Tag Archives: Minor

Unit Beat Policing Panda – Morris Minor 1000

In 1968 the City of Bristol Constabulary bought a fleet of Morris Minor 1000s to implement a new Unit Beat Policing Policy that was being rolled out by Constabularies across the country, where by a single officer in a Panda car was to cover an area previously covered by several “bobbies” on the beat.

Morris Minor, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

The withdrawal of foot patrols, to save man power, marked the end of Community Policing in Bristol until it was reintroduced by the renamed and merged Avon and Somerset Police decades later.

Morris Minor, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

Today’s featured “Moggie Thou”, registered on the 1st of February, served in Bristol for three years and is believed by the The Police Vehicle Enthusiasts Club, to be the only survivor of the batch bought in 1968.

Morris Minor, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham,

In 1971 a second batch of Minor 1000s was bought by the City of Bristol Constabulary to replace the first and it is believed only one of that batch also still exists, note cheaper two door Minor 1000s were used for the new unitary beat policing, presumably in the event of an arrest a Black Maria had to be called to haul arrested suspects away.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unit Beat Policing Panda” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a Star Wars edition of Mercedes Monday. Don’t forget to come back now !

More Power Bigger Drums – Morris Oxford II

For 1948 Alex Issigonis designed the Morris Oxford to compliment the smaller Morris Minor is the Morris model mix, the Oxford MO boasted a 40.5 hp 4 cylinder side valve motor inherited from the prewar Morris 10 which it replaced, unitary body construction, torsion bar front suspension and hydraulically activated 8 inch drum brakes with which to bring the 72 mph vehicle to rest.

Morris Oxford II, Cotswold Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

In 1952 Morris merged with it’s great rival Austin with William Morris, now Lord Nuffield, becoming the British Motor Corporation’s first Chairman, thanks to the merger Morris was able to ditch it’s antiquated motors for those from the Austin range.

Morris Oxford II, Cotswold Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

As a consequence the Morris Oxford II first seen in 1954 was powered by a 50 hp Austin designed 4 cylinder over head valve B series motor which increased the top speed to 74 mph better acceleration and better fuel consumption 28 mpg up from 26 mpg of the Oxford MO.

Morris Oxford II, Cotswold Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

The column shift 1955 Oxford II, seen here earlier this year as the Cotswold Classic Car Club Meeting held at Frogsmill Andoversford, was equipped with 9 inch hydraulic brakes to cope with the increase in performance and came with a heater as standard.

Morris Oxford II, Cotswold Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

The Oxford II was available in 4 door saloon / sedan or 2 door Traveller Estate / Station wagon variants, the former of which would live on as the Hindustan Landmaster built under licence until 1958 in India.

Morris Oxford II, Cotswold Classic Car Club, Frogsmill, Andoversford

From 1954 87,342 Oxford II’s were built at plants in the UK and Australia until 1956 when the model was replaced by the Morris Oxford III.

Thanks for joining me on this “More Power Bigger Brakes” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Katie – Morris 8 Series E

In 1935 Morris was keen to regain it’s position as Britains largest motor manufacturer when it launched the Morris 8 in response to the successful Ford Model Y which was first seen in 1932.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

Four series of Morris 8’s were manufactured Series I from 1935 to ’37, Series II in 1938 and Series E from 1938 to 1948. Unusually the Morris 8 Series E remained in production for military and essential civilian use through out the war with civilian consumer production resumed in 1945.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

The Series E Morris 8 is easily distinguished from it’s forbears by the semi integrated head lights and it’s absence of running boards.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

The waterfall styled grill was much in vogue at the time with Hudson in the US and Triumph in the UK being among the more fanciful users of the waterfall styled grills.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

The 29 horse power 6 volt 4 cylinder motor could propel the Morris 8 Series E to a top speed of 58 mph. The motor would remain in use in Morris Minor cars from 1948 to 1953 and would also find itself being installed in Centurion, Conqueror and Chieftain main battle tanks as an auxiliary motor.

Morris 8 Series E, Atwell Wilson Museum, Calne

Katie as the Morris 8 Series E,seen here at the Atwell Wilson Museum in Calne, is known was purchased new for £120 pounds by Mr And Mrs EA & WG Harris of Laurel Farm Chadstoke Somerset from Stringers Garage in Chard Somerset on the 1st of November 1948 having been built a week earlier on the 25th of October.

The car covered 10,500 miles when it was returned to Strigers in 1952. The car remained in the Stringers show room and was used to train apprentices until 1979 when a Stringers employee purchased the car and put it back on the road. Since then it was repainted from its original black to its present two tone scheme. The car now has over 30,000 miles on the clock and has been on show at the Atwell Wilson Museum since 2000.

Thanks for joining me on this “Katie” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Hot Cam – 8/45 Double 12 MG Midget

Today’s featured 8/45 Double 12 MG Midget and it’s earlier 8/33 incarnation are credited with saving MG from ruin when sales of it’s larger 18/80 models started to falter in the wake of the great economic depression at the end of the 1920’s and early 1930’s.

For the M-Type as the Midget was known MG returned to it’s roots of manufacturing upgraded Morris vehicles, in this case upgrading a Morris Minor chassis which included lowering the suspension for better road holding and tweaking the brakes to cope with the mildly tuned 4 cylinder Morris Minor motor.

A team of slightly modified midgets with a hot cam won the JCC Brooklands Double Twelve race in May 1930 and subsequently what became known as the Double 12 cam was fitted to production cars such as the 1931 example seen here. 3,235 M-Type midgets are thought to have been built between 1929 and 1931 when the model was superseded by the J-type.

