REGISTRATION NUMBER: JER 888F
COLOUR: CALIFORNIA WHITE
DATE OF 1ST REGISTRATION: 14/02/1968
NUMBERS OF OWNERS: 6
DATE ACQUIRED VEHICLE: 06/01/2005
We decided to get a classic car after going to a show with our son and his fully restored Mini Moke so we started looking in classic magazines and classic newspapers for a Morris Oxford or Wolsey as these were the ones we thought would be OK. Looking in a Classic car magazine there was a Red P1800S in Luton and our son said this is the sort of thing you want it will hold its value or increase it if you do not finish it the others won't. We went down to look at the car 3 times before we bought it the engine ran but the car would not move as the clutch was stuck in neutral. The body work needed a lot doing to it and the floor panels, chassis and cross members were rotten. It also needed a total respray. The interior was not in good condition either, needing new carpets and 2 front seats. Not to mention the brakes which were non existent. We sorted the clutch out so we could move the car in and out of the garage so we could work on the drive to give us room to work.
As far as the body went we knew it needed a lot of welding and new panels. So we started looking for any parts we could find at reasonable prices and we found 2 donor cars locally one of which was basically a shell the other stripped down the man was selling both cars together, not having much room we cut the shell up keeping some of the panels. As the other was stripped down we sold the shell but kept the parts not realising at that time that some of the parts would not fit ours as it was an early cowhorn bumper type.
While returning from the local Autojumble one Sunday our son spotted what he thought was a P1800 in a used car compound parked at the side of a skip. We thought it would be a good car for spares but after closer investigation with our son who is a panel beater/sprayer he said it had been restored before and all the panels were straight and it was in reasonable condition but the paint was cracked and had moss and grass growing on it. It was clear it had stood for a long time however we bought it as our son said it would be easier to restore than the red one.
As we were running out of space and funds we sold the red one on eBay and we got more than we paid for the White one so that helped. So now we started work on the White one the engine ran but only with a jam jar of petrol with the aid of an electric fuel pump mounted on the inner wing as the petrol tank was full of water but as before neither the clutch or brakes worked.
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