1934 Minor coachbuilt saloon

This car was last on the road in 1963 when it was used for the wedding of its owner (click on picture for larger version). He decided that the rot caused by the leaking sunshine roof meant that a complete rebuild would be needed. Over the next few years he stripped everything down including the wood frame. New ash members were made by an experienced boatbuilder. Thirty eight years on the car was distributed over three attics and an outbuilding. The pictures below show the components as found.

The first one shows the state of the sunshine roof and explains why the wood frame had suffered. The steering wheel can be seen in the background and the cardboard box contained the instrument panel and controls

The next picture shows the roof frame in front of one of the doors. The door is complete with its original trim which will need only a small amount of repair to bring it back to good condition.

The third picture shows where the majority of parts were stored. The radiator can be seen in the middle of the picture with the front seats just in front of them. A spare radiator shell is on the right with the metal scuttle (white) between them. In the background are the bonnet, front and rear wings and the wooden frame for the spare wheel carrier. The prop shaft, fuel tank, wheels and tyres together with the exhaust system are there somewhere. The exhaust system appears to be the to the original design.

I decided to bring the smaller components back in my hatchback and the following pictures show just how much can be crammed into a Peugeot 309.

The first load is shown here with the seats at the back together with the scuttle and spare radiator surround (this will go on my tourer as both grilles are in good condition). The pile of sticks in the bottom left hand corner are the new ash pieces for the frame. Four dynamos are shown on the left, although one is from the later Eight, three are the correct ones for the Minor with four mounting bolts. During the drive back I thought that I could smell oil paint thinners but I discovered when I unpacked that the fuel tank had a small amount of resinous liquid which drained out of the overflow vent.

The second load was mainly the interior trim and the doors. The rear seat with its inflatable cushion sits between the doors. The footwell with its uncut moquette lining is in front of it. The roof frame is on the right at the back. The pieces of wood in the front of the picture are the A pillars. The carpets and the rest of the soft trim are piled to the left.

Fortunately, the kit came with a large blueprint showing the way that some of the frame is put together but it is still a daunting task. The final pictures shows the pieces that wouldn't fit easily into my hatchback.

The chassis, axles and bonnet can be seen with the five wheel rims. Unfortunately these were sand blasted in the 60s but not painted so they have a light coating of rust. The largest part of the body, the D back, can also be seen. The engine and gearbox were complete and had been dismantled and checked some thirty years ago. The engine still turns over and has more compression than my two seater.

Now that my Ten is on the road this will be the one after next restoration. My daughter dismantled a Lambretta LD125 ten years ago and it has been taking up space in the garage ever since then. That's next on the list so the Minor should be started sometime this millennium although I suspect that the engine and gearbox will find their way into the two seater if that has problems. It will have to go back into the saloon eventually though to keep the numbers matching.