Morris Minor: The Biography: 60 Years of Britains Favourite Car

The first model came off an automobile factory in Oxfordshire.

In , the four-wheeler was discontinued, aged But it continues to be sighted — on roads as well as in books. The introductory passage was a letter of love:. Even the youngest example on the roads is now at least 35 years old, and many have reached their half-century, still chugging along, and this week voted the most British motoring design of them all in a survey ahead of the London motorshow — beating the London taxi and Routemaster bus.

The Moggy rides again

A year earlier the veteran British journalist Martin Wainwright had paid homage to his beloved in the form of Morris Minor: He chases them up suburban drives and finds them languishing under tarpaulins on the Irish coast. Elsewhere we watch as a caravanserai of Minors climbs wheezily up the Yorkshire Dales for a cancer charity rally, and spot one chuntering along a country lane to deliver a bride to the church on time.

Wainwright even goes in search of the semi-mythical Morris Million, of which were produced to commemorate the moment in when the millionth car rolled off the assembly line. The Morris Minor and Jaguar XK, both of which were unveiled at the British Motor Show, may have been polar opposites on the car industry spectrum, but they were like a double dose of adrenaline, consumed at precisely the right time.

The first car ever to exceed mph for seven days and seven nights, the first car ever to win an Alpine Gold Cup, the fastest production sports car in the world — with headlines like these, the Jaguar adman probably spent more time on the golf course than he did in front of a typewriter.

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That embarrassing moment you come dressed as a Morris Minor. Or is it as a Singer. In the meantime, the Morris had a decade to perform a Minor miracle. Today, the Minor might look as traditional as a postbox and a bowler hat, but it was more radical in Development work began in the early 40s under the project name Mosquito, a reference to the de Havilland combat aircraft flown during the Second World War.

Neither did the name, with Morris bosses worried that the Mosquito might deter conservative buyers. The Minor name felt more traditional, more in keeping with the buttoned-up and skirts-below-the-knees mood of the era. A touch of the schoolmaster, perhaps, referencing a pillar of society. But in just about every other respect, the Minor felt new and exciting. A unitary body, Lockheed hydraulic brakes, a four-speed gearbox and cleverly-positioned inch wheels designed to reduce cabin intrusion were just part of the package.

Even the woeful performance could be forgiven, because the Minor set new standards for road-holding and handling, enabling it to cover ground as quickly as more powerful vehicles. The top speed may have been a lowly 60mph — it would also take 35 seconds to hit 50mph — but once up to speed, the Minor was almost untouchable.

From MM to Series II

A convertible version — known as the Minor Tourer — was available from the outset, before a four-door Minor joined the range in October At the same time, an interior heater was added as an option, along with improved paint and an engine oil filter as standard. More importantly, the four-door model also introduced the new raised lights, which had been standard on every Minor exported to America since It would be a while before the raised headlights became standard equipment in the UK.

An interior light, ashtrays, front door straps and twin windscreen wipers represented the height of luxury for the Minor driver. The engine, with its SU carburettor, was a significant improvement, but any performance gains were negated by the weight of the Minor.

A Morris Minor love story | Books | The Guardian

Little else changed, aside from the M motif on the bonnet. Also in , Morris launched the ash-framed Minor Traveller, one of the most quintessentially British estate cars ever built. If the Traveller were a television show, it would be Heartbeat.

If it were a hymn, it would be Jerusalem. For that, motorists were treated to a heater, passenger sun visor, leather seat facings and bumper over-riders.

Soon, the saloon and Tourer could be upgraded to the space spec for the same price. From then, the Minor was subjected to a period of continuous development, ensuring it would live on way beyond its sell-by date. Not Enabled Screen Reader: Enabled Amazon Best Sellers Rank: Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web.

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