The Big End - The Mighty Merlin - Part I

I have owned and do own many fine cars ranging from an Isetta Bubble car right through to a Mercedes-Benz. None of these vehicles has given me more fun or dialed back more satisfaction than my Morris Traveller affectionately known as Merlin.

With Morris Minors in general, I have been a faithful supporter of the marque. I have driven many standard and modified examples. One of the most radical of the latter types, was when in 1962 after coming back to the country from active service with the Fleet Air Arm in Borneo, I shoehorned into a split windscreen two door, a 3.4 Jag engine and gearbox these together with cut down rear axle. The suspension proved a little difficult but I ended up with what was possibly the first wishbone system devised for the Morris.

The vehicle was quite a handful to drive. In a straight line ok, but boy o boy, on the corners with tremendous understeer it was may the Devil take its course. After attempting many various fine tuning tweaks, one of which was piling sandbags into the boot to balance the weight factor, I decided it was far too heavy at the front end and gave up on the idea. Anyway I did not want to die young.

Many more innovations came and went with various Morris's over the years, giving me much experience in modifying and performance coupled with what you could or could not do.

After leaving the service I continued with my engineering career but I ensured that the Morris featured high on the agenda.

One day in 1987, a friend called David appeared at my workshop driving a very forlorn looking Maroon B Morris Traveller with the registration MER 924H (Merlin). He very gingerly opened a creaking drivers door mentioning that this item regularly popped open while driving along. I noticed he looked a little harassed as he stretched and stood upright from his previously cramped position, this being caused by the fact that the drivers seat had no base to speak of.

My attention grew and grew as I took in the very sorry sight befronting me. David, picking up a piece of wood which had dropped off the vehicle, apologized for messing up the impeccable concrete yard. He stated that he had to dispose of the vehicle in quick time as he was vacating a previous storage facility. Would I like to have the vehicle. I had limited storage myself, but Dave mentioned the possible spares that could be gleaned from it and even offered to help with the dissection.

Not being one to miss an opportunity I took stock of the situation, mentally putting forward ideas for and against what should be done if I took on such a problem.

Something with this particular vehicle caught my attention, and I became drawn to it by some unknown force which was telling me to give it a chance. I made a command decision, on the spot, and there and then I became its new owner.

What, I asked myself, was I to do with such an expensive project. The floor and chassis areas had much rust and dilapidation which would require a lot of reconstruction. Was I to keep this vehicle standard to the build formula as it came off the production line, or was I to give it the business and hatch a phoenix from the ashes, giving it safety and performance, coupled with a better interior and outward looks. I decided on the latter and a start on the long road of recovery was made.

Stripping down a Morris is a comparatively easy task as removal of parts, in the main, can be accomplished in quick time. Unfortunately I had at the time employed a chap to work with me and he was given some of the stripdown work. He alas did not appreciate that some of the removed parts would have to undergo refurbishing and had ditched them into the waste bin. Luckily I discovered this before the bin was emptied and I managed to recover the parts.

The rear roof and wood came off in quick time revealing a sorry state of the wing arches and floor areas. It is surprising how much space removed parts take up, and I soon deployed several marked cardboard boxes for storage. The stripping operation took several days between other work commitments. I then set about organizing a work projection, itemizing each operation to do. This does help a great deal in costing and input of labour etc. It also speeds up the work into a good flow giving at a glance indication of the progress made. Its always good when you arrive at a positive stage and in effect can see where you are going.

First the vehicle had to be rolled over on its side to access the floor area for welding work. It took approximately two weeks of work to accomplish a sound chassis, and the task then was to paint strip and degrease the underside, this was followed closely by carefully sandblasting the areas required. Note- I made sure that the floor was sound before carrying out this operation. You can very easily distort panels and cause added damage by shot blast if you don't do the operation in a specific sequence. Once I was happy with the finish, drain holes were made in specific corrosion prone areas and finally an anti rust primer was applied, followed by a top coat of paint and a finish of body shultz to give adequate protection to the vehicles underside.

Next month, further progress.

© Chris Street, October 1999