Welcome!

Welcome to our mechanical adventures!

We, Gavin and Joel, are two good mates who, after spending countless hours hanging out and aimlessly watching television, decided to acquire and restore an old car to its former glory.

Over the past year, we have become big fans of the UK tv show "Wheeler Dealers", where two pommy blokes, Mike Brewer and Edd China, buy classic cars which have seen 'better days' and, on a relatively small budget, restore them to good condition.

Now we are well aware that Edd China is a professional mechanic, and that he has all the equipment at his disposal, as well as a talented editing crew! However, frequently throughout the show, he gives estimates on how long, and how difficult the repairs should be for the 'average' person. So we decided to see how a couple of 'average' Aussie blokes, with fairly minimal knowledge of vehicular mechanics would fare on such a project.

After a few weeks of research we finally decided that a Morris Minor would be a suitable candidate, due to its simplicity and classic style.

Between us we found several websites on-line detailing similar restoration projects and several with buying-guides and comparative info on the Morris Minor models.
Amongst the most useful was the Morris Minor Car Club Of Victoria
On there we found A Guide To Buying A Morris Minor
and
A Morris Minor Restoration Guide, both of which we printed and took with us when we went hunting.

On Saturday 26th September (2009) we went to inspect our first candidate for restoration. This was a 1950's "Morry" Series II, which Joel tracked down on gumtree.com.au. The photos and description in the advertisement had us very excited. It seemed to be in very good condition and when we called the bloke to get further details, we were told that he had acquired a 'new' limited-edition "gold-seal" engine which would be supplied in the deal. Apparently this had been his 'everyday car', and so we were under the impression that all we would need to do to get her up and running would be to 'drop the engine back in' and we'd be up and running. Unfortunately, on arrival we received quite a shock.



It was a MESS. It HAD been his everyday car, but hadn't been close to driving condition for over 20 years! It had serious rust in all the bits you don't want to see rust. Many parts had already been removed and were sitting round his yard, rusting. The 'new' engine was not installed, and therefore we couldn't tell much about it, but it was rusty and incomplete, which certainly didn't to much to boost our confidence. The paint-job was a poorly done home job, and the top coat had been applied while the undercoat was still damp, resulting in shrinking and cracking.
The owner was a bit of a 'collector' and not much of a restorer, and had a 'graveyard' of potentially amazing cars littered around his property. It was a little sad, really.
Although not much of a restorer, he was quite the salesman, and raced around finding odds and ends from his stockpile of parts, and doing his best to convince us of what a simple job we would have with this car. In retrospect, we can't believe we even contemplated it, but thankfully, after much consideration, we decided that this particular vehicle was a bit much for us to handle!

The following week, Joel chased up a Morris he had been watching on Ebay, which he had noticed had passed at auction, with no bids. That Saturday, we went and checked it out, with our mascot, baby Tamar in tow. The owner was a mechanic and car-enthusiast who, tragically, had suffered a stroke before being able to undertake the restoration.
While GavGav (as he is fondly refered to) checked out the car, Joel was forced to deal with a complete nappy "blow-out" which left Tamar covered from head to toe in... well... you get the picture. To make matters worse. Tamar's mum had forgotten to refill the nappy-bag with nappies or plastic bags! So ditching GavGav in Gilford, Joel and Tamar headed off to find a pharmacy to clean up.
Once we were all back in action, we discovered that the 1948 Lowlight we had come to see was, in fact, in pretty amazing condition. Although the paint was completely spotted with surface rust, the only part of the car with any significant structural rust was one of the two engine-mounts which had rusted off the chassis. The engine was not running , but from a visual standpoint, the mechanics were all dry, and relatively clean. The owner assured us that he had it running 6 months earlier, just before his stroke.
We decided to take his word for it, and after getting a couple of quotes from towing companies, began negotiations with the owner's wife for purchasing the car.
The initial asking price (from Ebay) was $2,000AUD. Taking in to account the towing fees and a ball-park valuation suggested in our documentation, we made an offer for $1,350AUD but the owner stubbornly refused to drop below $2K.
We finally convinced the owners wife that, had it sold on Ebay, she would have had to pay Ebay's fees which would have brought the amount of money in her pocket down to $1800, and so this amount would be our final offer. After some lengthy discussions with her hubby, she finally accepted our offer, and we became the proud owners of our 1948 Morris Minor.



Transferring the car from the truck-trailer on which it was stored to our tow-truck was a bit of a mission, but eventually we were back in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney with our prize in tow (literally). The tow-truck left the car at the top of Joel's driveway, and our next step was to get the car down the steep driveway into the garage. We were fairly certain the brakes weren't working at all, but were told that the handbrake was working. So with GavGav behind the wheel, and Joel supporting the car from the rear, we slowly started backing down the drive. Gav confirmed that the brakes weren't working, and as the car very slowly gathered momentum, Joel heard a yell from the car "SHIT.... HANDBRAKE IS ON!". Trouble was, the car was still moving! So there were were, car rolling down the driveway, and Joel behind, trying to stop it!
Mustering his super-strength with muscles bulging, Joel managed to bring the car to a temporary halt, and held it there as GavGav leaped into action. He jumped out and let all 4 tires down, to increase friction, and then grabbed the spare tire and wedged it under the back wheel, securing the car and averting imminent disaster! Very carefully we inched the car down the drive and into the garage by moving the spare-tire/chock backwards a small distance and rolling the car back onto it.
So finally we were home and secure in the garage, after spending a total of $2000 AUD on the vehicle and towing.....