Lego Morris 1100 repairs

 
This blue Morris 1100 turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment when it arrived. The seller had neglected to mention the severely damaged chassis. At first glance the rear axle was loose, but then the front axle was revealed to be glued to a broken front half as well.

The Morris is constructed as described in the later Lego patent (see earlier post) with a clear insert clipping into slots in the chassis. The leg at the rear end of the insert looks rather wide and could get in the way of my replacement axle mounts. To accomodate this I sanded part of a window frame down to half its thickness before cutting it up to make mounts. At the front this type of chassis requires L-shaped mounts.

As shown here the window insert fits neatly inbetween the thinner mounts at the rear. To reassemble, the insert is first clipped onto the chassis, and then the body clips over the windows. Sadly the chassis broke apart again at this stage due to the pressure required to do so.

So a better type of superglue was used to glue the broken chassis together again, with the rear part already in place in the body. Using my grandfather's wire stripper, one wheel was pulled off the axle while the other wheel was loosely held in the round cavity of a pair of pliers. As shown in other posts, a pair of plumbers pliers was then used to push the wheel back onto the axle after it was fitted back into place.

After repairs the blue Morris is straight and functional again. Its grey sibling I've had for over a decade; it has no damage or repairs but recently received a pair of reproduction headlights.