Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Roadster]

Morris Twelve Four Series III Roadster

Hi,
I'm new to the forum. I've just bought a Morris Twelve Four series III Roadster.

I can only find out very limited information about them. I cant find another Roadster in existence. It has a Ruskin body built in Melbourne as many Australian delivered Morris did.

Matt

[roverdriver]

Welcome to the Forum, Matt.

That looks very much like a car that I saw on E-bay recently. I would imagine that it is rather a rare survivor. Good luck with the restoration.

Dane.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[Rick]

Hi Matt,

Welcome to the forum, that must be really rare. Are the parts not shown in the photo with it? I've not heard of Ruskin before, interesting. My Bedford ute was bodied in Oz by Holden, and the Dodge tourer by - possibly - T.J. Richards, although I've yet to confirm it 100%.

Look forward to following progress with this one

RJ
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[clan chieftain]

Hi Matt and welcome to the forum. That looks a great restoration project. I hope you can source the bits for it....Good luck..What year is it?...Larry.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Roadster]

Yes it was on eBay recently. I understand it to be rare. At the moment I can not find another Roadster but believe a coupe exists that is very similar. The Roadster was released in 1938 September and ceased before the war.

Ruskin was much the same as Holden, Duncan and Fraser etc. but specialising in English makes. For those of you not from Australia cars were normally bought here as chassis to avoid taxes before WWII.

I'm very keen from others to chip In with what they know about. common parts with other cars, particularly the similarities and differences with then ten hp engine.

[Rick]

A while back I had a Series II 10/4 coupe, from memory the difference between the SII and SIII 10/4 was cosmetic, ie chrome rad on earlier car, painted on later, and a switch from spoked to plain disc wheels, but the underlying running gear was pretty similar if not identical *I think*, saying that I didn't get "in" to the car's spec majorly but I did read around a bit on them. The 12/4 was virtually identical to the sister 10/4, bar a slight change in cc and power.

RJ
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[acogman]

Welcome to the forum Matt. Fantastic car!
It is very rare now, I wonder how many of these Australian bodied cars survived?

The Morris Register is probably the best source of information, and definitely worth joining. The "Bible" is the "The Morris Motor Car 1913 - 1983" book written by Harry Edwards, it's amazing and a worthwhile investment for the pictures alone; plus it's still available from the Register shop. The Morris Ten Information Manual which details the parts and fittings on all the Ten models may be useful as well, as they shared many components.

September 1938 is quite late, the Ten series M was announced in August 1938, but no 12hp car was ever offered. Harry's book states 3 special coupe Ten's were made and survive somewhere (in 1983 when the book was written anyway), sadly it doesn't mention anything about the export models.

As Rick says the changes between the series 2 cars and the series 3 were minimal, the radiator grille was simpler in design and body coloured, the Ezi-clean wheels were standard from late 1936 anyway. The Twelve series 3 was quite different to the Ten series 3 though, it has a 4" shorter wheelbase and a dry clutch!

Similar to the series 2 the series 3 Twelve engine was not a bored out Ten, it's a different casting with different bore spacings so the block is ~2" longer. The engine (TPBM model) was also shared with the Wolseley series 3 12/48 and the MG 12hp series 2 cars if that helps?
I believe the engine was just the series 2 engine modified to have pushrods & a new head etc to make it overhead valve so a lot parts are probably common.

How complete is it, there look to be a lot of gaps in the body work? At least you have two engines which is useful

I have PDF copies of the Ten manuals if it would help?
Andrew

[Roadster]

Thanks for all the time taken to reply. It has all been interesting reading.
Most of the car does seem to be there other than the timber frame for the rear body work. The guy I bought it from has done a good job of remaking some of the more hidden panels.

I've managed to stow it all away and hope to start on it once ive pita new engine in my ado16 and done some long overdue maintenance on the mm.

Andrew I would love the PDF if you can send them.

Cheers
Matt