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First Person - Judy & Graham Mitchell
Graham and Judy’s Series 1 - The tale of a 1951 Morgan 4/4
The Beginning:
In those days, taking Winstone (our English Setter) for a
long walk to Chinamans Beach on Saturday morning was an
enjoyable relaxing way to being the weekend. On the way home
from their walk on this particular Saturday, 14th May
1994, Graham and Winnie encountered Ron and John Prentice
rolling a very tired old vehicle off a trailer and parking it on
the roadside outside Ron’s house. A brief bonnet lifting session
occurred, just to confirm that the motor was intact – but not in
working order. There were gaps in the floor, the upholstery was
in extremely poor condition, as was the rest of the car, but it
certainly was a Morgan, and it was for sale! |
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The family was
rounded up to go and have a look at the "treasure". I need a
project, Graham said enthusiastically, and I’ve always liked
Morgans! No hesitation – buy it! So we did. It was delivered
(around the corner) next day, and rolled into our garage, along
with a very rusty spare motor, numerous boxes of parts, all in
dire need of extensive restoration, including lamps, bundles of
wires, and all manner of unrecognizable bits and pieces which we
were assured belonged to the car, plus a spare rusty old motor!
We all took turns at sitting in the "Morgan", and although it
was in a very sorry state, we thought it was pretty special. |
The History:
Our Series 1 was originally registered on 22nd
March 1951 and according to Morgan factory records, was
delivered to Colmore Depot, Birmingham, as a blue left hand
drive model, Engine No. Q296E, Chassis No. 1902. What happened
in its life between that date and the next registered ownership
(13th August 1969) by Mr B.V.Toms in Kingsbridge,
Devon, is unknown to us. What is known is that the blue LHD
moggie had morphed into a red RHD Morgan 4/4 2-seater, according
to registration records, and bore the British plates LOF 104,
which we still have in our possession.
The next owner, Mr D.M. Pyett of
Pennycomequick, Plymouth, bought it in July 1975 and later
brought the car with him to Sydney. It was not registered here,
so we can only assume that it was in need of some serious TLC at
that time. In 1988 the car was sold to a MOCA member, Michael
Carr, who no doubt had intentions of doing a restoration job on
it – as did John Prentice who bought it from Michael a few years
later! |
The Project:
So now we had a project! The intention was to "get stuck in"
and do a big restoration job in about 2 years. When Graham
announced his plan at his first club meeting, several hardened
campaigners subtly suggested that it might take considerably
longer than that! However, the deconstruction began with
enthusiasm, only to be abruptly interrupted when Graham broke
his leg during a skiing accident at Thredbo and was out of
action for the next 6 months. Very frustrating!
With the New Year, 1995, came the
real beginning of the project. Firstly the garage needed
enlarging, so a huge excavation project took place to make room
for body panels, chassis, workshop, etc. The removal of all
parts was documented and the extremely rotten timber sections
used as templates for the new frame which was constructed by
Graham and our son Kent, who is a carpenter and loves nothing
better than to get the tools out and work on a project.
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| After
all the body panels had been removed, the timber sections were
tidied up and used as templates for the new frame. Marine ply
was used for the sides of the wheel arches, and for the outer
faces of the arches, 6 pieces of 3mm ply were laminated and
clamped using the original frame as a template. Australian
silver ash was chosen as the timber for the rest of the
woodwork. This was bought in large pieces and cut into the
required shapes with a band saw. The silver ash proved to be a
superb timber to work with because of its very straight grain,
and its light weight. After many hours of careful cutting and
precision carpentry, a completely new frame was produced. The
only piece of original timberwork that was retained was the top
of the scuttle below the windscreen, as this was still in good
condition. The beautiful new dashboard was built by Kent using
a lovely piece of mahogany, and once again using the original
item as a template. All the instruments were later restored,
although they were in particularly good condition considering
their age and the condition of the rest of the vehicle, and the
finished product is an eye-catching feature of the restored
Series 1.
