SOMETIMES THEY REALLY DO COME BACK!

In Australia we have a very strong hot rod community, and as a young bloke I remember being dragged to hotrod shows and swap meets every other weekend by my old man. My dad is the typical older car guy, not a hot rodder but he appreciates them and the blokes who dedicate their lives to them..

My dad is the typical car guy. He owns a nice old car, that only leaves the shed on a nice day and maybe only a couple of times a year to keep the kilometers low. He puts sports before cars and has the typical middle aged car guy garage where his car sits on carpet in its own corner, a bar, couches, and a big tv to watch the AFL on (Australian football).. ( This sounds a LOT like "Dan" AKA, "Everyman," from my story "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE NORMAL??" )

But as alike as we are, sometimes far too alike, we are worlds apart in our love for cars, he likes them, appreciates them, but doesn’t live and breath them. In saying that, it’s his appreciation and the fact he dragged me to shows and swap meets and the memories of being in his cars as a kid that led me to the downward spiral and forever financial hardship and stress of living for cars. 

Now don’t let this description of my old man fool you, he has had a couple of beautiful cars in his time.. the one that really got me into cars was his 1978 Holden HZ station wagon (for those who don’t know and aren’t Australian, Holden is a General Motors company in Australia, we built our own Australian specific cars as well as importing chevs, Pontiac’s and such).. He brought it for work and family duties but done the typical car guy upgrade like a set of wheels, full leather interior from a Holden caprice, and a full respray in gunmetal grey. It got a stupid-sounding exhaust that told everyone it was only running the baby v8 (253 cubes) and would easily be outpaced by most 4 cylinders of its day. But it was the look, sound and smell of it that made me love cars and made my life only about cars.

Now to bring it forward a few years, deep into my automotive addiction, I started getting a strong appreciation for English cars, and thought of them as very overlooked when it came to customizing. I mean unless it’s a 32 Ford or a 57 Chevy, why would you want to customize it? (One of the many things that shits me to tears about the car community)

Now I always loved the little Morris minor, so one sort of fell into my lap, the idea was to cut what was left of the floor out and put a full chassis under it, a little v8 and call it a day, a nice simple hotrod that I could get in and cruise reliably without an issue in the world… Well it never got to that point. Shortly after getting it I needed money, and i knew I could make a quick buck, so off she went. 

A few months went by and I was driving home and spotted a Morris Oxford in traffic. It was far from stock, the front rails were extended, it had an open wheel front end with a miss-match of Ford and Chevy to make up a bonnet (hood) and grill shell. Although ugly as sin, I knew I needed to try and buy the thing. It was an English car turned into a hotrod after all...

Now this thing was rough. It was an old build and was a mix of flat black, grey primer and surface rust, but it was cool. So, I followed the guy home, asked some questions and asked what he would take for it, to which I was told to jog on.

After a few years I was happy living life with 2 kids, married, working flat out and cruising my little 79 Toyota corona every day to and from work when I see the Morris on Facebook for sale, I knew I needed it. I offered a trade for my corona which although not a desirable car, was a beautiful little thing with less than 90 thousand original kilometers on it (around 55 thousand miles I believe).. he wasn’t interested since he just wanted to downsize, so I put my corona up for sale and the next day it was gone, and I went and picked up my Morris finally!

Now to paint a picture of what this car was when I got it:

It was rattle-canned flat black in the 80’s, so it looked rough. It had typical street rod shit like a roll pan with the exhaust coming through it, 39 ford tail lights, a flush fitting fuel filler door, grey bucket seats out of some Japanese car, no carpet, no rear seat, no anything besides two buckets, a couple of gauges and a steering wheel. It had a horrible 70’s GM steering column and front suspension (although well fitted and works a treat), and the cut and shut front end I described before. 

The day after buying it I got it registered and started daily driving it, she was a very reliable daily since it was running a Holden 202 cube straight 6 backed by a 3-speed auto and 10 bolt differential. But after a couple of months, my wife and I needed money, so off she went to a new home.

Now I had big plans for this car, like finding original front panels for it and stretching them to fit over the stretched rails, turning it into a coupe, having the interior done, and undoing a lot of the 80’s and 90’s era shit that was done to the body. But I figured it was as good as gone once I sold it. It turns out, I was wrong...

Fast forward a year, in a better job, a little more money, and a more stable living situation and I see she’s popped up for sale again! So straight away I was down to the bank to borrow some money to bring the old girl home. I had my little hotrod back!

I drove it to work a couple of times a week, my wife and I took it out a few times and went on a couple of cruises, and then the ideas I had the first time I owned it got the better of me...One day I just decided to start cutting it up! It started with a design I’d come up with that made it like a business coupe sort of thing.. So I moved the pillars and started stretching the doors. I eventually found a parts car as well, so I finally had a front end for it!

After doing a heap of work, and somewhat changing my plans to make it look a little more custom by laying the back window down a little more and removing the pillars, it ended up sitting. Sadly, life got in the way. I started really looking at Lincoln Zephyrs and thought the low, long, sleek 3 window Zephyr styling was perfect. And since my car already had the front rails stretched, it would have the perfect proportions for a Zephyr-look. So, a few renderings and many nights thinking of ways to get the job done she was rolled out of the shed again and the grinder was out.

..

Now it’s chopped 2 inches, slowly getting the roof where it needs to be, and finally I can see what the end will look like with a clear vision of what I want it to be which I didn’t quite have when I first started cutting it up.

Now unfortunately I don’t have any more to say. I’d like to tell you it’s finished, but life and kids and my wife always come first. I'm hoping that by the end of the year she’ll be ready to hit the road for some summer cruising and to show people you don’t need money, you don’t need the best tools or the biggest garage, and you don’t need a 32 Ford or 57 Chevy! All you need is a little imagination, and you can build yourself a sweet little hotrod!

All I do is think about this car, and  how I’m going to tackle the next task, how it’s going to look when it’s finally done, ( Kind of like my story, "TWO HOURS A NIGHT" ) and how people are going to react when they find out it’s a little Morris Oxford. (although only Morris people will be able to pick it so it will be a shock to everyone else)..

I live and breathe this car, and hotrods in general. I love the freedom, the ideas, the people, and the fact that you’re really only limited by your imagination. And that to me that’s what hot rodding is all about.