R&D
I went to the mechanic in G-8 who was working on this car earlier to discuss the tuning part, he said that he wants to put a Corrola 82 distributor in it & Datsun 1200 rear shocks & leaf springs in the rear. I also looked for its spares in Isloo & went back home with disappointment. My elder brother (who took all the pain while we started complete restoration earlier this year) referred me to search for this stuff in Gawalmandi, bhao mohalla, Tipu Road & Chah Sultan. So, I with a friend left to Gawal Mandi & found a kamani maker who had leaf spring of Morris in his stock, he asked me to search its genuine rear shocks & this was time when I met someone who believed in Original Specs & the evolution of the though process started (I am calling it evolution because I ruined a Toyota Corono 1974 original 3 forward patrol by converting it to 1c diesel, that car was with us since early 80s) Anyways, dair aiyay durust aiyay!
Mr. Ramzan
The Key Morris guy & a good friend, this project wouldn’t have been possible without his support. While on my search for shocks I met Ramzan, he has a shop on Tipu Road, he started the Morris cutting & selling business in mid 90s while this car was losing popularity due to lack of spares, high maintenance cost & its economy as compared Suzuki IFX which was gaining its popularity for commercial purpose. Anyways, he has everything in his inventory & knows how to open fittings, how to fit it, which colors are for which model, its indicator lights, steering assembly design, plates on the engine, rim & trim color, original interior design etc. (Mr. Ramzan later own became the project Manager, he has got great follow up, always focused on quality & original specs of the car)
Mr. Liaqat
I found 1 shock from Ramzan & went further to Chah Sultan & found Mr. Liaqat who is key mechanic around, I saw a Morris Minor parked in his garage which was in awesome condition, I discussed missing problem, black smoke/kacha patrol from the exhaust etc. & he asked to bring the car for tuning (Later in this restoration project, he built the complete engine & Gear which are yet to be installed in the car). Both of these guys played a key role while a trend to restore Morris started in Isloo from 1998 & ended in 2003.
My vision was to bring the car in running condition, than search & hunt spares & later on restore it thoroughly. So the hunt went on, I also met Morris Minor owners, most remarkable of them was Mr. Adam (late) who was from EU, settled in Islamabad. He & his wife both owned Morris Minor, his car was in dark grayish blue color, he used it as a daily driver and It was an inspiration for me. Mr. Basharat of Fateh Jang (his & mine names are common) who owns a Morris Minor, a mini & and an Austin, his car is still in genuine paint and awesome condition (color shade matching was done from his car). Mr. Qaisrani (off-white), Mr. Ramzan himself had a red Minor 65 so as Mr. Liaqat both of them are master piece. Another owner (don’t know his name), who is also using it as daily driver and I often see his car in Track 3 parking, I talked to him only once. There are also few friends from Karachi who are in touch & Mr. Kamal from UK who arranged parts for me. Wouldn’t be able to write more regarding this, otherwise this will become a Tribute instead of a project
