Forty years with one Minor: Margaret's Traveller reaches 300,000 miles

The ash timber frame and rear doors of Margaret's dark green Morris Minor Traveller, parked against a dry stone wall — THE ASH FRAME, REVARNISHED TWICE AND STILL ORIGINAL. PHOTO · TOM ARKWRIGHT

Margaret bought the Traveller in 1986 at a farm sale near Skipton. She paid £850, which she says was £100 more than she meant to, and drove it home the same afternoon.

It has been on the road ever since. It did the school run, then the commute to Keighley for nineteen years, and it still goes to the Co-op on a Tuesday. It has never been on a trailer. Margaret is quite firm about that.

The odometer only holds five figures, so it has been round three times. Anyone who raises an eyebrow gets shown the shoebox, which holds every MOT certificate since 1986 in date order. The eyebrow usually comes back down.

There have been two engine rebuilds. Her late husband Ken did the first in 1994, on the drive, under a tarpaulin, in November. The second was done at spanner night in 2019 by six of us, which took four evenings and a good deal of tea.

Her advice, when I asked for it: "Use it or lose it, and grease the trunnions."