Alan Smith

If I said, at the last count, I owned over 400 classic cars, I wouldn’t be lying…….the thing is though, all, except my 1962 4 door Morris Minor are either Dinky, Corgi or Spot-on original toy versions!! I have been a passionate collector of only English marques (i.e Austin, Morris, Riley, Humber, Sunbeam, et al) for most of my adult life. Incidentally, my collection comprises only the original toys and not the Far East replicas and virtually all my cars are in mint or near mint condition and are boxed.

FUN/OBSCURE FACT: Of all the hundreds, if not thousands, of 1:43 scale toys that Dinky and Corgi made, not a single one was of any version of a Morris Minor. That honour was left to Triang Spot-on, who made an excellent representation of a 4 door saloon. How fortuitous for me, then?

Excluding my very first motoring bangers (a 1955 Standard 10 and two 60s Triumph Heralds) my transition to actual road-going classic cars started just after my 30th birthday with an Austin A30 saloon, although it did have the bigger 948cc engine to give it that extra poke. The use of the word ‘poke’ is very much a relative term in this context!! 

As a 40th birthday present to myself I bought an absolute mint 1976 MGBGT with under 10,000 miles on the clock! Sadly, it had to go eventually, when my wife felt that the steering was too heavy for her to drive it pleasurably. Two more chrome bumper MGB roadsters followed (one of which I had, at the same time as the GT) but a house downsizing in my late 50’s, meant I could semi-retire. It came, however, with the loss of some garage and drive space. As both my wife and I had ‘moderns’, our new (downsized) and still current house, involved a game of ‘car chess’ i.e. shuffling vehicles on and off the drive to get my roadster out of the garage and on to the road……and then the whole procedure had to be reversed upon my return home. My wife’s Micra was first to go (we really no longer needed a car each) and not long after, I sold  the MGB to a former colleague, as we simply weren’t using it enough.

For the first time in nearly 35 years, I was ‘classicless’. I had time for other interests and voluntary work to fill my days, until one fateful Saturday morning, a bad fall on black ice, caused a serious and permanent compression fracture of one of my upper vertabrae. Walking in the Peak District and day-long standing at a drop-in centre for disadvantaged people were now out of the question. Twice daily pain relief  medication helps me manage my new circumstances but real salvation, of sorts, was found when I stumbled across a tinterweb advert for a certain Morris Minor and it was located no more than 15 miles away.

More in jest than anything else, I showed the advert to my wife and asked her if she fancied tootling about in this car. Her response was that ”if I wanted it, I should go for it”. I didn’t need asking a second time and the rest, as they say………

Basically, the car was already in excellent condition having been completely rebuilt by the vendor during his 35 years of ownership, but the engine bay was shabby, to put it mildly. I’m no mechanic but I can polish for England and have patience to degrease, rub down, repaint etc.etc. Some of the mechanical hands-on skills I learnt when I was running old bangers from the age of 18, did come back to me, so a quick under bonnet tidy-up morphed into the fitting of additional instruments and componants as well as stripping out the entire interior to fit loads of sound-deadening material plus all sorts of other cosmetic improvements. The beauty of this new-found project was that I could work on the car in the garage, until my back pain told me to stop. A couple of hours rest later and I was able to pick up where I had left off.  That set of circumstances continues to this day.

By the way, I’m not a stickler for originality by any means, as I’m all for the adaption of modern technology if it increases the chances of better reliability. Wherever possible though, I do like the appearance of any additions or improvements to be in keeping with car’s age. For instance, I have either fitted or had fitted, electronic ignition – the type which is all encased within a complete new distributor, an electronic fuel pump, an alternator that still looks like a dynamo. More recently, the indicators have all been updated with orange LEDs but still have the clear (front) and red (rear) lenses.

It’s hard to say what drew me to the Minor in the first place, as I had never owned or driven one before. I must be one of the very few people in the country whose mum, dad or grandad had never owned a Moggy or who learnt to drive in one! Don’t we all wish we’d got a pound for every time we’ve heard that?

On reflection, I was tempted by the full length fabric sunroof. Obviously, not as good for that proper ‘wind in the hair’ experience as a convertible would be but perhaps a bit more practical.

I also made, what I now know, could have been a schoolboy error………as I bought the very first car I looked at!  In my defence, I wasn’t really looking to buy a classic car in the first place. It was, in every sense possible, a classic impulse purchase! Secondly, my well honed instinct suggested that both the vendor and the car were genuine, which thankfully, turned out to be the case. Needless to say, I had never heard of a so-called ‘Dual Personality’ Morris Minor.

Five years later, I still love the car as much as I did when I first picked it up and it has opened up a new set of friends and spin-off activities. I’m sure were it not for my catastrophic slip on black ice, I would not have been writing this brief history of my classic car journey to date.

Alan

Jack Howkins

Hi! My name is Jack Howkins and I have owned my dual personality Morris Minor 1000 saloon for around 10 years now, it was my dads before that for a similar amount of time so it becoming part of the family life and history, breaking down when used for a wedding being one of the most memorable!! When I saw the register needed help, I enquired to see if there is any support I could offer and next thing I know I am one of the registrars!

The aim is to create a lasting list of all remaining DP vehicles from all over the world with an easy resource for people to learn about this era of Morris minor history.  I don’t claim to be any kind of expert but feel free to ask any questions you have an ill endeavour to find the answer!

I work mostly in NHS laboratories as my main job, am a supporter of Brentford FC currently live in Stoke-On-Trent and love a Pint of Real ale……… Hopefully get to meet as many Morris owners as possible!