As it was not a Mk3, it did not really appeal to me - but in an effort to get it to a good home, I in turn offered it to Zeb (I'm only going to own one of these..), who quickly agreed that we should save it.
This resulted in a 300 mile round trip on Sunday to retrieve it, and to finally meet Chris in person. Turned out there was a lot more to Chris and a family history with Morris cars, so it was a very eventful day.
We heard his coupe running some time before we got to the house - something to do with being fugal with exhaust length...
The car was a 1978 1.8, with some tasty mods - namely lovely blue rims, and some creative approach to lowering frontal wind resistance.!
Prior to being gifted, all the plates had been removed, but we had a set still on hold, so after a quick identity change, we fired it up - which it did quite readily.
Bit low on compression on one cylinder - sounded as if a valve was unhappy - but most things worked, and we decided that driving it would beat towing it.
I let Zeb set the pace, as he got familiar with the vaguaries of the steering setup..
All went well, and we stopped at Oamaru for a bite of lunch. Our initial dry start had given way to steady rain, and with the heater non-operational, things were not too cosy in the car, creating a few visibility problems. Otherwise looked like it would make it home happily enough. Cool motor Guv.!
motored on, and things went great until we reached Timaru - where the eyes of the law beheld us. A cop tailed us as we drove into town, so seeing an opportunity, we did a sudden left turn into a gas station, and watched the officer do a slow crawl past while checking us out.
We didn't need any fuel, so after loitering a few minutes, we left by the rear entrance, drove a number of back streets, and finally hit the main road again a mile or so further north. Did not see that cop again, but there were plenty others out and about over the next 100 miles.
Whilst the legal bits were far from desirable, it was only the strange attitude of the car that would really attract attention.
In this photo you can see that the nose is well lower than mine, although it achieves that by doing a reverse wheelstand...
Despite our concerns, we got home with no other scares - although Zeb had to get more rags from our car to try and keep his windscreen clear.
Not sure what will happen with the car. Zeb is mostly fond of commercials, and his 1 ute gave way to 2 utes and 2 vans, then a Mk1 estate, now a Mk2 saloon.
The Mk2 saloon he wrecked to get all the running gear for the ute, was fortunately the same colour as this one, so besides making it perfect for the identity swap, means he can use his good door to replace the rusty one on this.
It also means he already owns it.!
Guess it was meant to be.
Thanks to Chris for keeping it in the family.
Another project is always... another project.!
Cheers,
Kilroy
And again, sorry about the heater :roll: 
