Brakes.... Or lack there of!

An interesting fact about the humble Morris Minor... Drum brakes, both front and rear when not working in full conjunction will not effectively bring the vehicle to a stop. It will however make your heart race or possibly stop. Adjustment is difficult and without being driven, the grip on the drums will not be entirely accurate.

When the car arrived into my care, we soon discovered that we only had an operational hand brake. This made the unloading of the car slightly tedious but we got there in the end.
So at first we wanted to see if the cylinders were functional on any or all of the drums so we bled the system praying some tension would build ....no luck!

So, a trip off to Thorpe for some new cylinders for each of the drums. The service he provides bringing new parts to the market is wonderful and the knowledge he is happy to share and was happy to share with myself and my family.  The task then was dissembling the brake lines and removing the old brake cylinders.

And from the experience of doing my own brakes I have learned that I can change all tires within 10 minutes flat! I can also safely say that I can adjust and repair the braking system on a Morris. I also learned that an MM can be fairly easily converted to a left hand drive in the process...

Here's an old photo of Mr GUK!!

Past to Present

The other day whilst underneath the Morry checking out some of the suspension rubbers.... I had a sudden Epiphany that allowed me to really realise how long ago the little thing was manufactured.  So basically as a point of thought for this epiphany i thought about the fact my dad is the same age as the car.

Of course this led to thoughts of a little crying baby Bert Edgley....... Anyhow the fact that really occurred to me is that the car basically looks the same today as it did when it was being driven in 1958. I wonder if the purchase of the car was at a similar time to my dads birth. That would be a little interesting to know.  The next thing that also occurred to me at this stage is that the car has been cared for so thoroughly and is a real attribute to the previous owners for the loving care that Mr Guk received in his hey day. So for this article as a tribute to the loving family that he came from- here is a memory for all of you as readers to join in on.

So as part of a folio piece I completed in 2016 I created this photograph at the Monbulk Creek trestle bridge.

I will soon upload a very old photo of the fine little car :) Perhaps one from 50 odd years ago ?