{"id":5285,"date":"2020-02-20T09:35:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T09:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/?p=5285"},"modified":"2024-09-12T10:21:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T09:21:28","slug":"1937-morris-10-4-project-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"1937 Morris 10\/4 – Project Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a charm that comes with cars of the 1930s. It was a time when the UK was bustling with car companies, each one trying to be better than the next. New technologies were being investigated and applied, new design ideas were being put into place and as such, new cars seemed to be everywhere, and from all manner of manufacturers. It was a golden time for motoring, but of course, World War 2 put a pause to all of that when conflict broke out in \u201839. As we all know, it was a war that would be ongoing for some six years. In that time, almost all automotive production came to a halt – companies, automotive or otherwise, were all drafted in to help with the war effort. Furthermore, metal that would have been used for cars became exceptionally valuable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Morris,<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what makes cars like this little Austin 10\/4 so special. It would have been just two years-old when the war broke out. But, it managed to survive the country-wide destruction of the war, it managed to avoid being used for its metal and then on top of that, it\u2019s survived through to today. It is now an 87 year-old car. Of course, it\u2019s in need of some love, having been hidden away in a garage from 1972, but still, it\u2019s in remarkable condition. Even the crank handle is still in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is it?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

What you\u2019re looking at here is a 1937 Morris 10\/4. The Ten was introduced in 1933 to compete in the 10hp British car market. The Ten Four, or 10\/4 if you prefer, was released in 1934 at the same time<\/span>\u00a0as the Ten Six. It featured a strengthened chassis, revised engine mountings and the gearbox gained a synchromesh to smooth out the drive. Furthermore, the four-cylinder petrol engine was given a power hike to the dizzying figure of 27.5hp.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This car seems to be quite special, in that it appears to be a sliding head saloon, which has a sloped back, in-built spare wheel, suicide front doors and as the name would suggest, a sliding roof. It\u2019s rare to find a Morris 10\/4, let alone one in this configuration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Morris,<\/p>\n

Being a \u201837 model, it is two-tone in colour (this was optional from \u201835), though of course, you\u2019d want to look at getting fresh paint at some point. It looks to be complete though, which is a bonus. And the seller states that the car comes with lots of spares including another gearbox and another engine that\u2019s been stripped, as well as a number of boxes full of parts. It seems someone had hopes of restoring this little car at some point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is it a project?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Well, the poor thing clearly hasn\u2019t turned a wheel for a long, long time. The current vendor states that the car has been \u2018indoors\u2019 since 1972, though whether or not it was on the road immediately prior to that is unknown. Wherever it has been stored, it seems to have been free of any moisture, because the car looks remarkably straight and solid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The best way to look at this little Morris would be as a complete project. While it doesn\u2019t, at first glance, seem to be suffering from terminal rot, there is absolutely no doubt that the engine will need a rebuild, the electrics will need to be renewed, all the rubber components will be shot, the body needs paint and the interior needs a complete re-trim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it worth doing it? We think so. The car looks so very honest, and depending on how it looks after a wash, we\u2019d be tempted to do an \u2018oily rag\u2019 restoration – that patina is hard earned, and if it\u2019s not too bad, it would be worth preserving. This seems like a very honest little car, and that aspect of it should be saved by a sympathetic hand, rather than just renewing every nut and bolt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Five things to look for:<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

1) Chassis<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

With cars of this vintage, the body will rust away at the same rate as the underside, or at least it should in most cases. This car looks pretty solid, but you still need to get under it to check the condition of that chassis. If it\u2019s turned to dust, it could be game over before you even start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Suspension<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The car looks to be sitting quite low at the back. This could just be the ground it’s on, or the leaf sprung suspension may have given up or worse, broken\/corroded. Get under it to see what\u2019s what.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Morris,<\/p>\n

3) Parts<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

What parts does the car come with, and between them and the car itself, will you have enough to put the 10\/4 back together? At the very least, do you have everything to take measurements if you need?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4) Trim<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

You need the car to have as much trim as possible, even if it\u2019s past its best. Old trim is more useful than no trim. You can use it as a template, as a colour guide and as a general basis for how best to restore the car\u2019s interior.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5) Paperwork\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The vendor states that they\u2019re awaiting a new style V5, and at the same time, it\u2019s unknown if the car will retain its registration, or if it will be issued a new one by the DVLA. You need to find out what the score is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What should you do with it?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

