1967 Morris Oxford Traveller - Holy thread revival batman

Spot on with the Rhodesian plate. It was taken on the Beit Bridge road Circa '63, (Rhodesian / SA border), I'm not sure which side of the border.

Front indicators

I've got the standard front indicators on my Morris.



They are very BMC parts bin, and feature on everything from Nurse Gladys Emmanuel's Morris Minor to abortions such as this.



My original plan was  57 Caddy lights



But no - that was trying too hard.

Lots of searching to turn up something else.

I found a pair of Lucas RF305A lenses, that I believe might be off a Rolls Royce !!

First step was to remove the original lenses.
Then fire up the 3D printer, for a little adapter ring, that covers the cut out in the glass lens
Then print up some new backing plates in silver.



Into the backing plates I put some M5 brass inserts, that get melted into place with a soldering iron.
Then loctite in some M5 studs for final fitting.

The bulbs are chrome ones that shine amber.

Here they are assembled.
They would have looked okay, with the adapters in their native silver, but I had some chrome pinstripe tape, which by luck was the right 10mm width.



Bolted up - I think they look pretty good.
I wanted something that matched the vertical flutes on the headlamps and foglamps. and I've achieved that.



I also didn't want loads of different shades of amber, on the front end, but the chrome bulbs work perfectly to disguise their colour.

Even better they even work.
A bit of luck timing with the shutter button caught them illuminating with the hazard lights.



Yep - I've got hazard flashers on an old Morris Oxford 
I've moved the sidelight function to the headlights too.

Thanks for looking.

It’s all the subtle little changes that make this an interesting build 😊.
.... now come on. Be truthful, how many photos did you take to catch the hazard lights at the right time? 🤣🤣

Good job on the indicators, I like the Caddy lights but think they would have been a bit £1 shop like all the rest of the tat the car came with!

Painting - the nearside bodyshell

First we have to time travel back to July 2020
I'm paining cellulose at home in a short garage, so it has to be done in sections, and it has to be done before the weather gets too Autumnal, or it'll be too cold and damp to paint.

Here is the starting point for this chapter of the story.
Sills, floorpans and rear wing have all been replaced.
Scuttle/A-pillar has had extensive repairs, along with a lot of other panels
Replacement front wing has been modified so it bolts on, rather than factory spot welds.



A lot of bodywork has been done to the rear wings, and wheel arch to get the doors fitting correctly, and smoothed out for paint.



1K Etch primer first.
Getting the side in one colour is a huge boost to morale, and is one reason why I love/tolerate body repairs.
But it reveals a few areas that still need attention.



The front inner wing gets seam sealer, followed by Upol Gravitex.



Then the primer-filler goes on, and gets blocked down, and the masking all pulled off to remove all the dust, and prepare for top-coat.



Remasked again.
The summer of 2020 was memorable for Covid-19 and endless masking for me !!
Then some Maroon-B top-coat sprayed on the tricky to get at areas.



I was particularly pleased how the sills came out.
The sills are cheap cover sills with no jacking points in them.
But I used them not as cover sills, but as a proper repair panel.
I just wanted a cleaner look, and estate sills with two jacking points per side are messy and expensive.



I could go back in time some more, and detail the front wing repairs, but I'll try and stay focused on painting here.
Here is said item after repairs, etch and Gravitex.



Slap some top-coat onto the Gravitex.
I'm not going for a concours finish. I just don't like black underseal.
I wanted a finish where it would be nice to work on the finished car.

There was an inspiration feature car, in Hot Rod magazine a long long time ago. A 57 Chevrolet. The reporter wrote "There isn't any black paint anywhere on this car"
That attention to detail stuck with me, and this is my 57 Chevrolet.



With that done I could put the car back level again, so I could re-hang the doors.
The front wing has also found its way back on   



There is a very busy two-weeks including some time off work between the first and last photos in the post FYI.

More painting updates to come soon.

Fantastic results so far!...I like the notion of "no black paint anywhere", but find myself looking for contrast. Years ago, I learned that you do not always have to use black Colour to achieve that contrast, but still, its just so tempting!

JP

What sort of paint is the top coat?

That is great work, much respect on the build