The theme of this year’s Classic Motor Show is ‘Perfect Partners’, so we quizzed those who will be exhibiting on car club stands at the event how they became an inseparable pairing
1949 MORRIS MINOR MM LOWLIGHT
‘The Lowlight’s appearance on the club stand will be a double birthday celebration,’ explains Mike Newman from Shropshire. ‘The MM will have its 75th birthday that week and my friend and co-restorer – the appropriately named John Morris – is about to turn 80 years of age.’
Mike and John had been looking for a car that needed work: ‘Something to keep us out of trouble,’ as Mike puts it. ‘We spotted this very early car online. It had been part of the factory’s early production export to Australia and that’s where it spent the first 70 years of its life until a British enthusiast discovered it and repatriated it back to the UK but decided not to tackle the restoration.
‘It was pretty far gone,’ remembers Mike. ‘Only the seat frames existed inside – even the headlining had disappeared, probably eaten by the family of mice that had taken up residence and provided a most unwelcoming smell. But the body looked good and the original factory paint was still on the underside. Really amazing.’
Mike was told that the engine and gearbox were “believed” to be good. ‘We took that with a pinch of salt,’ says Mike. John – who had trained as a motor engineer – cautioned that the Australian ‘mechanical restoration’ might have been limited to a fresh coat of paint on the engine block. But the condition of the body clinched the deal, and Mike and John soon set about totally stripping the car.
‘It was even better than we had dared hope,’ remembers Mike. ‘We took it right back to bare metal and there were just a couple of tiny pin holes of rust on the whole body; only the front wings needed some new metal letting in.
‘We discovered some traces of the original maroon paint, which was backed up by details recorded on the Heritage Certificate. Those early cars were mostly finished in an experimental maroon paint called Synobel that faded badly in the Australian sunshine and many cars were re-painted under warranty. This car arrived back in the UK painted grey so we returned it to its original shade.’
Many parts for the early MMs are unique so Mike and John found the club and MM Facebook forum to be useful sources of information, advice and contacts. ‘ESM is brilliantly helpful and extremely knowledgeable,’ Mike says, ‘and we bought a lot from them.
We also found Newton Commercials to be excellent, always on the phone offering help and advice; I can’t speak too highly of them. The early MM seats are not the same as the later ones and Newton’s kit
