GOING off-road in a classic British family car has become a daily pastime for one New Zealand mechanic. Shane Armitage has converted a 1950s Morris Minor Traveller into a 4x4 off-roading beast that he can take on both roads and sand dunes. On first look, ‘Woody’ as the car is known, appears to be a British motor corporation classic, but is actually built on a Morris Minor shell and a Suzuki Escudo/Vitara chassis with a second Morris Minor used for donor parts. Shane, of Muriwai, told FutureStudiosCars: “I use it every day, it’s my daily drive but I also really like off-roading. This combines the two together. It’s really cool, two-for-one. Everywhere you go people come up and say ‘Wow, what’s this?’" Shane was driving a 4x4 Suzuki Escudo when he spotted a Morris Minor cruising the Auckland bays and was inspired to combine the two. He bought a two-door Morris online and a second Traveller chassis which he used to make carbon fibre moulds of the roof and side panels. He then attached those moulds to the original Morris, complete with the classic wooden design seen on the original cars. The newly constructed chassis was then placed on the running gear of a Suzuki Vitara 4x4, giving it off-road capabilities. Shane said: “It’s just an all-purpose, do anything, do everything, pick the groceries up, go extreme four-wheel driving in the same day without changing vehicles. It’s a gnarly four-wheel driving beast.”
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MotorTranscript
00:00Everywhere you go people come up and say wow what's this? I use it every day it's
00:06my daily drive and I really like off-roading. It combines the two together
00:11it's really cool two-for-one happy life.
00:17New Zealand home to epic scenery, breathtaking beaches and a truly
00:32awesome two-car mash-up. This is my Morris Minor Traveller Woody. On first
00:42glance Woody may look like a 1950s British Motor Corporation classic but
00:49this car is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Once you get underneath it it's a
00:55Suzuki Vitara. It's cool, it's an awesome four-wheel drive and it's practical.
01:07I've always wanted one of those big American Woodies but I could never afford one and
01:12I saw the little Morris Minor Traveller go down the road one day and I thought
01:15that would be cool and I already had the four-wheel drive Suzuki so then I came
01:20up with this brilliant idea to put them together. Brilliant indeed tell us how
01:26you did it. Get your pens and paper out we're going to go through some details.
01:30I ended up buying a two-door Morris and then I found a second Traveller chassis
01:36and roof. We made moulds of the roof and the side panels. We made them out of
01:42carbon. It's got a carbon fibre roof and carbon fibre panels. I was a bit worried
01:48about the wood creaking when we were going off-roading so we put these two
01:52roll bars in here inside. There's a whole lot of bits added together and running
01:59gear of a Suzuki Vitara four-wheel drive with a Morris Minor Traveller stuck on
02:04top. Two for one happy life. And this unique machine must be worth a few bucks.
02:10To be honest I probably don't actually have a number for it but half of it my
02:15business paid for it half of it I paid for it so my business partner doesn't
02:20know how much it costs and neither does my wife so everybody's sort of
02:24reasonably happy. For Shane this combo is the best of two worlds.
02:34I use it every day I take it to work I take it down to get a coffee pick up the
02:40groceries and then it takes me back to work on Monday which is a bit of a downer.
02:45It's just all-purpose do anything do everything pick the groceries up go
02:50extreme four-wheel driving in the same day don't have to change vehicles easy.
02:55This Morris takes me to all my adventure sports I want to do mountain biking
03:00kite surfing paddle boarding fishing. While this vehicle is a fun everyday
03:05driver it's most at home off-road.
03:14Really it's a gnarly four-wheel-driving beast.
03:20It actually it drives like a Suzuki Vitara strangely enough except it's got
03:34this big steering wheel with this really cool horn.
03:40Most people that see it I think it's pretty cool they like taking selfies
03:45with it. They talk to me ask me lots of questions about it.
03:54I really like hanging out at the beach I really like off-roading it combines the
03:59two together it's really cool everywhere you go people come up and say wow what's
04:04this.
04:07The most memorable incident I had was a big chap comes staunching over to me and
04:16said is this yours bro I said yeah and he said it's a mean-ass walker bro and
04:22you can't argue with that.