This beautiful little car has done so well to survive for so long that we think it would be wrong to do anything other than simply restore it. But as we said above, we\u2019d go for that \u2018oily rag\u2019 restoration, as to take everything off, paint it and make it shiny and new would steal so much of the car\u2019s essence. You want to try and keep some of the age and some of the patination that this car has earned over its near 100 year life. Get it running, give it a clean up, service all the mechanicals, replace the rubber and the wiring, then clean it as best it can be cleaned. Job done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more classic charm, here’s where you can find yourself a Morris for sale<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a charm that comes with cars of the 1930s. It was a time when the UK was bustling with car companies, each one trying to be better than the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[322],"tags":[15,110,12,13,11,1634,248,1633,1632,14,592,108,1635],"yoast_head":"\n1937 Morris 10\/4 - Project Profile - Car & Classic Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The rare little Morris 10\/4 has fallen on hard times, but it\u2019s all complete and would be the perfect project for someone. Who\u2019s going to take this car on?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1937 Morris 10\/4 - Project Profile - Car & Classic Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The rare little Morris 10\/4 has fallen on hard times, but it\u2019s all complete and would be the perfect project for someone. Who\u2019s going to take this car on?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Car & Classic Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-20T09:35:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-12T09:21:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2020\/02\/12540744.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Car & Classic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Car & Classic\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Car & Classic\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39\"},\"headline\":\"1937 Morris 10\/4 – Project Profile\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-20T09:35:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-12T09:21:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/\"},\"wordCount\":1043,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"automotive\",\"barn find\",\"carandclassic\",\"carandclassic.co.uk\",\"classic car\",\"classic Morris\",\"Morris\",\"Morris 10\/4\",\"Morris Ten Four\",\"motoring\",\"restoration\",\"restoration project\",\"retro Morris\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Project Profile\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/\",\"name\":\"1937 Morris 10\/4 - Project Profile - Car & Classic Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-20T09:35:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-12T09:21:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"The rare little Morris 10\/4 has fallen on hard times, but it\u2019s all complete and would be the perfect project for someone. Who\u2019s going to take this car on?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"1937 Morris 10\/4 – Project Profile\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/\",\"name\":\"Car & Classic Magazine\",\"description\":\"The latest in the classic car world - articles, news, how to's, advice and more\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Car and Classic Limited\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png\",\"width\":4262,\"height\":3881,\"caption\":\"Car and Classic Limited\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39\",\"name\":\"Car & Classic\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Car & Classic\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/author\/car-and-classic\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"1937 Morris 10\/4 - Project Profile - Car & Classic Magazine","description":"The rare little Morris 10\/4 has fallen on hard times, but it\u2019s all complete and would be the perfect project for someone. Who\u2019s going to take this car on?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"1937 Morris 10\/4 - Project Profile - Car & Classic Magazine","og_description":"The rare little Morris 10\/4 has fallen on hard times, but it\u2019s all complete and would be the perfect project for someone. Who\u2019s going to take this car on?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/","og_site_name":"Car & Classic Magazine","article_published_time":"2020-02-20T09:35:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-12T09:21:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2020\/02\/12540744.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Car & Classic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Car & Classic","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/"},"author":{"name":"Car & Classic","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39"},"headline":"1937 Morris 10\/4 – Project Profile","datePublished":"2020-02-20T09:35:34+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-12T09:21:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/"},"wordCount":1043,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization"},"keywords":["automotive","barn find","carandclassic","carandclassic.co.uk","classic car","classic Morris","Morris","Morris 10\/4","Morris Ten Four","motoring","restoration","restoration project","retro Morris"],"articleSection":["Project Profile"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/","name":"1937 Morris 10\/4 - Project Profile - Car & Classic Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-02-20T09:35:34+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-12T09:21:28+00:00","description":"The rare little Morris 10\/4 has fallen on hard times, but it\u2019s all complete and would be the perfect project for someone. Who\u2019s going to take this car on?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/1937-morris-10-4-project-profile\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"1937 Morris 10\/4 – Project Profile"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/","name":"Car & Classic Magazine","description":"The latest in the classic car world - articles, news, how to's, advice and more","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#organization","name":"Car and Classic Limited","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.co.uk\/magazine\/app\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Car-and-Classic-Square-Green-Background-Large.png","width":4262,"height":3881,"caption":"Car and Classic Limited"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/9faf82502e956d89ea59bb842c637f39","name":"Car & Classic","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df8ff943eb64ce998eeba2661f03a69a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Car & Classic"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.carandclassic.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/author\/car-and-classic\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5285"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22670,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285\/revisions\/22670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carandclassic.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}