Are there any plans to redesign the Morris Minor?

Post by **Beagle** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:54 am

Hello

We have had redesigns of the Mini, the Cinquecento and the Beetle.
Does anyone know of any plans to do the same with the Moggy?

Thanks.

Post by **Dean** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:17 am

I hope not, but with the Chinese now owning the rights to the Morris mark, I suppose anything is possible. I actually think the Chinese prefer Austin's though?

Post by **Ondergard** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:28 am

Beagle wrote:We have had redesigns of the Mini, the Cinquecento and the Beetle.Does anyone know of any plans to do the same with the Moggy?

Depending on how elegantly they restyle it, and how they maintain the Minor spirit - however you define that! - I would be up for buying one as my "modern", whilst keeping a classic for pleasure.

It would very much depend on how faithful the designers are, though. I quite liked the new Beetle but hate the new mini, for example.

Post by **morrisman1** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:38 pm

i think anyone would struggle to retain the character and charm of the morry minor while making it up to modern standards. It would probably grow 50% in size, weigh nearly two tonnes and a quiet exhaust pipe

Post by dp » Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:58 pm

I think India would do a good job if it got hold of the rights - if the Enfield and Hindustan ambassador are anything to go by. I.e the original tooling but with just enough innovation to scrape through current European standards.

Post by **Blaketon** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 2:38 pm

dp wrote:I think India would do a good job if it got hold of the rights - if the Enfield and Hindustan ambassador are anything to go by. I.e the original tooling but with just enough innovation to scrape through current European standards.

Type approval would be the problem and it could end up being just another modern, with all the attendant disadvantages. If it was more on the lines of the Hindustan Ambassador, it could be OK but would that get type approval now??? Once a car has type approval, so long as it isn't changed or the owners of the design don't change, it hasn't got to be reapproved. A change of ownership is what killed the Reliant Robin.

Post by **Beagle** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 3:53 pm

Some interesting thoughts there. I'd like to see what the designers could come up with but would miss the distinctive engine note of the Minor.

I was looking at the Morris Oxford MO - whilst being a scaled up version of the Minor (not as good looking IMO), it was only produced for six years. Maybe the slow speed and poor economy had something to do with it.

@ Dean...love the picture. I'd love to see a larger size that I could click on.

Post by **LouiseM** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:25 pm

Does anyone know what happened to the 'modern' convertible built for Amanda Hazlett in 1993? I remembering seeing it at a National rally years ago but have not seen it since. There were plans to build two others but at £21,000 plus vat I guess that there weren't too many takers?

http://www.opuscars.co.uk/index.php?id=50

Post by **jonathon** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:34 pm

I think Chris ( C.S Autoclassics) now the Opus car company were planning replicas of Amandas convertible but I believe that the grant required several pre conditions which proved difficult to achieve. It was a sound concept and could have been an exciting product, even at £21K they would have been reasonable value given an exciting specification, and carbon bodywork.
Not sure what Chris is doing now, think he concentrated more on Mercs, in the years after I ceased as being one of his agents.
Spoke to Amanda a few years back and she was restoring this prototype back to her/Chris's original spec although I think she mentioned Fiat power.

Post by **PSL184** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:54 pm

Last time I spoke to Amanda it had a Fiat twin cam in. She sent me some pics but I think they are on my works PC. I'll have a look next week.

Post by **littleblackflash** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 8:28 pm

Dean wrote:I hope not, but with the Chinese now owning the rights to the Morris mark, I suppose anything is possible. I actually think the Chinese prefer Austin's though?

Do the Chinese own Morris??

I work for Rolls Royce which is BMW owned. BMW did own the Rover Group and only sold off Rover but kept the rights to many brands. For example BMW still owns the rights for ELF, Triumph, woolsly. I'll try and find out if they kept Morris.

I get to see all the new BMW delelopment cars when in Munich and to be sure, there is no Morris look alikes in development.

Post by **littleblackflash** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 8:56 pm

I did a wikipidia search and found.

