1960 Minor pickup.
Chalmers contacted me with news of his ongoing Morris Minor restoration project. His late father bought the pickup new in 1960, from a BMC dealership in California. Despite being out of use for some time, the truck is in very sound condition thanks to the climate in California. At present Chalmers is mid-way through the rebuild. He kindly sent over various photographs of the Morris, both prior to and during the ongoing restoration. He now takes up the story so far ...
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Morris Minor finished in Connaught Green.
Just browsed through your Old Classic Car Website, and thought I would send
you a story of bringing a Classic back to life!
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I'm having my late Father's 1960 Morris Minor Pickup restored. He was the
original owner, and purchased it new here in Sacramento, California, USA.
Back in the early 1990's, the transmission went out for the 3rd time in its
history. He let the truck sit idle for several years in front of our Family
home, until the County came and Ticketed it. The local Government (and
Residents), don't like neighborhoods looking like Scrap Yards, so he was
forced into towing the Morris to his second property with acreage, where it
would be out of sight and out of mind! It ended up in his Barn, where it
resided for over 8 years until I started the rescue mission. So far I have
many dollars invested in new parts, and have almost everything I need. The
restoration is being done by a qualified restorer. I will be getting my
hands dirty by stripping the paint off all the body parts with Aircraft Paint
Remover to save on labor costs, and the Restoration guy will do a final soda
blast of the parts after that, including the frame before re-spraying. I am
a member of two Morris Minor Clubs in Britain: The LCV Club (Light
Commercial Vehicle), and the Morris Minor Owners Club Ltd. Brian Lee of the
LCV Register, was so kind to send me an original Swatch Plate for the
pickup's original Connaught Green. It will be re-painted in its original
color, which as you may know, is very dark. My Dad didn't keep it waxed over
the years, so after years of it sitting in the CA sun and oxidizing, it
looked Black.
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My Morris originally had the dark brown vinyl seat covers and brown
fiberboard door panels. The pickup's interior will be changed, as I've
decided to use the Cherokee Red leather seats, scuttle panels & door pulls
(purchased from Newton Commercial), along with new seat padding
kits/accessories, door panels, glove boxes, parcel tray, firewall insulation
pad and a carpet kit. I just prefer the red interior color, rather than
brown, to go with the Connaught Green.
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The only real issues of rust are in the right side floor pan/panel (rusted
through), and the 2 outer wheel arches above the rear tires where leaves and
dirt collected. I purchased both right & left floor pans from MGM Spares, so
the entire floor can be replaced/restored equally. The rusted portions of
the wheel arches are being cut out and re-fabricated. The frame is in great
shape, and rust is not an issue. We here in Sacramento, are 80 miles east of
San Francisco, so the ocean's salty coastal air has no effect on vehicles in
this part of California.
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The pickup is also getting a 1275cc engine with rib-cage transmission I
found this summer, front disc brakes, new master brake cylinder, servo kit,
rear brake cylinders/shoes, all new glass/rubber seals, door rubber seals
and a larger 10 gallon gas tank. The wood portion of the pickup's bed, will
be replaced with Cherry Wood. I'm still working on a couple of designs on
how it will be constructed.
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I'm going all out (but NOT over-restoring it), and dedicating this
restoration to my dear late Father, Chalmers Ephriam West Jr., who passed
away in 2001. My Pickup's name is "JR", named after him.
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My Father loved his cars. I really wish I had more photos of all the cars he
had, especially of the Morris Pickup, which I could only find two of. The
best of which is attached, from about 1963.
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In closing, I need to share with you how saddened I was to see your photos [elsewhere on OCC]
of the Morris Pickup and the three Travellers just sitting out in the
weather, rotting away. I hope more people will invest in restoring many of
the old classics that are stored in farm fields, scrap yards, vacant
properties, barns, etc. Information that you're providing on your website
will definitely help to encourage people. Thanks for allowing me to just
ramble on and on.
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Thanks for the story Chalmers! Don't forget to send over some photos of the completed vehicle. I doubt that there are too many Morris Minor pickups surviving in the USA now, so it's great to read about your project.
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Read more owners' stories similar to this in the Your Classic Cars section of oldclassiccar
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Other references to Minor pickups on the site include this old photo of a British Minor pickup in the late 1950s. Classified ads for pickup parts can be placed here.
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