Talk:Morris Minor

American styling

Why no mention of of the 1941 Packard Model 110 Station Wagon which the Traveller is clearly a copy of?

Burbling Sound

The article on the Morris Minor probably needs to mention the very distinctive and characteristic burbling sound made by the engine when it is on over-run - ie when you take your foot off the throttle while going downhill. I'm not sure where the best place is to mention this.

American Sales

It says in the article the bureaucracy within the Morris company impacted sales in US, how exactly? If the front wings/headlamps were redesigned to comply with US legislation what problems existed with regards to successful sales.

If you consider the VW Beetle and Renault Dauphine sold in reasonable numbers in the US in the 50's/60's what were the internal management problems that prevented the Minor from doing so, as it is in many ways a far better car than them both. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.206.254 ([[User talk:

82.3.206.254|talk]]) 23:00, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Exporting to the US is a complicated business because there are so many population centers. With Canada or Australia, once you've covered half a dozen cities, you've more or less got 90% of your potential market covered. With the US you need a much more extensive dealership network. Half hearted one toe in the water approaches to exporting to the US don't really work. If you remember, the Dauphines sold in reasonable numbers but not for very long (and then there was something to do with corrosion...) VW took a more strategic view and carefully built up a strong dealership network. (And they had those brilliant adverstisements in the 1960s - guess they got lucky with their agency, or was it skill / judgement?) A decent dealership network is a sine qua non of long term export success in the US. Ask Toyota or Honda. BMC in the 1950s didn't really do strategic, and they always seem to have had problems developing a professional, stable and loyal dealership network in continental Europe, so that even with sophisiticated models, their chief competitive advantage was price: I suspect it was the same in the US. You have to sell cheap, and so, belatedly, you notice you're not making any money on the deal, and just as you're maybe beginning to build up long terms relations with your better dealers, the bean counters come along and pull the plug. Ten years later, new managements having learned nothing from the experiences of the last lot, repeat the whole exercise. Remember the Austin America (ADO 16) and the Rover Sterling?

You need consistency and time to build relationships with your dealers (as, indeed, with your customers). So the proper answer to your question is long and complex. But here's a para before breakfast that I think may give you a pointer or two... Regards Charles01 (talk) 06:42, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

The Morris Minor sold in similar numbers to the Beetle in the USA in the 1950s, just Disney never made a film about it. It failed to comply with safety regulations introduced in the 1960s. The headlight changes were introduced to comply with Canadian regulations - where it was assembled.123.3.24.16 (talk) 11:16, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Soft-top

I don't know if any of the people who edit this page are interested, but there's a 1967 (or thereabouts) Morris Minor soft-top parked outside my work building. Anyone need a picture? I can blur out the reg number if anyone's worried about that sort of thing (it's not my car). --El Pollo Diablo (Talk) 14:21, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

1948, and other questions

It seems notable that the car came onto the market only a few years after WW2; given that car production had ceased during the war (as far as I remember), had the basic design been in the works since the late 1930s, or was it strictly a post-war project? The body style looks ancient by modern standards, but was it up-to-date in '48? It might be out of the scope of the article, how did Austin expect to sell the car to a nation in the grip of rationing; and how did the people of Britain perceive the car? Was it an aspirational consumer durable, or was it just another cheap car amongst many others that are forgotten nowadays? The article would benefit from a short paragraph outlining the competition, assuming there was any, perhaps explaining with references why the Minor remained popular whilst other cars faded away. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 22:38, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

These are all good questions. Since I have several books about the Morris Minor, plus I've owned 4 of them in my life, my plan is to extensively expand the article and provide references. To very briefly answer a few of your questions, yes, Alec Issigonis worked on the prototype -- then called the Mosquito -- of the Minor before and during WWII. The intent in the immediate postwar period was primarily to export the car to the US, Canada, Australia and other countries. Relatively few of the cars were sold in Britain at that time. The Morris Minor was indeed very up-to-date in 1948. Otherwise, it's unlikely to have remained in production until 1971.Armona (talk) 03:40, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Links to Club branches

As an active member of both the National and my local Morris Minor club and an owner of three Morris Minors I was saddened to see vandalism of this page- that someone had deleted the links to five local branches. Please, if you do not own a Morris Minor and are not part of the club do not deface the Morris Minor page by deleting links. You do not have the knowledge of this subject to judge what is and what is not appropriate. Please leave the editing of this page to us Morris Minor experts. regards John —Preceding unsigned comment added by Funkychickenjohn (talk • contribs) 13:29, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

