Morris Minor Owners Club

chrisd87 wrote:One aspect of the Minor I think is under-marketed compared to other classics is how fun they can be to drive.

I think the big rallies like LEO and AIR can help with that - we wouldn't be driving thousands of miles in them if they weren't fun to drive and reliable enough to cope with long distances.

..........and we are still looking for participants

I was thinking more this sort of 'fun to drive'!

..........and that promotes the Morris Minor????

..........and that promotes the Morris Minor????

not to the over 50's I'd expect, but as regards blasting away the fuddy-fuddy-grandparent-maximum-speed-20mph image that some people have of the Minor, then at least they get informed that it's a fun car to drive with stiff shell and responsive steering etc...

One comment I've regularly had is that "I'd really like one, but Morris Minors must cost a small fortune".
Thanks to certain entrepreniur/s who like to get their trading name/s in to national newspapers, Millions of people have mis-informed about the cost of Minors, the availaibility of good cheap private sale cars and the mirriad of spares traders.

I wonder if the MMOC could be as pro-active with the national media as some business people are, we'd get a more balanced coverage in the national press (Maybe the club already trys very hard, but it seems strange that the papers quote a trader more regularly than the club itself).

I guess the club is a victim of it's own success here - we cater for the membership so well in most cases that we can get cut off from the rest of the world and become very introverted.

With a massive club like this I think we could do more pro-active outreach to the rest of the world (i.e. articles and events not just for the club mag). Practical Classics rarely turns away free articles if they are of interest. I think the club could help to co-ordinate our wider press. Many of the magazine articles / series of articles by Ray Newell were fantastic and I thought it was a shame that the readership is limited just to club circles as these kind of things could open people's eyes to what goes on in Minor circles. Other articles such as technical ones would also suit a wider audience (and help to broadcast the appeal of the Minor as well as advertise the club)

..........and that promotes the Morris Minor????

You can't honestly tell me you don't like to get the tail end out occasionally?!?

I'm surprised it comes as a shock that that's the sort of stuff that appeals to younger car enthusiasts.

Melbourne Loop at Donnington on 2 wheels in the wet!!!!

I can honestly say that I "don't like to get the tail end out occasionally". That do you?
a

rayofleamington wrote:

..........and that promotes the Morris Minor????

not to the over 50's I'd expect,

Oooh, I don't know Ray

chrisd87 wrote:

..........and that promotes the Morris Minor????

I'm surprised it comes as a shock that that's the sort of stuff that appeals to younger car enthusiasts.

Well at least that got one 'younger' response Now what about the rest of you, what do you think.

I think that the mini and the beetle owe a lot of their popularity to films like the italian job and Herbie .Can't think of any blockbusters featuring a moggy!

No - I don't think "The Borrowers" has quite the following. !

Interesting points Ray. As a company/trader we feel that promoting ourselves also promotes the Minor. I admit that the most press coverage we have received has been for modified Minors,and not necessarily cheap ones, but the media interest that was shown after both a Sunday Telegraph and Car magazine article was nothing short of amazing. BBC Top Gear and ITV's Pulling Power were on the phone with in days desperate to feature the Minor, we experienced a massive leap in website visits (over 4000 a week) after the Top Gear feature.
The phone was red hot for around a month with interest from around the globe.
I'm sure that if a one man business can generate such a demand for information and a keen interest in the Minor, just what could the Club achieve with its resources.
I do hope that the club become more pro active, but this is a time hungry method and as we all know most of the club is a volunteer workforce.
I'd like it too if the club showed more interest in the modified cars which in general are the ones that get noticed over the standard ones. This might take some time though from our experience as we contacted M Matters and the Tech Advisor about featuring the K series conversion and associated mods back in 1998 and as yet have never been contacted, despite the worlds motoring press having done so years ago.
Not winging, just amazed.

Well said

Very well put Jonathon. There seems to be a reluctance to accept modified Minors, yet Moggies have been tuned/customised etc for as long as the cars have been around and are a very welcome part of the scene.

I can honestly say that I "don't like to get the tail end out occasionally". That do you?

It's fun on occasion. Try it!

I suppose the point I'm making is that we need to portray the Minor as a usable, fun car to drive rather than a museum piece that spends more time being polished than driven. "Fun to drive" obviously means different things to different people!

Are there any young famous people who own a Morris minor? Just thinking it could be a good advertising scheme.

Phil

YES ME

I think a bit more coverage of modified Minors in MM would perhaps help in appealing to the younger drivers.
By modified I don't meant those running on radials instead of crossplys, or having electronic ingnition instead of points, I mean the full range of mods from small details through to full blown V8's, K-series etc. Not that I am considering going down that road, but those sorts of mods ought to be seen as a perfectly acceptable way of preserving and using the Minor as a daily drive.
Maybe MM needs a permanent section or page devoted to modified vehicles, a bit like the "From a womans angle" page?

I believe Chris Evans has a convertible, Viscount Lindley (Princess Margaret's son) and Rowan Atkinson both have one as well