1971 Morris Pickup

This Morris Minor wasn’t owned by a vicar who used it only to go to church. Of course not, that would be a cliché, and we try and avoid clichés like the plague.

No, this Morris Minor was previously used by an old lady who used it to pop to the shops in. True story.

Other than that I’m afraid we don’t know much about it. But that’s good, in a way, because it’ll put a lot of people off, so if you can be bothered to heave yourself off the sofa to go and have a look at it for yourself you might just be able to snaffle a bargain.

The bodywork is very tidy with straight panels and good panel gaps and the pickup conversion (this Minor was originally a van) has been very neatly done.

The only bad news is that there is a small mark on the front bumper and a few minor rust bubbles that could do with catching early (please see the pictures for a close up).

Being a pickup, there isn’t a lot to the interior but what there is looks good.

There are only two minor problems: there is a small tear in one seat and there is a bit of the roof liner missing.

While the engineering behind the Morris Minor is robust and reliable, it does have its weaknesses, one of which is the front brakes, which weren’t up to the job when the car was new. Dial in forty-five years’ worth of wear and add a dash of modern traffic and you’ve got a car that demonstrates that slavishly keeping your classic’s mechanicals completely original could be a very bad thing indeed…

So you’ll be pleased to hear that this pickup boasts a pair of modern disc brakes up front, enabling you to drive it without having to constantly scan the road ahead for an escape route when the drums let you down.

The pickup is believed to have been the subject of a restoration 6/7 years ago, although there is (sadly) nothing in its history file to support that. What documentation there is is contained in the records below.

This is not a perfect, concours condition pickup, but then the price has been set to reflect that, making this a cheap way to do the most stylish tip runs in your town.

Or you could invest a little bit more to turn it into one of the coolest cars in the country; retro pickups are very of the moment, and there are few cheaper or more reliable ways to get into a classic commercial than this.

If it were ours we’d be tempted to further modify it with, perhaps, a bigger 1275cc engine and a five-speed gearbox, before using it to carry mountain bikes or kayaks to the coast for a long weekend’s camping.

The pickup is located in Essex, to view click the 'Contact Seller' button above.