{"id":51479,"date":"2018-07-02T09:54:42","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T08:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=51479"},"modified":"2022-06-22T13:06:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T12:06:02","slug":"elegantly-english-the-morris-minor-turns-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/cars\/elegantly-english-the-morris-minor-turns-70\/","title":{"rendered":"Beautifully British: the Morris Minor turns 70"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the four-wheeled world, 2018 is a notable year for \u2018people\u2019s cars\u2019, those machines which sparked an affordable revolution. The original Fiat ‘Nuova 500’ may have been six decades old last year, but remarkably, the Volkswagen Beetle celebrates its eightieth birthday in 2018, while the Citro\u00ebn 2CV and the Morris Minor both turn 70. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Automotive design legend Alec Issigonis may be most well-known for his \u2013 quite literal \u2013 Mini creation, one of the other people\u2019s car weapons he gave birth to was the Morris Minor. The swaddling was removed from Issigonis\u2019 pug-nosed and curvaceous baby at the Earl\u2019s Court Motor Show in London on 20 September 1948, after a seven-year gestation period. While a ban on civilian car development had been in force during the World War II, the Minor was ready to combine the convenience and quality of a larger saloon for an affordable price. Just like its German and French rivals, but with a twist of transatlantic style.<\/p>\n

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Initially, body styles were confined to a two-door saloon and a convertible, somewhat grandly named the \u2018Tourer\u2019. Built with a still-new unitary construction, with torsion bar independent front suspension, the first Minor MMs had a 918cc side-valve \u2018U\u2019-series engine, and although these \u2018low-light\u2019 cars share their silhouette with all Minors, they are much sought after today. One tell-tale sign of the early cars is the split front bumper, which is there because a decision to widen the car by 102 millimetres came at the last minute after the bumpers had already been produced…<\/p>\n

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However accommodating or wide it was, though, the new \u00a3358 baby Morris was popular, and by the time production of the first \u2018MM\u2019-series cars ended, over 250,000 had been sold. That\u2019s almost three times as many as its namesake which was built from 1928 to 1934, and whose engine it effectively inherited. An overhead-valve and more powerful 30bhp 803cc \u2018A\u2019-series engine was ushered in with the arrival of the \u2018Series II\u2019 Minor in 1952, the same year that the company which built it became part of the British Motor Corporation.<\/p>\n

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Keen for more sales, the more practical estate \u2018Traveller\u2019 version joined the range, distinctive by its wooden-framed rear end. A more practical four-door had appeared in 1950, but for true functionality, commercial vehicle vans and pick-ups were delivered from 1953. The one-piece windscreen \u2018Series III\u2019 Minor 1000 was introduced in 1956, and continued the \u2018Moggy\u2019s\u2019 acceleration of sales. Which was thankfully faster than the new Morris\u2019 enlarged 37bhp 948cc engine, which did 0 to 60mph in 52.2 seconds. Never mind, though, 1962\u2019s 1098cc unit increased top speed to a truly heady 77mph.<\/p>\n

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While the larger-engined cars still wore \u2018Minor 1000\u2019 badges, Bluebell, Tom Morley\u2019s Clipper Blue 1961 Minor is period perfect with its designation and its condition. Bluebell and Tom first met in 2014, and have been inseparable ever since. And, just like \u2018Gladys\u2019, Tom\u2019s 1976 Glacier White Austin Allegro<\/a>, Bluebell has been subject to a Morley makeover, polished and fettled to within an inch of her life. Or her chrome hub-capped white steel wheels anyway.<\/p>\n

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As with Tom\u2019s Allegro, a ride in Bluebell is a nostalgia-filled delight. The airy headrest-free cabin conjures up images of 1950s and 1960s summer picnics and good manners, and good old-fashioned \u2018Britishness\u2019. It\u2019s just something Minors do. Their cuddly looks and friendly faces bring out the best in people, and that politeness has been exploited in popular culture. Dulcie Gray drove a Traveller in 1980s drama-soap Howards\u2019 Way, and Ian McShane piloted \u2018Miriam\u2019, an open-top Moggy in Lovejoy (presumably to bolster his character\u2019s \u2018lovable rogue\u2019 image).<\/p>\n\n\t\t