Minor MIRACLE

IT DOESN'T TAKE A LOT OF CAR TO STAND OUT, JUST A LOT OF WORK, AS RHONDA AND AL MAGRITZER DISCOVERED WITH THEIR BLOWN AND CONTINENTAL-KITTED MORRIS MINOR CUSTOM

- DAVE CAREY

RHONDA and AI Magritzer never intended to become 'those Morris people', yet with a pair of them now gracing their garage, it seems inevitable. But only one of their cars causes heads to swivel, jaws to dislodge and eyeballs to pop from their sockets as it glides past with its tail dropped to the deck and attitude to burn.

"Rhonda saw it in town and liked it, so I bought it," AI says simply. "I'm not into Morrises, but it was a good, original car."

So good, in fact, that it had only had a couple of owners in its then 60 years on the planet. The car was built in Sydney's Zetland plant, and the original owner was the local electricity company, then an old lady in Leura, NSW. Once she passed, her son ran it around Lithgow, and, being their hometown, that's where the Magritzers found it.

Suffice it to say, the couple's plans weren't always along the lines of 'blow it and 'bag it', nor was the continental kit even a twinkle in Al's eye when the first round of work was done. "No, we restored it back to original, actually," he laughs.

"We took it to a few Morris Minor shows, and it did all right, but I'm not the kind of guy to keep a car standard. Suddenly push came to shove, and here we are."

Despite its demure colour scheme, the Morris is most definitely not stock these days. "Car manufacturers spend a lot of time and money ensuring their colour combos look perfect. This one certainly works well, so why not just stick with it?" says AI of the Morrie's fetching pale green hue.

Other than the trim colour, very little else of the car's interior is as it left the Zetland factory.