Early family cars

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Seems that most of us began with British cars ( me Triumph Herald ) ... the next generation had the Jap range .. older Datsuns and Toyotas as a first car .

Yes, I had 15 (yes fifteen) Morris Minors of various types including two series II Utes, a series II panel van and woodie along with the more pedestrian 2 and 4-door varieties. Never had a series I or a convertible though, and most ranged from free to $75 for the most expensive one. Also had a series MO Oxford.

What did I learn from the experience? I learned to seriously dislike the 803cc engine with it's weak bottom end, also the syncros on the series II gearbox with it's ridiculously long throw gearlever, that alloy rear wheel cylinders with steel pistons are a very bad combination, that you can ignore the manual when removing the master cylinder and, instead of removing a torsion bar can flex it out of the way with a jemmy to withdraw the bolts, I also learned where to hit the firewall with a large blunt object to kick the SU petrol pump back into life on a hot day... that the sump on a Cortina engine sits way too close to the road when you convert the minor to decent power, and especially for the Oxford, the diecast door handles loved to just snap off.
Oh yes, and you just cannot tune twin SU carbies once they're worn.

And that's just to start.

Bet the next generation with the Jap cars had far less trouble but also less 'learning' and 'growing' experiences.