!

That should look great with that spec , quite fancy one myself .... Ken

I think mine needs a little more polish perhaps...




Cheers, Ian

OK, so ECW is progressing well and now has an MOT and is on the road. I've got to sort out the ride height - the new cones make it ride way too high so I'm fitting a set of HiLos. The other problems include: no heat coming out of the heater - could it be an airlock in the matrix?, temperature gauge sender - clearly the wrong one so I'm fitting a capillary gauge as originally planned, oil leak from the rebuilt gearbox and, sticking floats in the Burlen rebuilt carbs...

A couple of photos - have deliberately not fitted the carpets until the heater problem is resolved...

Herbert Morris Motors (Burnley) Ltd - does anybody have any information about this dealer?

In 1962 they were listed as Morris, Wolseley, MG, Riley and Morris Commercial retail dealers

In 1966 they were listed as Wolseley, MG and Riley retail dealers, but not Morris!

Located at Nuffield House 81 Hammerton Street which is now a gym, apparently.

They probably ordered their new cars via Loxhams of Blackburn.

Great car . I traced my " lack of heat from heater" to a faulty heater valve which appeared to work externally but internally was not opening. I didn't find that out until after I'd checked/replaced just about EVERYTHING else including the matrix ! Worth a look anyway.

That is a very good thought...

Very nice - do you think the cones will squash down a bit given time ?

That looks fantastic. Hope my surf blue 64 woody looks somewhere near as good one day...

Can i ask, where did you source the number plate and lettering etc?

thanks and keep up the stunning work!


PS, also, where did you source the wood kit?