Lot 004: 1931 MORRIS MINOR FABRIC SALOON

William Morris, born in 1877, has been described as 'the man who put Oxford on wheels' but it would be fairer to say that he probably put Britain on wheels for his Morris company, officially registered as W.R.M. Motors Ltd of Cowley Oxford in 1913, was one of the most popular British cars for the whole of its 70 year history. Eventually becoming Lord Nuffield, he was of course responsible for the MG, and who around the world has not heard of that name if they are in any way interested in the motorcar. Morris launched the Cowley and the better-equipped Oxford but sales were slow due to rapidly escalating prices but Morris choose to dramatically cut his prices to increase production. This decision ensured that by 1925 Morris had 41\% of all British car registrations. The smallest Morris was the Minor, which was launched as a direct competitor to the Austin Seven in 1928 with the 847cc single overhead cam engine developed by Wolseley. The Minor was made as a four-seat tourer, which cost ú125 or a fabric saloon at ú135 and in the history file of this sensational example we have for you today there is a copy of the period advertisement for the fabric saloon. This has to be the most original Morris Minor in existence. Dating from 1931 LG 6677, its original registration, was sold to Frank Hodgkinson of Nantwich Road, Middlewich who bought it new from Middlewich Motors. It is reputed that LG 6677 never left Middlewich and was only used to go to church on Sunday. Certainly the original owners home is within easy walking distance of the town centre and would not have been needed for shopping and it was laid up during the war and not used again until 1950. On his death in 1956 it was returned to Middlewich Motors where it remained on display in the showroom until the close of that business in 1984 where upon it went to the Mouldsworth Motor Museum and its owner James Peacop. In 2002 it was bought by the present owner who has only showed the car on a couple of occasions, including a meeting of the VSCC at Oulton Park but the car is running and driving and is currently MOT'd until May 2006. The present owner bought it with a warranted mileage of 4345 however he does believe, due to various pointers including the wear on the original spare tyre, that the car has probably done a total of 14345 miles from new. Whichever is true it is certainly a stunningly original and time warp vehicle that would grace any collection of cars.