Back in the early 60's when I was taking my apprenticeship to become an injection mold maker I lived in Manhattan Beach California and had a serious urge to get away from the city and see more of the west. To that end I bought a Morris Minor woody station wagon that I built up to travel in. It had a tiny 948 cc engine with about 37 hp and not even 50 lb of torque and was an underwhelming performer. But that was the heyday of the Austin Healy Sprite and they were being raced everywhere and there were lots of options available for them. I removed the little engine and fitted it with 11:1 pistons, dual SU carbs, a header, the Sebring Long Course cam and the heavy duty 9 spring clutch. Now with much better performance I could easily cruise at freeway speeds and once got stopped by a cop near Santa Barbara for passing a car that the cop thought I was too under powered to pass. Showing him the pristine engine compartment he decided not to give me a ticket and wished me well.
After a shakedown trip to Seattle to see an old Air Force buddy I decided to do a tour of southern British Columbia and set out on a 2 week road trip in what was now a tiny campermobile. I built a comfortable bed into the passenger side, added a cheap cooler chest and set out on an adventure with little knowledge of what to expect. I did expect a lot of gas stops though as the Morris had a tiny fuel tank. At one point at some location in remote BC I was running critically low on fuel and stopped at a ranch to inquire about the nearest fuel availability. The rancher said that his neighbor had some fuel that he would probably sell me. I asked how far it was to his neighbors house and he said 68 miles! I didn't think I could make it so the rancher said he had a tank of 78 octane tractor fuel if that would help. With 11:1 pistons that sounded like a disaster but I had to try it. Those old British cars had Lucas distributors with a thumbwheel that allowed you to retard or advance the ignition so I just dialed the spark back as far as it would go and it worked. The gas was pumped by hand into a graduated cylinder then gravity fed into the car, pretty old school.
I did some back road stuff that the Morris handled quite well. I was running on new recaps that I bought on sale for $8.88 apiece! That was back when I could buy a 24 can case of Valvoline oil for under $10. Driving along a mountain creek at one point I encountered a sign that said:
Absolutely No Gold Panning. Survivors Will Be Prosecuted
It was a fun trip that I learned a lot from and it instilled in me a desire to car (or truck) camp that I still have today. In a way the Morris was the precursor to today's Casa. Nowadays lots of people are doing what I did about 60 years ago but most are doing it in luxury vans that cost anywhere from 70 to 200 thousand dollars. Back then I did it with a rig that I bought for $400 and probably put another $400 into. Cheap thrills, good memories.
After a shakedown trip to Seattle to see an old Air Force buddy I decided to do a tour of southern British Columbia and set out on a 2 week road trip in what was now a tiny campermobile. I built a comfortable bed into the passenger side, added a cheap cooler chest and set out on an adventure with little knowledge of what to expect. I did expect a lot of gas stops though as the Morris had a tiny fuel tank. At one point at some location in remote BC I was running critically low on fuel and stopped at a ranch to inquire about the nearest fuel availability. The rancher said that his neighbor had some fuel that he would probably sell me. I asked how far it was to his neighbors house and he said 68 miles! I didn't think I could make it so the rancher said he had a tank of 78 octane tractor fuel if that would help. With 11:1 pistons that sounded like a disaster but I had to try it. Those old British cars had Lucas distributors with a thumbwheel that allowed you to retard or advance the ignition so I just dialed the spark back as far as it would go and it worked. The gas was pumped by hand into a graduated cylinder then gravity fed into the car, pretty old school.
I did some back road stuff that the Morris handled quite well. I was running on new recaps that I bought on sale for $8.88 apiece! That was back when I could buy a 24 can case of Valvoline oil for under $10. Driving along a mountain creek at one point I encountered a sign that said:
Absolutely No Gold Panning. Survivors Will Be Prosecuted
It was a fun trip that I learned a lot from and it instilled in me a desire to car (or truck) camp that I still have today. In a way the Morris was the precursor to today's Casa. Nowadays lots of people are doing what I did about 60 years ago but most are doing it in luxury vans that cost anywhere from 70 to 200 thousand dollars. Back then I did it with a rig that I bought for $400 and probably put another $400 into. Cheap thrills, good memories.
