minor-tours.com - A History of the Morris Minor

A short history of the Morris Minor

The story of the Morris Minor began in World War 2 with a young designer, Alec Issigonis. Morris was one of the largest car manufacturers in the UK and, as the imminent threat of invasion receded, Morris began to think about business after the war.
Alec Issigonis was asked to lead efforts on a post war design and immediately began to work on a new, revolutionary car with no separate chassis, rack and pinion steering, torsion bar suspension, a horizontal "flat four" engine and styling drawn from the latest American cars.
Picture copyright British Motor Heritage Trust

As the war drew to a close, plans to put this new car into production began. It finally appeared in 1948 and was very similar to Issigonis' first design sketches except that it had been widened about 100mm (4") and was fitted with a pre-war designed sidevalve engine.
The new car proved quite popular with the only major criticism being the lack of performance from the old style engine. The comfort and good handling were particularly noted. As was common at the time, such items as windscreen washers and a cabin heater were optional extras !

The car continued largely unchanged for four years except that the headlights were repositioned from the front grill to above the wings in order to comply with USA requirements.
In 1951, Morris merged with its greatest rival Austin to form the British Motor Corporation. Austin had invested in a new, overhead valve engine for their postwar A30 car design which, although lighter and smaller, produced more power than the old Morris engine.

The new BMC sensibly decided to fit this newer engine into the Morris Minor. Sales increased and the millionth was produced in 1961. The "moggy" as they are affectionately known, earned a place in the hearts of the British public.

Design changes were few and were mostly details. The engine size gradually increased from 803cc to 1098cc giving the car a performance that still keeps up with modern traffic. Flashing indicators were added in 1962 and, you'll be pleased to know, windscreen wipers and heaters became standard ! The last Morris Minor, a traveller, was made in 1971.