Dig Deep for a Minor and Help Children in Need!

HIGH WYCOMBE, UNITED KINGDOM – November 23, 2009: When a classic Morris Minor Traveller was traded in under the scrappage scheme at Chelmsford Hyundai, the owner of the dealership – Bill Cook - could not bear to see the car sent to the crusher. So he paid out of his own pocket to cover the £2,100 scrappage allowance and save the ‘woody’ Minor.

Rather than just sell the car on, he has decided to put it up for auction on eBay, with every penny of the proceeds going to Children In Need.

The car is a 1098cc Morris Minor Traveller – the ‘estate’ model which famously mimicked classic American cars with its wood-framed rear end. This particular model is painted in ‘Rose Taupe’ with a red interior. It was registered on 27th June 1967 and the odometer shows it has covered around 77,000 miles.

The car will be supplied with a new MoT expiring in November 2010, and it is of course classed as a historic vehicle and therefore eligible for free road tax.

To allow you to bid in confidence, we approached the Morris Minor Owners’ Club and asked them to provide an independent appraisal of the car, and they kindly agreed. The description is as follows:

“I am the Technical adviser Morris Minor Owners Club, and I examined the Morris Traveller PGO 344E as part of the Children in Need appeal which had been exchanged in at the Chelmsford Hyundai agents.

I found the car to be in basically good condition. The underside appeared sound with no bodge welding I could see and the engine ran very sweetly. The crossmember and door bottoms struck me as being excellent. One front wing showed some corrosion but these are bolt on.

The woodwork needed one rear pillar replacing together with a waist rail. These are all available and a competent DIY car enthusiast could do these easily. I was given an estimate of £250 for the woodwork and £300 for the wing for those who wish to have a Morris specialist do the job rather than do it themselves. The rest of the wood just needs some tender loving care and new varnish.

I was not able to remove carpets etc to do a full examination but moderate hand pressure did not reveal any softness in the usual rot areas.

Morris Club members can of course ring me for more information on the usual number.

Rob Thomasson”

The MMOC have also kindly offered a year’s membership of the club free to the winning bidder.

In addition, a few other companies have generously offered to help make the Minor even more attractive. Firstly, the lovely chaps at ECM have offered to put the Minor on a transporter and deliver it to any Hyundai dealer in the UK.

Before sale the Minor will be treated to a through valet, thanks to the lovely people at Shine (www.taketheweekendoff.com)

We would also like to thank RSC Photography for waiving their fee for taking these listing photographs. You can contact them at: www.rscphotography.co.uk

The Morris Minor is available to view in office hours at Chelmsford Hyundai, 74 Main Road, Broomfield, Chelmsford. CM1 7DH

To place a bid or see how much the bids are currently up to, click here or log onto to www.ebay.co.uk and enter item number 160379954449. The auction ends on Friday 27 Nov, 2009 15:18:27 GMT.