17-08-2019, 06:10 PM
Ruairidh,
During the war the government introduced a 33% purchase tax on new cars. This was largely academic at the time because car production was almost nil, however after the war when production resumed it became relevant. Commercial vehicles, wooden-bodied station wagons and rolling chassis were exempt from the tax. Rolling chassis were also exempt from export quotas.
I think the durability of ash is better than we give it credit and probably gets a bad press because 1960s Morris Travellers in particular were rather poorly finished. We had one re-bodied in 1984 and had the timber finished with linseed oil rather than varnish. It quickly became grey and unattractive (especially in wet weather) but showed absolutely no signs of decay when we sold it two years ago with a further 200000 miles on the clock. No rot, no woodworm.
Internal woodwork on Sevens seems (at best) to be painted with a thin coat of black cellulose. Pretty poor protection.
I'd love to have a stab at designing /building a Seven station wagon, even if it was a special.
Peter.
During the war the government introduced a 33% purchase tax on new cars. This was largely academic at the time because car production was almost nil, however after the war when production resumed it became relevant. Commercial vehicles, wooden-bodied station wagons and rolling chassis were exempt from the tax. Rolling chassis were also exempt from export quotas.
I think the durability of ash is better than we give it credit and probably gets a bad press because 1960s Morris Travellers in particular were rather poorly finished. We had one re-bodied in 1984 and had the timber finished with linseed oil rather than varnish. It quickly became grey and unattractive (especially in wet weather) but showed absolutely no signs of decay when we sold it two years ago with a further 200000 miles on the clock. No rot, no woodworm.
Internal woodwork on Sevens seems (at best) to be painted with a thin coat of black cellulose. Pretty poor protection.
I'd love to have a stab at designing /building a Seven station wagon, even if it was a special.
Peter.