Barn-find woodie wagon: Can we get the engine to run after 55 years? What obscure parts did it need?

We hauled the '55 woodie wagon out of the LA garage where it had sat since 1968. We took it to our friend's driveway nearby. But would the engine even turn?
This one's all about how Tom tackled the problems of convincing an 803cc engine producing 30 hp to fire and run reliably. There were a lot of problems: a water pump, a belt, an oil filter that's almost unobtainium (thank you, Australia!), and a whole variety of other problems. John was the parts runner, getting the tires swapped, driving all over creation (e.g. LA) for those specific things Tom needed to wrench properly.
Special props to JD + Beth, who let us do all the work in their driveway. JD even held the camera (by which we mean phone) for some of the video, and offered up his stash of boat-building tools.
As always, our most sincere thanks go to Bryan 'Woody' Wood, who made video magic out of the mess of video clips, still images, voiceovers, and random emalis + texts we threw at him. Do you need videos? HIRE WOODY! You can reach him at: [e-mail].
#barnfind #woodie #revival #woodiewagon #woody #woodywagon #morrisminor #temptingfate #temptingfatetours #britishcars #oldbritishcars #roadtrip

[@Aamirbt1]

No better feeling than to hear a car finally start!

[@danb.2144]

Congrats. It lives!

[@nedludd7622]

I had a secondhand Woody from the 60's to the 80's. It was in running condition when I got it so not many problems. I once had to have the valves done and once decided to have the engine rebuilt, that's about it. I drove it all over on camping trips, from San Diego to the Sierras to Oregon, also from SD to the Colorado Rockies even in winter.

[@TemptingFateTours]

They're remarkably tough little cars if you keep up with maintenance, and easy to repair. We couldn't figure out why this one was parked in 1968 ... but we found out over the course of the trip. See future episodes!