soo i dont currently own a morris minor and didnt know much about them untill i started searching mostly on ebay for classic cars... i have a big love for anything classic/vintage down to clothes all the way up to motors
i am currently going ahead for a licence to drive and ive fell for the morris minors there amazing what a hood ...
anyway id just like some general advice on what wud be a good model and what there like to drive / reliability etc as id like to use it as my only car....
i look forward to hearing from you ! and what a great group this is ..
good to have more people becoming interested in morries, cant let it be a dying breed.
If you plan on using your morry as a daily driver i do think you should get a minor 1000. They were produced after 1956 and had the 950cc engine up until 1963 where they gained a facelift again and were treated to the 1100cc engine, bigger brakes, proper indicators and many more little things.
The later 1000 model is the best for a daily driver but theres nothing wrong with the earlier 1000 models. Most here would probably agree that the series MM and series 2 cars are best left to the sunday drivers as they are typically very slow almost to a dangerous point with todays traffic.
When you do find a car you are interested in pop back here and im sure someone on the forum will be close enough to check it out for you and make sure everything is honky dory and that the car will offer you many fun miles!
Check the "new member" thread at the top of this section.
If you are looking for a daily driver I think you would be best looking for one of the later cars - Morris Minor 1000. They should have either a 1098cc or 948cc engine. There are plenty out there which have been upgraded to 1275cc engines from midgets/ital etc
Standard 8" Drum brakes in good condition are perfectly adequate for modern driving, but do take a little getting used to - some people prefer to upgrade to disks, but this can be an expensive option.
My first car (in 2002) was a 1964 1098cc Traveller, and learning to drive in that (in my opinion) has made me a far better driver! Minors feel suprisingly modern to drive and are gret fun too!
thanks alot for your reply ! appreciated ... alot of good infomation there!! I am really lookng forward to getting to know more about the morris minors ! and finding a forum full of people who share my interest is very pleasing.. im currentyl saving for my wedding in may 2010 so i might be next year before im in a position to get moving with driving. whats the average speeds that they can comfortably drive at with the model described
cruising is the only way to ride in a classic such as a morris .... im only 22 myself alot of the family and freinds are more into modern cars and it makes me laugh as they seem to be in and out of garages with problems.... yet i would put mney down on the fact a classic car would out do any of these modern cars as they age too
my 1098cc morry had plenty of grunt to cruise at 70 but the main issue was noise. its doing over 4000 rpm at that speed and the morry engines arent designed for that, they dont like revving as much as what a modern engine does.
im yet go see one in person but i am arrangin some veiwingthey look small yets big if u can understand tht size wise wot wud u compare them too alot av sed mini??? but i doubt tht V much id say london cabby lol from the pictures ive seen just lower
morrisman1. Whilst I would agree that the later M1000 is more suited to daily use, I must take issue with your statement that Series MMs are slow to the point of being dangerous. A Series MM if properly looked after is quite capable of maintaining a 60mph cruising speed which is faster than most people drive their M1000s, and is perfectly capable of keeping up with the flow of traffic on urban and single carriageway roads and on motorways the occasional venture into the centre lane is necessary to overtake HGVs.
And I am most certainly not a Sunday driver as anyone who has been overtaken by me towing a trailer up the motorway to a rally will agree.
Last edited by mike.perry on Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I agree with Mike re MM/Series II - My Series II is actually very good to drive in traffic - the badly spaced gearbox ratios allow me to drive it almost like an automatic. In third gear I can slow to almost a crawl and then pick up to close to 30 mph. The car will do 50 mph comfortably and peak at about 55. Heavy traffic and medium pace traffic is fine, it is only motorway cruising when everyone else is doing 65-70 mph which is a bit stressful but in my experience most drivers understand.
Having said all that I would agree that the 1000/1100 is a better daily driver, not the least because of far better parts availability.
