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Morris Minor 1000 Traveller 1960
Your Cool Little Woody Wagon  - 2 -
Photo: a replica of a Morris Minor Traveller (Woody Wagon)

Another of the Traveller models I bought. Note the different hubcaps. There are several brands of Traveller. I believe the UKers like them as much as I do. You can see in this seller's representation there are a couple of dark spots where the "wing" mirrors would be affixed. It is explained in at least one brand's literature: if installed before shipment to the final displayer, they are invariably broken off, so they ship in a tiny plastic envelope. No glue provided.


Oops. It ran rough, real rough. I got my compression guage and oil can out of the car (which car I disremember) and set the guy up for a misdirection: compression test showed three goods and a poor; squirt of oil through the sparkplug hole, and a compression test showed no difference. I slapped my forehead and told the guy it seemed there was a bad cylinder, probably a broken ring. It would cost me a whole bunch to fix it. He knocked the price down part of a bunch, then almost a whole bunch, and we agreed to terms. Sold. Five hundred bucks.

Then the valve job, under $30 including springs. Then I went to Fords and Foreigns and traded most of my leftover MG TD SUs for a pair and a manifold from a 998cc Sprite. They installed clean on the Morris, but didn't do much for the hauling-around and up the hill. Raised the top speed after a long run-up, but was not a solution to the skinny torque profile. I suppose the big-diameter exhaust pipe exiting in front of the rear wheel wasn't a good step, either.

So, on with the Judson supercharger. They had improved/simplified the drive since the TD version: no longer required two belts on the pulleys. The carburetor was a Holley downdraft, and the drip-feed for Marvel Mystery Oil was easier to adjust. See photos of just such a kit as the one I installed, courtesy of a gentleman who sold one on eBay For multiples of what I paid.

There was a useful improvement as measured by actual accelleration up the 395 hill. I don't remember what effect it had on mileage. All that testing and trying made me hear a knock in the engine, so I replaced the rod bearings. Did the job in record time, lying on my back in the street outside the apartment. It was no longer a knocker, and after some careful run-in time, ran just as I had hoped it would.

There were a number of neat-os about these little wagons. A twin-size mattress fit nicely between the rear wheel-wells, and could be persuaded to double up over the folded back seat for travel. A sheet of plywood stored between the mattress and the rear floor and slid out supported the extended end. That back seat was easy to flatten for more room. Used as a seat, with a booster it suited Geneva to a tee. And it was storage for countless bottles of Kahlua, Dos Equis, and Mexican Kent cigarette knock-offs . . .

Thumbnail: Geneva and the Traveller  CLICK for a larger version

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