No, not vandalism - but an attempt to keep the list of external links within a reasonable compass, and which I explained in my edit summary and at User talk:Funkychickenjohn. Please see WP:EL, WP:SPAM, WP:NOTLINKS, not to mention WP:OWN. I will not delete it again for the moment (note WP:3RR), but I invite someone else to do so - and I suggest that Funkychickenjohn would do well to read those poilcy pages. SNALWIBMA ( talk - contribs ) 13:45, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

I have removed it again. Before reinstating it, I suggest it would be sensible to discuss here whether it is desirable to include a link to every branch and every local club around the world. Why pick out East Kent, from all the possibilities? How long a list would you like? It very quickly falls foul of WP:linkspam, not to mention common sense. Surely better to link just to the national associations. SNALWIBMA ( talk - contribs ) 09:28, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

For Morris credibility, I've owned Morrises for 17 years.. As for the idea that there should be links to every individual Morris Minor club in the Morris Minor article, no. There's no reason to link to individual clubs in the external links section. Where on earth would you stop?—Kww(talk) 15:57, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Morris Minors in Ceylon/Sri Lanka

I remember that back in the 1970s there were a lot of locally assembled Morris Minors in Ceylon (as we in England then knew Sri Lanka). Does anyone have access to a source that would permit the creation of a brief para on Morris Minors assembled (I would imagine, at least initially, using CKD kits) in Sri Lanka? Regards Charles01 (talk) 17:09, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Charles Ware's morris minor centre nr bath/bristol, uk, has a factory in sri lanka that builds body panels, etc. maybe someone there could find someone who has knowledge of production abroad. also it may be worth a mention in the morris minor today section that they have a Series 3 morris that brings all key areas to a slightly more modern standard (not too much of course otherwise it wouldn't be a minor!) cheers zac —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.12.4.46 (talk) 20:59, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Englishness?

One of our fellow editors has repeatedly deleted a statement at the beginning of the article to the effect that one author wrote that the Morris Minor typifies "Englishness." This editor claims that the statement is "anecdotal" and should have at least two sources. I submit that it is not but rather is a sourced statement (Karen Pender's 1995 book "The Secret Life of the Morris Minor") and that Wikipedia does not require two or more sources. So, what does everyone think? Is it an acceptable statement to include about Morris Minors or not? Armona (talk) 02:05, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

The Morris Minor, thought to typify Englishness, was first launched in London in 1948 From Daily Mail and The Morris Minor: A British miracle Strange to say for something that acquired a reputation for essential Englishness Telegraph.co.uk, Kathryn Hughes The Guardian, Saturday 6 December 2008 Article history quote: But if the Morris has a tendency to diminish physically as the years progress, culturally it has been busy laying down rich stores of fat. Indeed, so identified has the car become with a particular reading of Englishness. Dr.K. ^{λogosπraxis} 02:32, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi fellow editors. Great point. Who is Karen Pender and why should her opinion matter? Is her book a "fan" book, by a "fan" for "fans"... or is it a serious reference itself? Is it an opinion by an isolated author? You stated in the edit line that the statement reflects "a commonly expressed sentiment." And if this is 'commonly' expressed... show us examples... especially by a notable author from a notable source. 842U (talk) 02:35, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Hello fellow editor. I think we are now well past Karen Pender. I just supplied three reliable sources other than Karen Pender verifying what she claims. Here is a fourth one: Fifty-one, but still a BabyPRINCE FREDERICK Morris Minor models, believed to “typify Englishness”, were in the ascendant. from Hindu.com. Dr.K. ^{λogosπraxis} 02:42, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

We must consider not just the merit of the quote itself (or its author), but also whether it adds anything to the article. Since "Englishness" is not even linked to any helpful explanation of the term, which is rather open to interpretation, I'd suggest that it in fact detracts from the clarity of the article. Definitely in favour of removing it. Perhaps if we could find a reference which suggests that the Minor's "English character" contributed to its sales, that might be more relevant. – Kieran T ^(talk) 10:29, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Why should being British have contributed to sales, rather than detracted from them? Or been thought of as more than just a defining characteristic? There are enough sources to back the statement up, and I do think the car has come to be seen as typifying Britain.—Kww(talk) 11:26, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

I agree with Kww. One way or the other the Morris is a British icon: Nominate England's greatest icon, (from BBC news.com), where it is called a "design classic". I also agree that "Englishness" may be a vague term but if this description is supported by reliable sources, even if vague, it can be included in the article. The threshold here is verifiability, not absolute clarity of terms. I also think that "Englishness", in the present context, is a term which applies to the design of the car. The design is an important aspect of any automobile and it sometimes defies a precise definition. So "Englishness" although not a a well defined term, helps the reader get a feeling of the essential design elements of the vehicle. Dr.K. ^{λogosπraxis} 12:58, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

