Barn-find Morris Traveller: How did we get it on the road? What went wrong? And what did DMV say?

Three episodes back, we showed you what it took Tom to get the engine running in our barn-find 1955 Morris Minor Traveller woodie wagon. As it turned out, that was just the tip of the iceberg.
VIDEO: Can we make the engine run? • Barn-find woodie wagon...
VIDEO: How we discovered our barn-find Morris Traveller woodie wagon: • New adventure: Barn-fi...
Tom had a(nother) long slog to get the car on the road. That meant he had to reassemble the cooling system, with a new water pump (from Australia), a new thermostat + housing, then reinstall the radiator with all-new hoses. He also had to deal with 68-year-old heater hoses. Then there was the clutch linkage: loose + wobbly to say the least.
Once all that was back together-ignore that small weep!-there was the matter of the fuel tank. And new fuel lines, with new washers, rerouted the way they were supposed to go. Except, things did not go as planned. A marine-supply shop proved to be Tom's salvation.
With the generator back on the car, it was time to fire it up. Guess what broke then! Eventually, a new oil-pressure sender did its job: the oil light went out. Old distributor cap + wires: iffy. New cap + wires: prettier, but it doesn't run. Swap old ones back in. And you'll never guess what happened next ...
The goal was to make the car run well enough to take it to a nearby DMV office, so it could be inspected, so the DMV could re-register it with the original black-and-gold CA plates. (For those who aren't familiar, these are a prized proof of a car's originality.)
Step One was to go to the DMV (in JD's old Golf) to get a moving permit to let the car run on California roads at all. It hadn't been registered since 1968, so that would be ... a process. Step Two was to take the car itself down to the DMV for an inspection. Step Three ... well, watch for yourself.
The list of items to address once the car landed in New Hampshire continues to grow. And grow. And grow some more. Do we have time to fix them all before the car heads overseas? Tune in next week! (And maybe the week after ...)
Again, our sincere thanks to the generous + patient JD + Beth, who let us work on a shabby old car in their driveway. JD shot some of the video on Tom's phone, and offered up his stash of boat-building tools.
As always, we are devoted to Bryan 'Woody' Wood. He makes the video magic you are watching out of the clips, images, voiceovers, and random emails + texts we toss at him. Do you need videos? HIRE WOODY! You can reach him at: [e-mail].
#barnfind #woodie #revival #woodiewagon #woody #woodywagon #morrisminor #morristraveller #minortraveller #temptingfate #temptingfatetours #britishcars #oldbritishcars #roadtrip #californiaplates #blackandgold #losangeles #californiadmv

[@JohnCBriggs]

great update.

[@DYT-jx4jp]

Enjoy the videos/sharing your project journey here (and the past ones too). Thanks for the efforts involved!

[@etmccaus]

Enjoyed it, as always, but wish these chapters were a little longer than five minutes at a time...

[@eggybreadplease]

Crikey that an old traveller 😳 very much looking forward to seeing more videos 👍

[@WitchyWhale]

This would be a perfect beach cruiser with a surfboard on the roof.

[@TemptingFateTours]

You will forgive us for gently pointing out that no self-respected surfer of the '60s or '70s would ever have used a Minor Traveller. Too small, and church doors rather than tailgate. The ones that show up at auctions all Hawaiied out are, to our eyes ... well, let's say, suboptimal? To each his own, but this one will not be that. And thank you for watching!