The rights to the Morris marque are currently owned by MG Rover, but after that company's financial collapse, and partial purchase by one or more Chinese state businesses, it is not clear who will finally own the Morris marque. Neither of the Morris Assembly Plants now exist, they were demolished and replaced by the Oxford Business Park, the adjacent Pressed Steel Company site ( Cowley Body Plant ) is owned and operated by BMW, who use it to assemble the new Mini.

So we don't know who owns Morris now.

Post by **MarkyB** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:54 am

If someone did make one would anyone here want one?

At least they appear to have more character than most modern cars. Although now the actual car would share the floorpan and running gear with several other different looking cars.

I'd like to see one being made (Not in China) just to see more variety on the roads like there was when I was a lad.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:44 am

My mate at the time worked (high up!) in the Design Department at MG Rover - and I did suggest they should bring out a Morris 2000 - in the year 2000. Could have been based on the Rover 200 i'm sure. But he said there was no enthusiasm for it - or for anything much else at the time either!

Post by **Blaketon** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:12 pm

I always thought the cars were misbranded. Calling them all Rovers (Apart from the sporty MGs) convinced nobody and tended in my view to devalue what Rover traditionally represented.

Metros were Austins and most of the post Maestro Rovers were Morris (I think the Maestro was built in Cowley - if not they were Austins....you know what I mean!!). Whether they were any good is not the point. They were Austin/Morris type cars, not Rover. I believe that the firm had its problems and it seemed fashionable to kick them when they were down, despite the fact that they were the only truly British mass manufacturer left. I have to admit that my brand new Mini (1987) had truly appalling paintwork and from that point of view left a lot to be desired. The Rover 216 type car wasn't in the same league qualitywise as the Golf Mk2 that I later owned.

It is a pity that instead of really getting to the root of the problem, it appeared that they simply tried to rebrand unconvincingly upwards. Where the rot set in is hard to say (I suspect it went back to BMC days, with some thrown in from Triumph) but somehow they never really seemed to get to grips with it.

Post by **jonathon** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:34 pm

So , what would you buy a £7K modern Minor or a like priced original.
Most original Minors change hands for £3K or less ,so if the new car was available, I doubt that there would be many takers from this forum.
If a manufacturer should take on a revised new Minor it would be great to see modern reliability, safety aids and the obligatory tech in a vehicle so cheap. Might just make me redundant though in the process

Post by **Dean** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 4:56 pm

Beagle wrote:
@ Dean...love the picture. I'd love to see a larger size that I could click on.

http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... ic&t=23603

Post by **Jonah681** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:53 am

Looking at the new 're-issues' such as the Mini, Beetle & Fiat 500, the Moggy would have a very distinct advantage in its versitility. All of the others are 2 door cars (saloon/convertible/very bad Clubman).

The Moggy could incorporate 2/4 door, convertible, estate, van and pick-up, thereby widening its potential market.

However, I would suspect it would be lengthened (as with the Mini) and unique features such as Traveller wood would become cosmetic stick-ons (for safety purposes, wooden roll cages don't really work).

Crumple zones would be incorporated, this would take away some of the 'bolt-on' advantages & home welding repairs.

Running wise, it would probably be along the JLH route using Ford style parts as this would mean no additional engine design investment (the Beetle is Golf powered). A few tweaks would be needed for air bags, central locking, alarms, comfortable seats, etc - but many owners are already incorporating these into their own mods.

Any skilled artists out there that could post a few suggestions/sketches for discussion?

Post by **MarkyB** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:56 pm

IF it was ever done they would start with the floor pan and running gear from an existing car then put a body on it which picked up on a few "styling cues" from the Minor.

It wouldn't be a custom Minor just a marketing exercise.

The finished thing would be a pastiche or cartoon version.

There are some original VW owners here. How do they feel about the new beetle?

Post by **Beagle** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 9:42 am

Dean wrote:
Beagle wrote:
@ Dean...love the picture. I'd love to see a larger size that I could click on.

http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... ic&t=23603

Bliss! And Thx.

Morris Minor Owners Club

Are there any plans to redesign the Morris Minor?

Are there any plans to redesign the Morris Minor?

Re: Are there any plans to redesign the Morris Minor?