The term 'Englishness' is NOT applicable to the design elements of the car, nor its' popularity in sales in the UK. The term refers to the perceptual vision that non UK residents have of the country. The Morris Minor, along with several other vehicles (notably the ubiquitous Black Cab and the Morgan Plus 4) are seen as being representative of what being 'English' is, in relation to the instant thoughts that would be associative when someone foreign is questioned about cars made here. Whether it can be put into the article in that way is debatable, but not impossible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.122.94.159 (talk) 15:51, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Morris Minor today

This section mentions the car's appearance in the Muppet movie, so surely mention should be made of the movie The Borrowers, in which EVERY small vehicle is a Morris Minor - cars, vans, etc. There is even a stretched limo version. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.81.28.204 (talk) 20:08, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

The Traveller was not introduced until the 1953 Earls Court Motorshow. "The Nuffield Organization announced yesterday that the Morris Minor is now available with a shooting brake body, called the traveller's car, at a price of £422.10.0 plus £177.3.4 purchase tax. With a deluxe specification - a heater, twin horns, bumper over-riders, passenger's sun visor and leather covered seat cushion and squabs - the price is . . ." The Times, Thursday, Oct 08, 1953; pg. 5; Issue 52747

There was no such thing as a low-light 4-door car etc etc. Eddaido (talk) 11:08, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

The car generated huge affection from many people. I had one too, once.... Forty years later the entry on it has far more contributors than most British cars from that period. That follows. Inevitably some of us get stuff wrong: the entry badly needs someone to take a lot of time to go through systematically and enter corrections with sources in support of the correct versions of truth. We don't get stuff wrong on purpose and generally we welcome having our misrememb'rings corrected! And thank you if it will be you. Thank you to whoever, indeed.

I suppose the only slight caveat, if you go back to the 1940s and the 1950s, on introduction dates etc is that directly after the war, with the mantra "export or die" rattling in the automaker's ears, and steel rationed accordingly, you cannot assume that English language sources from and for England are valid across the world. Jaguars with straight six engines did not perform so well in the UK (unless you took them to Belgium and played around with the engine for the occasion) because in the UK you could for several years only get lower octane "pool grade" petrol/gasoline and Jaguars sold to the Brits normally had the compression ratio adjusted in order to cope with it, thus reducing engine power. And automatic transmission was offered on export Jaguars for the USA long before it was offered to Brits. I've a feeling that that other export stalwart, the Standard Vanguard, sometimes got improvements or upgrades on export models some time before they the domestic market buyers got a look in. I DO NOT KNOW if that applies also to the early Issigonis Morris Minors. But I guess it could.

Regards Charles01 (talk) 13:31, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

I think you are quite right. Magazines like The Motor and Autocar would carry a brief item like "some of the small 3.4-litre engined Jaguars have been made available to the home market", maybe not in exactly those words, but otherwise they seemed to hope to keep locals unaware of what was sent out of the country. Certainly in the 40s and early 50s there was something of a fad for Woodies in USA (particularly Chrysler Corp?). Now it just seems odd for such an obviously "English" style to be slipping out of the country unnoticed.

Shades of the Austin 16 which I still think may have been sent around the world for co-ordinated announcement that never happened because war broke out (and the truck engine variant was set to war work). Thanks, Eddaido (talk) 23:45, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

"A 1,098 cc-engined tourer tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1950". There's a citation but was there an 1098cc BMC engine in 1950? The A-Series page shows the 1098cc engine as introduced in 1962. Some other Morris engine? GreenTony (talk) 22:32, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

You ought to have an external link to: https://www.morrisminor.org.uk/ for those who wish to purchase or maintain vintage vehicles. People still drive these vehicles today, even in the 21st century it is still a practical and viable technology. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:249:601:5F00:5067:4380:AD81:E30C (talk) 22:00, 11 November 2018 (UTC)

Subcompact

The infobox describes the Minor as a 'subcompact', an American size category which isn't used or understood in Britain. Given that the article is written in British English (which it should be, given the subject) the use of this category as a primary description is inappropriate and jarring. --Ef80 (talk) 13:34, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

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Does Not Compute

A 918 cc-engined tourer tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1950 had a top speed of 58.7 mph (94.5 km/h) and could accelerate from 0–50 mph (80 km/h) in 29.2 seconds. However, the 918 cc engine did 0–60 mph in 50+ seconds.[6]

How can a car with a top speed of 58.7mph have a 0-60 time that's less than forever? Stub Mandrel (talk) 10:53, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

Metric threads

The Hotchkiss-designed XPAG engine, which was used in a number of Morris and MG cars from the 1920s to the 1950s, had metric threads. However, the nuts and bolts that were used on these engines had Whitworth-sized heads, so you would need a combination of metric and Whitworth tools to work on them.

Wizzy…☎ 14:41, 26 June 2023 (UTC)