Make Mine A Morris
Words by Christopher Breen
keith Benn, from Egremont maybe a Morris man but he doesn't do folk dancing.
Keith's Morris is a beautifully restored 1936 series one Morris 8 two-door saloon car which he found locally and lovingly brought back to life after it had been off the road for 15 years spending most of that time in a barn.
A former mobile-crane driver who worked mostly at Sellafield for crane company Ainscough's, Keith said: "I was coming up to retirement and had always wanted to restore a Series One Morris Eight because it was the first car I ever owned. I had it as when I worked as a lad of 17, on farms. I borrowed £10 10s (now £10-50) from my uncle to buy it and had to pay him back at £1 a week".
Clearly the car had made such an impact on Keith that he had long wanted another. So when the time came he set about finding one, initially by contacting a local pre-war Morris owner and (unsuccessfully) trying to persuade him to part with it. That strategy may have drawn a blank but the owner suggested that Keith approach a local farmer who might know where there might be such a car for sale. "I was only really expecting to get a lead" said Keith, "and then when he said he had one he could sell me I was amazed"!
The car had been used for about eight years by the local farmer and then barn-stored for another 15. The farmer had brought it in Peterborough but before that there is a gap in vehicle's history. Originally it had first been registered in Oxfordshire, where it had first been bought as a present for a farmer's daughter, called Dora Humphries, three years before the outbreak of World War II.
Keith promptly agreed to buy it and then enthusiastically set about organising the car's return to his Castle View home and its former glory.
During a two-year labour of love he stripped it down completely, removing the body, engine gearbox, back axle, front suspension and wheels before restoring the bare chassis. Over hundreds of hours during what turned out to be a two- year project, he checked and where necessary restored or replaced various components. The engine was stripped, checked, repaired and reassembled as were the other major parts.
Once the chassis and running gear were restored Keith displayed the ongoing project at car shows taking it on a trailer towed by his camper van.
Being a car with a wooden body wood rot / worm was discovered in one door frame so Keith managed to get a local joinery business to supply new ash and rebuild the frame.
Fortunately the seats had previously been re-trimmed but Keith then set about replacing the remainder of the car's upholstery, such as the headlining and door panels. He said it was one the most difficult jobs he tackled but it proved to be one of the most rewarding. "I was rally chuffed with the result."
In bringing the car back to the road Keith has made a couple of practical concessions to modernity, such as flashing indicators (for safety's sake) and 12-volt electrics (because pre-war six-volt electrics can be troublesome and unreliable... not to mention dim).
He managed (at pretty hefty expense) to locate four new tyres for the tall, thin wire wheels and after its lengthy reincarnation Keith now uses the car to travel to shows, Pickering in North Yorkshire being the furthest so far and where it rewarded Keith efforts by winning him a first prize in its category.
The Morris will travel happily at 50-55mph and return about 35mpg from its 24bph 918cc side-valve engine.
