Morris Minor Owners Club

stuffedpike20 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 10, 2025 9:25 am There seems to be a postcode lottery of how one is treated on the road.

I got my first minor in 1982, and have hardly been without one ever since. In the early days, when there were more minors on the road, I hardly experienced road rage.
Now I seem to experience incidents every time I drive my minor. I stick to the speed limit, and never hold other drivers up....but so many of them want to tailgate me, and can't wait to overtake...even in ridiculously dangerous places. I get pulled out on at junctions too. I have much less of this behaviour when I am driving my modern car, so the problem is not my driving style. Thje problem is people can't stand to be behind a minor.

Other people in the MMOC seem to have no road rage when driving their minors...they even have people taking photos, and giving them the thumbs up.

I drive my minor much less these days because of the intolerant behaviour.

I am sorry to hear that you are driving your Minor less due to the behaviour of other drivers. When I first got my Minor aged 17 in 1989 I found that other drivers would tailgate me, furiously overtake and generally treat my car as an annoying obstacle to be passed at any cost. It was almost as if they felt insulted or affronted to be behind my Minor. Others just thought the car was a complete joke but they changed their tune when they wanted a lift and the other option was an infrequent bus service in winter in the Scottish Borders.....

Now the situation is very different. I live in an area with many 20 mph speed limits so I do not hold up other traffic (but I do stick to the speed limit). People are generally respectful and almost a bit scared of my Minor. They hold back as if it is going to explode at any minute. People wave, smile, take pictures, point, try to talk to me at traffic lights etc. Every trip is a little adventure. I use my Minor a great deal and unless I have to go a long way or in a hurry I use it in preference to my modern car. My modern car (an Audi S3) is fast, automatic (7 speed) comfortable and easy to drive but it's really rather dull. The Minor in contrast has to be driven at all times but it is much more fun and far, far easier to park. It also uses a lot less petrol and consumable parts are vastly cheaper. My co-pilot German Shepherd loves to ride on the back seat with the top down and barks at scooters or motorbikes who try to overtake on either side. He's much better than the wing mirrors.

Stephen

I do fairly often get overtaken by impatient drivers - once a car overtook me at high speed in a 30mph zone and my poor car was subjected to a meteorite shower of stone chippings I get a more positive reaction when I visit a petrol station, or park up somewhere and people want to talk to me about my car. But I do think there are more careless, reckless, aggressive drivers on the road today....

I went for a drive today to get some petrol and give my minor a workout.

For some reason my car got a look of total disdain from a man in his sixties as I put petrol in it.
This was cancelled out by a broad smile from an old timer walking his dog.

So,all-in-all a neutral experience.

The trouble is....I am looking out for the intolerance now, having experienced so much of it.