Previous Owner Cretinisms
The guy who got my 1961 Morris Oxford after me could submit a few.
I say "got" rather than bought, since we couldn't find a buyer at
any price, and gave it away to the one guy who showed interest.
The heater returned engine coolant into a custom Y hose. When this broke
on the road, the "temporary" fix was to replace it with a universal
two-port hose and block the heater core input connection with a big screw
eye bolt and an old sock. I drove it for years with that cretinism.
In the twenty years my family owned this car (we bought it new), I believe
we did nothing for the leather upholstry. Not oiled once.
I am proud to say that other than the above, This car had original
everything. An old guy in Hemet CA ran an English car garage and parts
store. He had two cherry Mini Coopers in the garage bay and very little
business as far as I can tell. The guy had racing trophies and pictures of
him in the trophy circle from his younger days. I think the guy was
semi-retired running his shop with little interest in profit and a great
love for British cars.
I would go there to get an original equipment part for my car and he would
dust off the box from his shelves and sell me the part for the
(decades-old) price marked on the box. Driving up with my Morris Oxford
always brought a big smile to his face.
One more cretinism- I was showing off the engine once, and the kid I showed
it to grabbed the hood to close it, bending the hood at the support point.
You see, you have to release the support latch before the hood will go
down.
Other than the above, this car was a minimal-effort-to-restore
no-missing-parts all-original one-owner 1961 Morris Oxford with the
original manual. Had I subscribed to this list in '81, we might have found
a good caretaker. I hope the guy that got it did something more than send
it to the junkyard.
-Ted
PS. If there is interest, I could ask my parents to look to see if the old
guy still runs that shop in Hemet CA.
weverka@drip.colorado.edu
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