NODDY GOES ON A CRUISE
GUEST DIPSTICK PHIL PALMER
This is the story (so far) of Phil Palmer's 1927 Morris Cowley "Noddy", which he purchased in 2005 as a retirement project. It had been stored more or less untouched until 2019, at which point Phil realised he was no closer to retirement and that neither he or his wife were getting any younger, so he made the 'idiotic plunge' into restoration!
In March 2022 Phil sent us his story, which he continues below.
A minor complication arose in that I now live in England. Richard and friends did a super job of packing Noddy up and getting him on board the OOCL Yokohama for the six-week journey back to his place of origin.
I duly received notification that Noddy was waiting collection from his container in Southampton. After a two and a half hour journey the recovery driver and I found ourselves in a derelict wasteland behind the docks where we were met by a dodgy character looking like an extra from a Harry Potter movie who opened up the container without demanding any identification or proof of ownership. By prearrangement Noddy went directly to a barn owned by the Cooke Group who specialise in the restoration of early Morris cars – this was part of the what inspired me to start this saga in the first place.
After the usual delays and a further twelve-month hiatus caused by Covid, work commenced on a full mechanical rebuild. I had avoided any attempt at starting the engine despite it having the appearance of being very sound and for once my judgement proved right. Among other things two of the connecting rods were from a later engine and were fitted the wrong way round. Other snags that were solved by the Cooke's mechanic were a missing gearbox lid and the discovery that none of the three carburetors that came with the car actually fitted – problems solved by recourse to their awesome collection of spares. Major work included new pistons, big and small end bearings with associated machining of the bores and crankshaft, skimmed replacement head, new cork- lined clutch assembly, and a complete set of new tyres -made in Vietnam of all places.
While all this was (gradually) happening, I started work on the body which was basically sound but missing door skins and the boot/dickey seat assembly. I was lucky to find a sheet metal worker nearby who specialises in fabricating car panels. We finally got the doors to fit (sort of). I constructed the frame for the boot/dickey seat which curves in both vertical and horizontal planes, using sapele wood as the cost of dry ash was astronomical. I am quite proud of the finished product and reflect that of sixteen years formal education it was the two and a half years learning woodwork at Eastern Hills High School that have proved the most useful.
You wouldn’t believe how many hours of applying filler and primer, and then seemingly rubbing it all off, is involved in bodywork preparation. I eventually reached a point of exhaustion at which it seemed satisfactory enough to hand over to a spray painter, in this case a young(ish) bloke recommended by the paint supplier who was about to retire on the proceeds of my custom for filler, primer and abrasive materials. I was very lucky to find a painter willing to put topcoat on to work prepared by someone else and he, Jordan, did a great job. Noddy is now sporting Jaguar Dark Blue bodywork with black wings. Not show standard but good enough for me. By the way, the body was built in Australia by Holden, and I guess I could have chosen almost any colour but I really like the Jaguar blue which is a close match to the Morris factory blue of the era.
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There was absolutely no interior with the car: so far, I have fabricated floor and seat supports and carved seat cushions from high density foam. These are at an upholsterer for covering in appropriate “leathercloth” in dark red.
So far I have only been able to drive Noddy around the car park where I live. It is proving very difficult to get him road registered, mainly because he is regarded as an import. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I fear that my dream of pottering down English country lanes may not be realised. In any case we will be coming home later this year and so I look forward to the possibility of Noddy and I becoming fellow Dipsticks.
Cheers for now.
