Page 25 - June 2022

" The Morris Minor was the first British car to
exceed 1 million cars produced," says Dave. " It
was designed by the same person that
designed the Mini. When I get to work on this
one, I'm not considering a restoration so that it
looks new. It is interesting enough in its current
survivor state that it really belongs in a
Preservation class."

Above: In Bishop's view, working through the
Marina's issues and tuning it up to get back on the
road does not require a piano as part of the tool

Although Bishop enjoys cars, both the history
and the driving of them, he is not sentimental
about hanging on to things that have reached the
point of diminishing returns. Outside his barn ,
two derelict British roadsters sit, stripped down
Seen from above Bishop's 1967 Morris Minor 1000
for whatever they might have once contained that
waits patiently for its moment to come, sitting
could still be useful. I can't help myself silently
bonnet to bonnet with two cosseted and covered
thinking about a rescue plan.
cars that are in storage for another owner.
Inside the auxiliary parts barn, all his bits and
Over to the right of the barn a 1974 Austin
bobs, for both British and other foreign models,
Marina GT is a work in progress. Dave and a
have been inspected, organized, and arranged by
friend had plans to enter the 1800CC Marina in
quality. He knows both the provenance and the
the Targa Newfoundland, clearly placing more
value of each piece of his inventory, including
value on a brand that was a replacement for
some of the new/old/original filters, tune up kits,
the Morris Minor in America.
in original packaging that are hanging about
According to Dave, from 1971-1985 the Austin waiting for new homes.
Motor Company produced over 2 million of
When I tell Dave, as we explore his stock for sale,
these tidy family sedans, some of them, like
that my own Dad never got rid of even
Bishop's GT model below , having more oomph
expended spark plugs of vintages long ago. He
than others.
kept them in a large bucket in the garage waiting
to show someone who might be interested. I
confessed I had inherited some of those traits
but my nostalgia got the abrupt check of reality,
when he observed, " The best use for some of this
stuff is to put it right into the recycling bin. You
rebuild the stuff that can be rebuilt, like
distributors, but there is no reason to hang on to
things that are past their useful purpose."

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