I'm sixty one, an electrician but have worked in the export meat industry for the last thirty seven years.  I am married to Pam and we three adult children.  Lisa Newton lives in Sydney Australia, husband Keith works in telecommunications.   Simon is a baker and flats with his partner Kim in our home town Timaru, population 27,000 central south island east coast.  Ruth is a radiographer and works at a private clinic in Whangarei. 

In my youth I had no real interest in old cars, surprising because I liked working with tools, making and repairing things mechanical, electrical and woodworking.  Dad had a workshop and I followed suit.  When we shifted to  the house we own at present the first priority was to set up a workshop in the basement with plenty of workbench space, cupboards and shelving, good lighting, plenty of power outlets and electrical test equipment.  Engineers vice, electric hand tools, grinder etc. plus all the other bits and pieces that accumulate in a workshop.   Between my son Simon (when he was at home )with his motorcycles and Ford Cortina car and me restoring a Morris 8 and repairing the odd appliance the workshop is in constant use. 

Not long after I started work (1955) my younger brother and I were given a 1936? 350 cc Sunbeam motor cycle that had been sitting in a basement for years.  Our idea of restoration was to replace the front assemble with more modern telescopic front forks, wheel, headlight and seat.  The gearbox gave constant trouble and in the end the housing cracked.  Parts were hard to get and in the end the engine was used for a saw bench to cut firewood, then when when our parents shifted house it ended up at the dump. 

My first car was a 1937 Hudson with a massive straight eight engine.  I was conned into buying it by my younger brother.  It proved to expensive for an apprentice electrician so I traded it in for a 1952 Triumph 500 cc Speed Twin motor cycle that we couldn't start and ended up pushing home - about two miles but at  the time  seemed more like twenty.  When I came out of the Army (C.M.T.) I sold the Speed Twin and bought a new 1956 B.S.A. Gold Flash that I wish I still had.  Over the years I have owned many vehicles, too many to list, the present a new 1999 Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4. 

Up to about the late 70's British cars dominated New Zealand roads then the Japanese "Invasion" started and by the early 90's most new cars looked similar so it must have been nostalgia that made me interested in an advertisement in our local newspaper, "For Sale, Morris 8 dismantled, all there plus extras".  I had a look at it and it appeared to be a pile of rusty junk.  The owner bought the car when he was single, had trouble with the back axle then decided to dismantle it completely with the intention of restoring it.  Fourteen years later he was married, had his own home and was raising a family, his wife was sick of tripping over Morris 8 parts scattered all over their section, in their garage and sleepout, so she gave him an ultimatum and it wasn't the car or her, it was either restore it or sell the parts. 

In 1992 against my better judgement I bought a trailer load of parts I hoped would blossom into a 1937 Morris 8 two door saloon.  When I arrived home with the "treasure" my wife Pam was not exactly reassuring with "did you pay money for that junk" in fact it only cost $100 that was all the previous owner wanted because he spent that much reconditioning the generator, and as time went by I was to learn buying it was the cheap part. 

All the parts were sorted and stored, then I made a start on the chassis with hand and electric wire brushes, old file and cleaning gear.  Once all the dirt, grease and rust was cleaned off it was in remarkably good order with just a small amount of rust pitting.  Shackle pins and bushes replaced, leaf springs (also in good order ) cleaned and fitted to axles - progress. 

It was about this time I found out about The Morris 8 Tourer Club and their parts shed in Christchurch so I was able to buy 4 good second hand wheels, 2 doors and a running board.  Brake cylinders and master cylinder were exchanged for reconditioned ones, new brake shoes, wheel bearings, king pins and bushes fitted.  The engine bores were honed and new rings fitted.  Exhaust valves and all valve springs replaced, all new gaskets fitted then the engine installed on new mounts, the gearbox and drive shaft cleaned and connected. 

I spent a lot of time on the car body, it had been left outside so there was a lot of rust dents etc. so I had to strip it back to bare metal.  After it was ready to sit on the chassis a friend told me about this M8 body in good order that was there for the taking, but it always happens like that.  They are never there when you want them.  I was now at the point of no return with friends and neighbours making comments like "it will look nice when it's finished or when will it be finished" with emphasis on the when.  A friend came to the rescue with the paint job, he brought his compressor  around and between the two of us had it finished in 2 week-ends.  With paint on, Royal blue and black it looked good, like a Morris 8 

All the woodwork was replaced, new head lining, upholstery, carpet, rewired, new exhaust system and all the 100 and 1 small jobs (some turn into majors) that get left.  The whole project took 2 years and cost about $5000.  I just wanted a reasonable finish at a reasonable cost so I could use it as much as possible.  I have tried to keep it as original as possible, although I did fix in permanently the side back windows.  The headlights have original reflectors and glass and it is a matter of lights for other cars to see you, rather than you see much with them. In the five years I have had it on the road, I have only driven it once at night to try the lights out. 

We will be at Dunedin for Rally 2000 to see in the new Millennium 

Happy motoring 
Peter McAuley