The Dark Wob

You see, a shooting brake to me is something much more sleek and upmarket, like a Railton, Allard or Rolls Royce. Estate car I associate with the much later 1960's onward metal bodied vehicles. Nuffield even made extensive use of the term 'station wagon' in their publicity for the body style of both the Minor and Oxford.

Indeed. Cars were largely defined by their useage.....The original Morris Traveller's cars were not estate-bodied at all, just two seater Cowleys with a small load box for commercial samples used by travelling salesmen. When the Minor version was announced in 1951 it was also referred to as a "Traveller's car" just as the pre-war van-type had been. Subsequently it became a demarcation for Morris station wagons/estate cars just as Countryman did for Austin. They are all estate cars, station wagons or possibly shooting brake if you want to stretch a point. I can't stomach the term "woodie" though!

Mock Tudor, maybe.....

A Shooting Brake was a coachbuilder's term for a type of horse drawn cart used for Shooting Parties.

Later large (often obsolete) cars would be re-bodied with a body that provided shelter and transport for the Shooting Party.


Woodie is a term that has also been in use since the horse-drawn era which I think is very descriptive of the construction technique.

Hay-Ho each to his own.

Ordered some oil t'other day, as I am quite a big user of crude products and like to have a small stock in the garage for topping up and oil changes. Two things influenced my decision to alter my usually repeat order of the same Morris Lubricants oils.

Firstly, I read GL-5 spec 80-90w EP oil contains additives which can harm certain metals used in old machinery, and that GL-4 spec should be used instead. I certainly haven't had any issues using GL-5, but I suppose 7,000 miles over two years isn't long enough for it to do any harm, if that be true. So I ordered some Castrol 'Classic range' GL-4 oil for the rear axles. Conversely this has far fewer additives, but I hope will provide similar protection against wear.

Secondly, I have used Morris Lubricants Golden Film 20w50 for years, as it is a quality product at a good price. But comparing the levels of ZDDP against other 'classic' oils it has the lowest amount at 700ppm, Castrol has 800ppm but the recently re-introduced Duckham's has the greatest concentration at 1100ppm. However, Castrol and Duckham's carry a £10 premium on a gallon tin.

I ordered a tin of each to compare. Even though they are all the same viscosity I have noticed some brands seem 'thicker' than another make. Obviously you want the 'runniest' oil for better cold circulation but also you want the best engine protection. Ho-hum. There's probably not much in it but decades of propaganda from the oil companies and careful study of old Car Mechanics and The Motor magazines have made me into an oil paranoiac.
One thing I must say, however, is when the big ends went on my old Series II Minor and I pushed on to the next motorway exit, engine hammering away with the oil pressure light on, there was very little wear found on stripdown and I got away with a replacement crankshaft and honing of the bores. That had been filled with Duckham's for most of its life. I am pleased it is back on the shelves.

fried onions wrote: ↑Thu May 28, 2020 6:58 pm Firstly, I read GL-5 spec 80-90w EP oil contains additives which can harm certain metals used in old machinery, and that GL-4 spec should be used instead.

!Take note Bub with regards to Reliant gearboxes!

^and Series Land Rover lickers.

Owners of proper MGs too.

Impressive stuff; in my experience of owning old cars Ive never seen evidence of oil having being changed in a gearbox or diff. Most owners, even those of quite rare or expensive beasts dont seem to care about such trivial matters.

I recently changed the gearbox oil on my Standard. It was gl4 that I put in a decade of so ago, I've only done about 3,000 miles since then but there was a definite metallic content to it. Some brass too.

Refilled with 20/50 engine oil

AFAIK the really important factor is that diff oil has the high shear capability.