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CSMA Club Motor Museum and Cottages

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Morris Minor

Please select a car...   Austin BantamAustin ChummyAustin CliftonAustin NippyAustin SwallowAustin TaxiBMW 327Jaguar XK140Jaguar MK VMG 1100MG J2MG TDMG YMorris MinorRiley AdelphiRiley KestrelRiley RMD 21/2 litreRover 8 VanStandard 8Sunbeam AlpineVolvo P1800 ES

This car looks just like the Austin Sevens you have. Is it a Seven?
No but you are right track because a joke from the 1920s sums up the similarity and has a laugh at their diminutive dimensions.
First Urchin (surveying a small car parked by the kerb) It's an Austin, I tell yer."
Second Urchin: T'aint, it's a Morris Minor."
Third Urchin: "S'neither, -it's got pedals.`'

How did the Minor come about?
Morris had bought Wolseley and that meant there was production space and also a six-cylinder engine, which was in development for the Wolseley Hornet. So two thirds of that advanced overhead camshaft engine powered the Morris and also the MG Midget. The Minor was launched in 1928 at a time when the Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill had imposed duty on petrol by 4d a gallon. So small economical cars were popular and no car was more popular than the Seven.

Was the Minor better than the Seven?
It had a number of advantages over the Seven in that it had a state of the art overhead camshaft engine and an extra 100cc capacity. It was also larger and had a very contemporary suspension set-up.

The Minor must have been more expensive than the Seven.
Actually the pricing was very similar. Then in 1929, Austin put their prices up and the Minors were suddenly £5 less than the equivalent Sevens. In 1931 Morris went even further and managed to offer a simplified two-seater version with a less complex side valve engine for just £100.

So the Minor outsold the Seven?
No. It was never a best seller. Between 1928 and 1932 39,087 were sold and that includes commercial versions. The Minor is chiefly remembered as being the sound basis for the best of the pre-war MGs.