1952 Morris Minor MM (Series 1) 918cc Sidevalve

Summary:

I love this little car

Faults:

Blown head gasket, warped head, and blown piston rings.

Big end bearing shattered, bent crank shaft, and bad clutch.

Windscreen wipers fail regularly.

Constantly over heating due to the lack of water pump.

Seized generator.

Timing belt broke.

Distributor bushes eroded.

Points failed (replaced with electronic ignition).

SU failure.

High fuel consumption.

General Comments:

Iv had a lot go wrong with my 52 side valve. sure It's a beautiful car, it uses a lot of gas, it's slow, and it's genuinely scary when you go around a corner at 45mph.

With a factory top speed of 62mph, mine only does 54mph; it's not a car to keep up with traffic, especially on hills.

You don't buy a car like this if you're going to drive it everyday.

But still, I love it.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th January, 2008

21st Nov 2011, 11:45

Timing belt? Surely you mean fan belt!.

1954 Morris Minor 803cc

Summary:

Good fun shopping trolley

Faults:

Starter motor teeth came off.

Generator bushes needed replacing.

Crankshaft bearings gave up.

General Comments:

The Series II Minor is ridiculously slow for Australia. I could live with bad acceleration and going up hills slowly, but the cruising speed is just not practical. It is OK for driving on Sunday or as a curiosity, but forget going any great distance in it on an open road. I never went above 50mph, that was pushing it.

The 948cc later model is geared a bit faster, also a Morris Major diff can help things.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 13th April, 2005