wood and stuff - Sep 27, 2007

Here is the pile of wood as delivered from Sussex, England. Notice the wood frames come all assembled. Good for me as I am not a woodworker. Can't say enough good about Steve Foreman in the UK, Traveller's Woodwork. Very helpful, prompt service, worked with him through mostly email and one transatlantic phone call.
The Morris Travellers, as they called these woodies, were built on the Morris car assembly line up to the rear doorpost. Then they went, as it was explained to me, to Abington, UK to the MG woodworking shops (remember that early 50s MGs had wood components on the frames) and the carpenters there installed the wood, the rear aluminum roof and aluminum rear fenders. They put aluminum panels in the ash frames also which I have chosen to replace with marine plywood for a more "woody" look.
I expect this car to be less than 2000lbs wet as the aluminum V8 is not that much heavier than the cast iron four cylinder. This will be a tight car with the box tubing frame. I can't imagine how loose this car was with the soft unibody and the wood. Must have rattled like an old hay wagon. They produced Travellers from 1954 into 1971 when the last one rolled off the assembly line. Since they made a 1948 Morris, I intend to title this car as a '48, allowing me to run NH street rod license plates. Just a mixture of "bits and bobs" as the Brits would say to create a little fun car.