During the process of disassembling the car, we confirmed
that it had previously been a left hand drive vehicle because on
that side of the engine bay the panel adjoining the mudguard had
the cut-outs in it to receive the steering column and box. When
making the new panels we decided to retain the cut-outs, to
maintain the authenticity of the car.
The old chassis had serious rust in it and had been modified
with several additional steel pieces, to the point where it
would have lost some of its integrity. It was essential to have
a new chassis made, so Still-One were employed to produce this
from 2.5mm steel, slightly heavier than the original. Once the
new chassis was delivered, the next milestone in the project was
to progress to "rolling chassis stage" with the new wood frame
and rebuilt engine in place. |
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Graham’s brother,
David, took responsibility for the motor and took it to
Queensland to have it completely rebuilt and balanced by Morice
Engineering in Brisbane. It was an exciting day when, one year
later, the finished product was delivered back to us, bedecked
in Christmas decorations, ready to be carefully placed into the
new chassis. On the restoration Time Line we are now at the end
of 1996 – 2 years into the project. By that time the body panels
had been fully restored by Still-One, and sat in the garage in a
primed state awaiting the time when the bit push to get the
project finished began in earnest! Work and other commitments
got in the way of progress for about 18 months, but mid-way
through 1998 we were ready to get cracking again |
| Once again we
engaged the services of Still-One to do a professional job to
complete the project to the required excellent standard. The
radiator was repaired and a new cowl made; the lamps were
restored to remove dents and scratches, then all the chromed
parts on the car were refinished to bring them back to original
condition. Many hours were spent restoring the dozens of small
parts that go together to produce one beautiful Morgan! Yes, it
was expensive, but it was worth it! The re-chroming list is
quite impressive; gearstick, headlight bodies, rims and
reflectors, fog light reflector, windscreen frame and posts,
centre bonnet mould and fittings, door hinges, ignition switch
surround, external and internal door handles, covers and door
catch, wiper motor handle, bonnet scrape plates, knobs, spare
wheel wing nut, wiper arms, handbrake knob, domed nuts and
bolts, etc. Of course, this is on top of the new radiator grille
and cowl, and the hub caps. No wonder the car looks so
beautiful, with lots of bright shiny bits! |
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Although most of the old wiring was in the car – in various
states of disrepair – it was necessary to purchase and install a
completely new wiring loom. This was provided by Vintage Wiring
Harness in Bellingen, NSW. The Meadows gearbox seemed to be in
reasonable condition, so was not reconditioned at the time of
the restoration. However, after a few years and many miles of
driving, it has been necessary to have work done on it and
recently it was sent to John Needham in Melbourne to make a few
adjustments. The brakes also needed "adjusting". Originally the
car would have had mechanical brakes front and rear. However, it
now had 9" brake drums (which confirmed that it was a 1950’s
model and not the 1947 model that we thought it was when we
purchased the car) and had been modified with hydraulic brakes.
Graham decided to keep the originality of the car and put
mechanical brakes back on – and fortunately the earlier owner,
David Pyett, still had a full set of mechanical brake components
for the car in his shed! Don’t throw anything out, eh! Never
know when someone might need something useful!!!! |
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The list of components that had to
be either reconditioned or replaced is lengthy – suffice to say
we ended up with as close to a new "1951 Morgan 4/4 Series 1" as
is possible! An end-date for the project was necessary, so the
Terribly British Display in Canberra, October 1998, was chosen
for the inaugural run. The upholsterer was given the hurry
along; the paintwork was finished; new tyres fitted –
registration completed – and we were on our way to Canberra!
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outing, the little blue Series 1 has been all over NSW on Morgan
club runs, taken part in the Tattersall’s National tour in
Tasmania, been in a container to New Zealand and travelled about
3,000 km over there (Auckland to Dunedin and return) for the
Mainland Classic Tour, and enjoyed participating in the Morgan
Muster at Bathurst in 2001. It was even given a workout in a Bol
D’or event at Wakefield Park and both car and driver performed
admirably! Since the restoration the car has travelled more
than 12,000 miles – not too bad for an old girl! We’re looking
forward to lining up at the Golden Muster to win another trophy
which says "Morgan Muster Display – Best Series 1".
Judy Mitchell |
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