Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 28th July, 2025)

It's very doubtful that it would pass an MOT test, should it need to have one.

I don't think the new will last as long as the old 1966 Morris Minor, Brian.
No need for a computer to rectify the faults with the old girl, just flick the points clean the plugs and off she goes. And if the battery goes flat, shove the starting handle through the bumber bar to the crankshaft pulley, ignition on, pull the choke, crank it over and she's running. Most cars of that eara were the same. Morris the best of British at that time, until production ended in 1971. Sadly British Leyland destroyed many makes of cars ie Morris, Austin, Rover and the foreign cars came on the seen like Datsun, Toyota, Fiat and so on, they flooded the car market, and that was the end of British Leyland.

Old-fashioned car, but drinking a paper cup of expensive coffee, you would catch them doing that in Heartbeat, Last of the Summerwine or All Creatures Great and Small.
And why do these so-called coffee lovers have to go and grab a coffee? Nobody ever used to say, let's go and grab a cup of tea or let's go to the pub to grab a couple of pints.
I'll not mention the rust, I leave that to those who like a good PAD moan.

Looks a bit rough round the edges but it will still outlast the modern cars.Of the three more people will look at the Moggy

The Morris Minor looks in very good condition.
It’s very similar to one my boyfriend had before we were married. I remember it well in very cold weather it was freezing with the windows open until the windows cleared..

The evolution of the automobile Brian, how things have changed.
Made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1948 and in production until 1971 with over 1,600,000 made.

Don't you just love a Morris Minor, they bring a smile to your face !
Saw one the other day in Lidl's car park just like this....everybody stopping to look, oohing & ahhing.

Love it! Is that near The Dover Lock, Brian? There are a few regularly-seen oldies in Abram, (besides me!). There's our Hillman Minx, a lovely maroon and grey Ford Prefect and Mark 1 Cortina. We get little children waving to us in the Minx as it is the same colours as Harry Potter's car, even though Harry's is an Anglia. One little lad asked me if it could fly?!

A proper British Classic from 1966, the car would be MOT exempt and the bodywork looks sound, just a bit of surface rust here and there, but not a problem. But it is almost 58 years old in September. As Mathewsons says, "just a bit of weekend work" and be like new again. Love it.

I used to have a black Moggie..at the time I did not like it but as time has gone by I would love to have had one..its registration was MLJ..which my Father in Law called it Mo’s little jalopy…it brings back a lot of happy memories.

The modern vehicles today are much better built towards the old bangers. But older car are more likely to fail an MOT on corroded bodywork, Sills Chassis and that. The modern car is more likely to fail MOT on emissions and warning lights on the dash. engine management ABS and airbag warnings.
The only time a modern car rusts if it's been accident damaged and not been treated. End of the day, it's much easier and cheaper to tackle mechanics than bodywork.
The mo

Bangers and Cash would love it, and make really good money.

The very first car we had in 1968 was a black Morris Minor. It cost us £ 50. We drove all the way to Cornwall in it, took 12 hours, but we loved it. Still have affection for this car.

Now then Brian that photo is just up my street as the saying would go,I’ve recently sold my cortina and all the doubters about classic cars check my car on MOT History website Registration VUF932Y and you will find classic cars are generally looked after no Road Find License required and no MOT required but I always MOT’d it +£130 for 12 months fully Comp Insurance what a great pastime.

Had a few Morris 1000s in my time.

Generally satisfactory, but:

Woodwork rots on 'Traveller' version. Restoration is expensive, and rarely satisfactory!

All versions, changing brakes master cylinder, when the need arises, is a real pig of a job.

Convertible was my favourite, In 1970's, my closest friend drove a yellow Morris 1000 convertible - a real 'Noddy Car'.

I think the demise of UK car 'makes' had already occurred by the time they were placed with Leyland.

Colin a fantastic amount of sales for the moggie. Just going off the Morris.
The Volkswagen Golf has sold 30 million cars since 1974 and still in production. That's a real fantastic amount.

We went down the M6 on a rainy day in one of these cars, the speedo said we were doing 70 mph, but the window screen wipers were moving very, very slowly so the driver could see what was in front of him.
Good cars, my aunt fanny.

John..my last car was a Cortina Estate..I just loved that car..got it from Mrs Turner Miry Lane,she was. a lovely lady and had it resprayed for me before I bought it at no cost..I cried when it had to go.

By the look of the surface rust around the sills not being addressed, it's my forecast that the chassis legs and suspension mounting points are rotten, not to mention the front of both footwells. It's not a car owned by a classics enthusiast or collector.

Slippery Mick. The front wishbone suspension on the Morris Minor is different, they don't have coil springs. Instead they have what's known as Torsion bars on both sides. So no chassis legs or mounting points.

Who remembers when you had to have your car Under sealed.. There was a place down cemetery Road who instead of using the 'rubber stuff' used Fish Oil.

Tom Pearce all I can say is you’re aunt fanny must’ve had a car with vacuum wipers,put your foot down and the wipers nearly stopped.First job on any classic cortina I’ve ever owned is engine out fully reconditioned and then a five speed gearbox fitted they will cruise all day at 3 thousand revs doing 70mph ask Will at Standish MOT centre facing Lidl? on the a49 he used to shake his head every time I called for MOT saying this car is better than some 3year old cars,I could say more but not wasting my time.Maureen you could not go wrong with cortina estate provided they were well maintained I towed a mk 1 capri back from Somerset in the seventies with a cortina estate no problem great car.

John Williams, the front mounting points of the rear leaf springs are particularly prone to corrosion.

Ron I remember it well but couldn’t afford it,was it ziebart or something similar.Some garages used to spray old oil on the underside but you wouldn’t get away with that today.

