ICM - Leeds Design Agency

I don’t want it to sound like I grew up in the same bygone village as Miss Marple, but as a child I used to look forward to to our local village shop delivering our weekly groceries. I would wait by the window and dash out to welcome, not the large matron like lady with boxes of food, but the Morris Traveller she came in!

Ever since those days I have had a love for these beautifully designed range of cars.

Given my obvious fascination for these classic cars I have never owned one, nor driven one but I am a member of the Morris Minor Owners Club!

The Morris Minor evolved in 1940, when Miles Thomas saw the need for Morris to develop a new small 4 seater car to be introduced after the end of World War II.

The Minor prototypes were called Mosquitos, probably in honour of the WWII fighter-bomber of that name.

Morris had new ideas about the design of the Mosquito. These included, monocoque body construction, independent front and possibly independent rear suspension. Other ideas were smaller wheels than normal (14in rather than 17in) and a low mounted engine, both aimed at lowering the center of gravity and thus improving the stability of the car. These combined to create the Morris Minor, which was acclaimed in the press for its handling and stability.

The Minor came of age with the Minor 1000 when the new 948cc was fitted and eventually ending up with the 1098cc engine in 1962. This was the last significant upgrade to the Minor until it ceased production in 1972 (although in some countries it continued to be made until 1974 to use up stocks of parts).

At first glance, all Minors look much the same, the main differences being the position of the headlamps which were originally fitted low down in the radiator grille in the earliest ‘low light’ models. The passenger models were two and four door saloons, a convertible and an estate called the Traveller, often referred to affectionately as the ‘Woody’. Commercials included vans (popular with the British GPO) and utility versions, as well as many specially bodied vehicles built by after-market body builders.

Today, the most sought after models are the Traveller and the Van which offer great practicality combined with unique styling, closely followed by the cute wind-in-your-hair Convertible.

There are few cars around today that I can say have the same individuality and beauty to stand them as the classic cars of tomorrow. Forget your Ferraris or similar open top speed monsters I shall use my pre-booked mid life crisis (arriving shortly) as an excuse to become a proud owner of one these classic British cars!

Refs: www.minormania.com