Colin Reynolds, who is seen at the wheel, recorded the fastest overall times in the various tests at the recent Brooklands Double 12 meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “Hot Cam” edition of edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Goodwood Revival #7 Jaguar Foxbat

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In the last of this series of blogs about the Goodwood Revival, today we are looking at a unique Jaguar XK150.

The XK150 was launched in 1957, updating the XK140 with a one piece windscreen, higher wing line over thinner doors and wider bonnet.

The XK150 was powered by the same 3.4 litre double overhead cam iron block straight 6 motor which was available with a standard 180 hp or with an SE spec 210 hp featuring a modified cylinder head.

Initially the XK150 was slower than the XK140 until the introduction of a 250 hp ‘S’ motor featuring triple carburetors and straight ported cylinder head.

Legend has it that this 1959 car belonged to an industrial chemist in Swindon called Geoffrey Stevens in the mid 1970’s. Mr & Mrs Stevens wanted a car that could carry their two Labradors.

Over a period of two years from 1975 to 1977 Mr Stevens set about restoring his rusty XK150 and grafting the back of a Morris Minor Traveller onto the back of his car turning it into a shooting break, with enough space to carry his dogs.

The rear lights come from a Mini Traveller, apparently the badges on the boot were hand cut by my Stevens.

The Foxbat came up for auction at Goodwood with an estimated value of £30,000 – £35,000, surprisingly it did not find a buyer.

Thanks for joining me on this Foxbat edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the vehicles that took part in last weekends Palos Verdes Concours, if you think you know your motorcars you might be surprised at some of these most of which I had not heard of until Geoffrey Horton sent me his photo’s. Don’t forget to come back now !

Follow that Eldorado – Shakespeare County Raceway

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A couple of months ago, on my way to Race Retro, I spent several hours in the back of mini bus with ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell seen here at the wheel of ‘Backdraft’ a sling shot dragster, in a very short time his enthusiasm for drag racing infected me and on Sunday I finally got a chance to to go to my very first Drag meet.

The meeting was held at Shakespeare County Raceway, in deepest Warwickshire, so deep I managed to get so completely lost trying to find the venue, no Sat Nav in this weekends borrowed wheels, that the only way I found it was by following a Cadillac Eldorado I fortuitously came across while trying to work out where I was at a T junction in the middle of nowhere that I could not find on my Google Map.

The sound of V8’s being tortured for up to 10 secs from the car park was unlike anything I have ever heard before, made 43 cars flying round Talledega at 190 mph sound quite tuneful by comparison.

Bevis the owner of a sumptuous red 450 hp small block road going Chevy Impala, complete with one piece California rear bumper, the subject of a future blog told me that the really big Drag meeting was actually at Santa Pod near Northampton in September, but I was happy enough easing my way into the scene on Sunday.

Against my expectations there were a few UK bodied vehicles including this Morris Minor, a Rover 400 Funny Car, a standard looking TVR Tuscan, a Ford Anglia and a couple of Mark 2 Ford Cortinas, including an Estate / Stationwagon !

I had hoped to get a photo of Crazy Chris popping a wheely, unfortunately I was a bit slow on the camera shutter, still next time I’ll know what to expect. If you have never been to a drag meeting I’d certainly recommend a visit, the atmosphere is extremely friendly and relaxed in the paddock and the action is short but intense on the track, I look forward to future blogs on some of the wild rides I saw on Sunday.

Thanks to ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell infecting me with his enthusiasm, I hope you have enjoyed today’s Drag edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t for get to come back now !

Under US Influence – Morris Minor 4 dr

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When the Morris Minor was launched in 1948 it featured headlights set either side of the radiator grill, making the car look rather like the scariest Sci Fi creatures known to man the ‘Cybermen‘.

In 1949 the Minor was introduced into the US market with the headlights set higher in the wings to meet US regulations giving us the Minor look that is familiar across much of the world today. All Morris Minors post 1951 featured the high mounted US spec lights that can be seen on this early Series II model from 1953.

The centre bonnet contours came about as a result of the car being widened by 4 inches between the prototype and production stages in 1948.

This early Series II model is powered by the same 30 hp Austin designed 803 cc / 49 cui motor as the late Series II Tourer featured yesterday. This engine all though a full 115 cc / 7 cui smaller than the original MM Series engine of 1948 – 1952 was 2.5 hp more powerful than its predecessor.

The extra power improved the Minors top speed performance from 58.7 mph to a full 63 mph, it could accelerate for the first time to 60 mph in just 52 seconds. These improved performance figures were traded against a 6 imperial mpg rise in fuel consumption from 42 mpg to 36 mpg.

One of the stranger things I remember as a child and vehicle passenger in the early sixties in Cyprus is wondering why vehicles ahead would often slow down for no apparent reason then veer into the centre of the road, this happened many times and most times just before the vehicle ahead came to a complete stop in the middle of the road a funny orange coloured pointy thing would seemingly randomly suddenly appear somewhere on the right hand side of the vehicle.

This vertical piece of chrome in the B post is the top of one of those pointy things more commonly known as a Trafficator fully developed by Max Ruhl and Ernst Neuman in 1927 with internal illumination and solenoid operation.

Hard to believe indicators as we know them today on the four corners of the car did not become a legal requirement on new vehicles until the mid sixties in some parts of Europe, the Morris Minor made the switch from Trafficators to corner indicators in 1961.

I mentioned yesterday how the Tourer had big rear lights from 1962, here you can just how small these units would have been on the Tourer when it was new.

I hope you have enjoyed todays edition of ‘Getting a lil’ psycho on tyres, I’d like to wish all of my American readers and particularly all those who have actively contributed so much fun to this blog a Happy Thanksgiving.

Don’t for get to come back for a Ferrari Friday now !