Morris cars for sale

Overview

Morris was, with Austin, one of the two pillars of the British motor industry, and the Morris Minor is among the most affectionately regarded cars ever made. Morris-badged Minis and Minors were sold and assembled in Australia in large numbers.

History

William Morris founded WRM Motors in 1912 and opened a factory at Cowley, Oxford in 1913, assembling the "Bullnose" Morris Oxford from bought-in components. By 1926 Morris accounted for 42 per cent of all British car production, achieved by buying up his own suppliers and driving assembly efficiency.

The company absorbed Wolseley in 1935, MG in 1935 and Riley in 1938. The 1948 Morris Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis, was the definitive product and the first British car to sell a million. Morris merged with Austin in 1952 to form BMC. The name survived until 1984, the Morris Ital being the last car to wear it; the trademark is now owned by SAIC.

In Australia

Morris was built here, not merely imported. Nuffield Australia opened a 57-acre assembly plant at Zetland in Sydney in March 1950 — on the old Victoria Park Racecourse — specifically to assemble the Morris Minor and Morris Oxford locally. When Austin and Nuffield’s Australian arms merged into BMC Australia in 1954, Zetland became the group’s headquarters and its design and manufacturing centre.

That local engineering capability produced cars sold nowhere else. The Australian Morris 1500 and 1300 were reworked from the British ADO16 for local conditions, and the five-door Morris Nomad (1969–72) was an Australian creation with no British equivalent. The Morris Major was another local model. The Marina became the Leyland Marina in 1972, offered with an Australia-only 2,623cc six. Zetland closed by 1975 as British Leyland collapsed.

Buying a classic Morris

Rust first, always — floors, sills, and on a Minor the crossmember and the area around the torsion bar mounts. A straight, dry shell in shabby paint is worth more than a shiny car over filler.

The Minor is superbly supported by British specialists and a strong Australian club scene, so mechanical parts are easy. The Australian-only models are the opposite: Nomad, 1500 and Major body panels and trim are genuinely scarce, so buy the most complete example you can find rather than the cheapest, and check the compliance plate to confirm what the car actually is.