Morris Minor Owners Club Series MM Register

Pete Sinclair's 1950 Lowlight V8 MM.

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I bought my 1950 MM lowlight in the summer of 1972 from a guy in the car scene in Dundee. I'd heard stories of the car from a number of sources, and once I followed them up I contacted the seller, and agreed a price of £100 (a lot of money back then). What I bought was basically a rolling shell, with Riley 1.5 running gear and interior and wide steel (banded) wheels. It's got a good local registration number - BTS 81 and is chassis No. SMM 57550, first registered in 8th July 1950. It was originally platinum grey, but was sprayed blue within a year, then black a few years later, and was this colour when I got it.

It took me and my father about 3 months to get it roadworthy, and I drove around in it for a while to iron out the bugs. The biggest hassle was the exhaust which kept coming off at the manifold. This was only cured by buying a specially made one by Geoff Howe exhausts for a B series in a minor (got 2 hanging up in my garage now). My dad decided one day to brush paint it in maroon, and he did a reasonable job, but one day as I was driving down a hill, the bonnet flew off. I thought nothing about leaving it at the side of the road, thinking 'all minor bonnets are the same' - wrong. Once I'd retrieved it the next day and beaten it back into shape I decided to get the car sprayed. I chose a fetching colour of the time - Blaze red, and decided to do some further mods at the same time. I fitted front and rear spax, a lowering kit and tarted up the interior. It ran for a while like this, but the engine was getting a bit tired, so I completely rebuilt another riley engine. Once fitted, it was certainly smoother as I had it balanced and lightened, but wasn't any faster. By this time I'd met a few guys locally with highly modified (for the time) minors. One guy was changing his full race MGB engine for a Holbay Rapier engine, so I bought it from him for £200. It lasted a week in my car as the brand new stage 3 cylinder he'd put on it dropped a valve, due to the supplier not fitting the proper valve platforms. Again unfortunately, the engine was actually a 3 bearing racing engine from the states - Jahns pistons, chambers cam etc etc, so I had to get it rebored, new powermax pistons, new nimonic valves etc - another £200. It did go rather well though - faster than the current favourite of the young men about town - RS 2000 mk2, and it handled good too, despite the added weight at the front. I also fitted Cosmic Mk 2 alloys, and it sported Dunlop sp sports all round - 185/70 x 13.

Around 1974 I got rear ended by a Transit, and the car had to get resprayed again, but I just left it the same colour as I was used to it. I got married in 1977, and after 4 weeks of matrimony, the Fire Brigade went on strike - great news for a newly wed. I still managed to run the car on my wife's salary, but just before Christmas the crank snapped, so I picked up a 5 bearing engine in a scrap yard for £30, and promptly sold the overdrive box for £25 - result. The engine was pretty good, but naturally a bit slow after the race motor, but it still moved along. The next plan once back to work was to respray the car, and I got it done in VW Anconna Blue - see first photo. I also put in Black perspex windows and retrimmed the interior and fitted a dash out of a Jowett Javelin (still have)- it looked really good, and I won first prize at a Custom car show in Edinburgh. I also had it featured in Custom Car magazine in 1979 when the magazine was doing the rounds of the Scottish scene.

In 1980 I fitted cobra slots - 6 x13 at front and 8 x 13 at rear (now fitted on my Blue V8) and it certainly suited it. I also fitted a Capri 3 litre back axle and marina discs to bring it up to date. In 1982 I rebuilt the car from top to bottom, and sprayed it Cinnibar red. My son was born in 1983, and I put it off the road in order to use 'family transport' but it resurfaced at a few custom shows and runs until 1986. I attended custom runs all over the country - the furthest being at Southampton. I decided that I no longer wanted the performance of a 4 cylinder, even though it had bigger carbs and modded head, so I took it to bits. The engine and box went into a Wolsely 1500 I built, then the suspension and brakes went onto a Minor 1000 I built, so I was left with a body shell. This lay abandoned in my drive for several years until I got round to building a separate chassis with a Ford 5 litre V8. I then with the help of a couple of friends cut the entire lower half out of it (see photos). The shell was then placed on the chassis and I lost interest (discovered motor bikes). The cunning plan was to fully rebuild it when I retired (2005) and my friend was due me a favour, so it was taken up to his garage on another friend's pickup, and the build is underway. I bought a complete Mach 1 mustang engine - 5.8 litre complete with box and a narrowed axle. I also bought wheels, tyres, suspension, all new lower body panels and new chrome. Hopefully it will be completed in about a year, and should have a new lease of life.

I did about 100,000 miles in it when it was my everyday car, and it will see the road again. Interestingly, I have never encountered another lowlight when driving it, but there seems to be more around now than ever. I have a V8 series 2 which I put the wings and front panel from my MM on to, so I can have a flavour of V8 motoring for now. You can follow the build progress on Minor Mania - slowed a bit just now though.