The split screen, the indicators poking up like orange fingers, the notoriously rust-prone floors, the pootling exhaust note--just some of the much-loved characteristics of the Morris Minor or Morris 1000. Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis back in 1948, this bulbous little creation was Britain's first mass-appeal car. By 1972 some 1.6 million were built. There were variants like the Morris Traveler (timber-framed estate) and the Morris Million (painted pink). For thousands of newly marrieds, or penurious students, it was their ...
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The split screen, the indicators poking up like orange fingers, the notoriously rust-prone floors, the pootling exhaust note--just some of the much-loved characteristics of the Morris Minor or Morris 1000. Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis back in 1948, this bulbous little creation was Britain's first mass-appeal car. By 1972 some 1.6 million were built. There were variants like the Morris Traveler (timber-framed estate) and the Morris Million (painted pink). For thousands of newly marrieds, or penurious students, it was their first car. It was also the kind of car in which the district nurse did her rounds. Martin Wainwright (who proposed to his wife over the gearstick of a Morris Minor) gives us a quirky and fascinating history of this quintessentially British car. You'll find everything from the post-70s vogue for restoring and rebuilding Morris Minors, to the alarming habit of their bonnets to open at speed and entirely obscure your vision, not to mention the esoteric photo exhibition devoted to abandoned Morris Minors on the West Coast of Ireland.
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