SOLD
In 1962 BMC Cars launched a hugely successful new model designed by Sir Alec Issigonis and styled by Pininfarina. Developed under the uninspiring title of ADO16 by BMC it was available badged as either an Austin, a Morris, a Riley, an MG, a Vanden Plas or a Wolsey. All were mechanically the same car, but with different badges and different front grills to tell them apart.
The ADO16 was the best-selling car in Britain between 1963 and 1966 and again between 1968 and 1971.
WPL333G is a Mk2 version, registered locally in Surrey in 1968. It is the Morris 1300 version, fitted with the same 1275cc ‘A Series’ engine fitted to the Mini 1275GT released a few months later by British Leyland.
This is now a rare car – a genuine ‘garage / barn find’.
Fast forward to 2020…….
My son and his girlfriend and looking to buy a property and viewed a house literally next-door-but-one. The house had been unoccupied for 10 years and in that time the chap who previously lived there with his wife had sadly died. His widow was selling the house and it was agreed that as part of the deal we would clear the contents of the house, shed, garage and a large car port in front of the garage.
That was quite a task and it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that we cleared enough junk from the car port to be able to access the garage and get the doors open for the first time in many, many years.
Under numerous, boxes, bags, rolls of old carpet and general junk we could make out the shape of a car under all the junk piled on top of it and many years of dust and cobwebs.
The lady selling the house said it was an old car which her father in law used to own. Apparently, in the late 1970’s her father in law decided he would prefer an automatic and passed the car on to his son, her late husband.
Having no use for the car he put it in his garage in 1979, applied to the DVLA for a refund on the tax and closed the garage doors, leaving the Morris undisturbed for the next 41 years, until we opened the garage this year.
Despite the amount of junk piled on and around the car, the last owner had obviously stored the car with a view to using it again. By trade he was an engineer and had worked at Panther Cars in Weybridge before retiring. He had drained the water out of the cooling system so it didn’t freeze, left a small electric heater under the car, disconnected and removed the battery, placed a piece of carpet over the engine under the bonnet and left the windows down a couple of inches so the air could circulate and the interior didn’t get damp.
Over the years the tyres had gone flat, but I pumped them up and remarkably they have all stayed pumped up. The car has literally just been given one quick was with soapy water to get the years of dust off and the bodywork is amazing for a car of it’s age. A day spent giving it a thorough clean and polish would make it look even better.
Inside the car has just had a quick hoover and I wiped the seats down with a damp cloth. The pictures show just how well preserved that is. The milometer reads 86,000 miles which (considering the car was 11 years old when it was parked up) is probably genuine.
The lady selling the house told us that the car was in regular use before being put in the garage and was driven in there by her husband
I re-filled the radiator with water a few days ago and so far the level hasn’t dropped. For some reason the ignition coil was missing from the engine bay when we uncovered the car. I can only assume it was ‘borrowed’ for one of the last owner’s other cars over the years (I’m told he also owned 2 or 3 other Austin / Morris 1100’s / 1300’s as well as an MG and at least one Mini at different times).
These old ADO16’s had the famous (or infamous!) Hydrolastic suspension systems. This one has sagged and sunk a bit over the years in storage, more so on the near-side. Back in the day they needed pumping up fairly regularly anyway. I’m hoping this has just lost pressure while in storage and if pumped up will be ok, but I’ve not got access to the necessary pump to check it out. I’ve read online that there are various seals which can dry out and leak when the car is left unused, but it seems that these old 1100’s and 1300’s have a strong owners club and most parts are still available.
I also lifted the carpets to have a look at the floors in the front and rear as these can be prone to rust. The floors in this car are excellent – done dry, rust free and still covered in factory paint.
Just to make sure the engine wasn’t seized I turned it over gently but have deliberately not made any attempt to start it. It isn’t seized and turns over freely but I didn’t want to try and start it without fresh oil, checking the valves weren’t stuck etc as it hasn’t run since 1979.
Among the junk in the garage were a lot of spare parts for the Morris 1300 including 2 extra spare wheels, 5 x owners manuals and Haynes repair manuals, 2 x complete rear hubs and drums, 1275 A series cylinder head, a pair of complete headlights, pair of complete tail lights, Various trim / switches / lamp lenses, 3 x hub swivels, radiator expansion tank, air filter assembly, pair of front brake callipers, Inlet and exhaust manifolds, 2 SU carburettors, wing mirror, 2 new fuel caps etc etc.
All together there are 4 large crates full of spare parts which the new owner can have. Many bits are compatible with early Minis, so would sell easily on eBay or at an autojumble.
Unfortunately, while clearing the house we haven’t found any documents for the Morris, but did find the keys!
The only documents I have are a copy of the form the last owner sent to the DVLA when he returned the tax disc for a refund when the car was put into the garage in September 1979 and the tax disc in the car, which expired earlier in 1979.
I’ve spoken to the DVLA who state that the car is still on their database and I’ve applied for a new style V5, which should be back with me very soon.
The car is MOT and tax exempt due to its age, and fully comprehensive classic car insurance is available for under £100, making this a very cheap classic car to own and run.
This is a project, but not a full on restoration. Despite the fact that 2.3 million ADO16’s were built between 1962 and 1974, they are now quite rare. According to the ‘How Many Left’ website, in 2018 there were just 94 Morris 1300’s still registered with the DVLA as being on the road.
The car is at my home address in Woking, Surrey. Viewing is welcome and we can observe the social distancing rules. Obviously it is not roadworthy and would need to be collected on a trailer or recovery vehicle. I can supply further photographs on request.
