My acquaintence with the Guzzler was made in a somewhat round about way. I was admiring a Riley Pathfinder which was on display at a car show when the owner walked up and half-jokingly asked if I wanted to buy it. I half-jokingly replied: "no, but I'd be interested in a Morris Isis".
As it turned out he knew a man who had an Isis, but it was probably not for sale. He gave me his phone number anyway and I did ring the man.
No, it was not for sale; however I asked if I could come over and have a look - I'd never seen an Isis before, being rather rare.
It was an original car stored unused for 18 years, and was a bit rough around the edges, but it very solid with little rust, and a bonus of quite good upholstery.
Quite some time later the man phoned to say that the Isis was now for sale, however I had no money and should not really have bought another car.
Anyway... in a nick of time and quite by chance, a friend of mine enquired if I still had Oxcart for sale, and a deal was struck: some cash and a dilapidated Oxford III woody traveller in exchange for Oxcart, then we went out and looked at the Isis (this cash + some more was then gleefully used to buy the Isis).
The man wanted quite a lot of money for it (especially for a foolish youngster, impoverised by buying 1950s big Morrises), but he made me a very special cash deal for it. I think he must have done this because I was young and interested in restoring an old car; I think I have done him proud and I hope you do too, so thank you to Mr Steele for selling it to me!
Here's a photo of my Isis soon after I bought it. Those dents in the doors are over 20 years old, so they're not my fault! Note also the bad colour match for the paint forward of the windscreen due to an accident and the red primer on the wheels because it's original wheels were stolen when it was in storage between 1981 and 1998!
So much for downsizing the fleet, and in hindsight, perhaps not the smartest move for someone who was on a rather limited income!
Oh, well. We're only young and silly once, and now I've learned my lesson... and Sheryl won't let me buy any more cars, which is jolly sensible of her :-)
In 2002 I decided to get the Guzzler sorted out and drive it from Christchurch to New Plymouth where I now live. My decision was made when I got a phone call from the Christchurch police telling me that they had found my car with two broken windows in a dodgy part of town.
Some friends in the Morris Owners Club (South Island) got the car for me and stored it somewhere safe, and some weeks later I went to have a look at it. It was a mess and looked sad.
It needed a repaint, new hoodlining and carpets and some upholstery work, so I saved up every cent to get this stuff done. A year or so previously the Guzzler had had its engine rebuilt (for the 2nd time), but it hadn't been run, and had been modified to run twin 1.5inch SU carburettors.
Time to get to the bottom of the pinking and bad running problems!
The engine has had the head off and pistons taken out again in Febuary 2005. We found that the last engine rebuilder had put in horrid piston rings that you should only put in a worn engine, which resulted in nasty markings and scoring of some bores. The bores were actually fine in the first place; the problem seems to be in the cylinder head where oil was getting into the combustion chambers. This was due to two reasons which the original reconditioner in Christchurch was negligent about:
Oddly, he also fitted exhaust valves whose stems were too short. So, the head now has 12 new valves, 12 new springs, 12 new guides, 12 new seals, had a grind to make it flat and had the 'sharp edges' in the combsution chambers ground down to lower the compression ratio slightly. The pistons had new rings fitted and the bottom oil ring groove was machined to reduce the tension (they are Austin Healey 100/6 pistons).
The engine sports twin 1.5 inch SUs, a slightly sportier cam profile, a higher compression ratio and a slightly worked head, so it goes quite well and sounds great! Much faster than an 'old Oxford'...
Guzzler is a series II Isis, which means it has the right hand floor change (in front of the hand brake between the driver's door and seat). The linkages have all been rebushed, and gearchanges are very pleasant.
For added safety, we have fitted flashing indicators which work alongside the still working trafficators. A 1950's British car needs trafficators!
The Guzzler at Lake Mangamahoe
In case you were wondering: the Guzzler got it's name from Nick, one of my friends. He asked me what size the engine was compared with the Oxford. It's 2.6 litres against the Oxfords 1.5 litres. The extra capacity and my right foot make it, well, a Guzzler compared to the Oxford!