The chap who used to see to my cars always put ‘owd engine oil’ underneath for me. He swore by it. That was done from the 90’s onward until I retired 15 years ago. Glad I don’t drive anymore.

Morris Minor was an awful car as was it's successor the Mini, wouldn't start on wet days, noisy and uncomfortable. Foreign cars were much more reliable especially the Japs, that was their demise.

That's right Ron on Cemetery Road on the left hand side just before the railway bridge, they steam cleaned HGVs for MOTs too.

We sometimes used to coat our drill pipe in fish oil if we were going on an ocean tow.
The last time I did it was in the Gulf of Aqaba at the northern end of the Red Sea, before we set sail around to the Persian Gulf.

John don’t tell me you used to go to Billy Horrocks ( no relation to Eddie) down Daisy Hill….he rescued me if ever I broke down anywhere. He was really good but sadly he died a few years ago. He always coated the bottom of my cars with ‘owd engine oil’.

Slippery Mick, the chassis legs also rust away from the inside out. In fact, they are a rust-bucket, as can be seen from the photo.

I remember when only one guy had a car in our street , we all had front gardens with flowers ( yes them things) and a green space in front where kids could play. Now when I look on streetview it's packed with cars and all the fronts are concrete and bins .
As kids we would sit on the kerb as you see in WW's album and do what kids do . Now they would have trouble to find a space there's so many cars.
'We don't what we've got till its gone .. and so on ..

The very first motor that I ever owned had those vacuum wipers John .
When you were climbing a long steep hill , the wipers would gradually slow down until they were practically stationary , then the moment you crested the summit they were off like the clappers again .

It was a Ford 7cwt Thames van with the 100 E side valve engine . 687 AAB being its Worcester reg .
I got rid when it blew the head gasket .

Aside from the issue with the wipers , it had no heater or de-mister or even any windscreen washers either , so if you were going on a long trip it was advisable to take along a Fairy liquid bottle full of water and hang out of the window periodically to give the screen a couple of squirts .

Apart from that it was a decent motor to drive
( if you’re into basic transportation that is) and a good introduction to motoring , even if one needed to be innovative at times .

I am now the proud owner of a top of the range Citröen C15 van which boasts both a heater and a radio no less , neither of which actually function , and windows that will wind down , but won’t wind back up .

At times , during the quiet hours , I often sit and contemplate the quantum leap in progress that I’ve achieved over the decades .

Sgt Pepper. The mini was launched in 1959, the Morris Marina replaced the Minor. Slippery Mick all cars and vans with rear axle spring leaf suspension rust, in those days we painted them with used engine oil, it also stops noise levels.

The Ford Anglia and Prefect had Vacuum wipers. The ford Cortina all years were electric motor driven.

Yes. My first car was a 'sit up n beg' Ford Pop. Vacuum wipers that were useless when you really needed them, travelling at speed, but they would go like billyo when you slowed or stopped!

Oddly enough, my penultimate car was a Merc 123. That also used a vacuum take-off from the carb, but not in this case for wipers. The vac powered central locking in car which was just a bit too early to benefit from the micro electronics now used. The locking mechanisms in the M 123 did not activate simultaneously, but sequentially, so good audio feedback, ie six 'kerchunks' for each door, boot and fuel filler.

Bloody good car. Did 37 years almost fault free!

The Morris Minor was an ok car, what you forget is the car was in production in 1948-1971. What car didn't rust then. after saying that this car looks in good nick. The worst car for corrosion were Vauxhalls, especially the Victor. The started rusting on the assembly line.
Many more were vivas, and Crestas.
Jap cars were reliable with fantastic engineering but rubbish bodywork. They rust for fun so did Toyota.
The best cars for great engineering and long lasting bodywork look no further than the Germans. Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, BMW and now the Mini.

Veronica the name rings a bell but unsure I did work at Southgrove garage for a while with David Cowburn before Audrey left him and they turned out with Eddie and his wife, reckon we must have bumped into each other sometime,by the way I was at JHC again this afternoon physio one of the tutors was giving me paper towels to wipe the sweat of my head quite amusing.

A car is only as good as its owner, look after them and they'll look after you.
Rust is caused after neglect.
But care must start from new.

Britain's worst voted car ever is the Austin Allegro. You know, the one with the square steering wheel. A real flop for the British car maker. BL.

Yes I remember that couple John. I believe he died quite young. Did you see Bob the dog when you were at JHC? He’s a lovely dog but very timid. He belongs to the chap who sets our tables up…and then puts the room back in order after we have left. .

Moggies were outstandingly restorable.

Until 2021, ALL parts were available, including things like body parts, extruded components, wiring looms etc.

Anyone remember Charly Ware - 'The Morris Minot Centre' Bath?

Ozy or is it Eddie, do you remember Johnny Moggy's car in Ashton? He had the old-fashioned trafficators for turning left or right, and I have a vague memory that one of them was actually shaped like a hand.

My last and favourite car was a Nissan which lasted longer than any other and before that a Toyota.. my dad wasn’t pleased at all though being they were Japanese.

I can’t honestly say that I remember his car Irene, but I certainly remember the man .

What you say is probably correct as I’ve heard that story before .

I just rang our mutual friend , convinced that he would know for sure , but surprisingly , he was unable to confirm this .

Irene the old car turning trafficators were called semaphore indicators when they work. They use to stick open or wouldn't close. What a godsend the flashing indicators were later on.

I didn’t see the man Veronica but will look out for Bob as I’ll be going for maybe another 6 weeks. I run a Toyota as it makes sense to me.

Ford Thames 7 cwt van were horrible to drive. Not the best engine. Troublesome and Rusted for run.

John, I run a Real ota !