1957 black saloon with green interior

Post by **andrew.searston** » Thu May 21, 2009 5:13 pm

hello everybody
i own a 1957 black morris minor saloon with green interior and birch grey wheels. apparently their rare and only 2 or 3 in existence today.
does anybody know any history or information about these cars? or might even own one them selves?

Post by **PSL184** » Thu May 21, 2009 7:13 pm

56 to 59 you could have chosen red, green or grey interior on a black car and they all would of had birch grey wheels. Sorry but I don't know what the take up was on these options nor how many are left....

Post by **Sidney'61** » Thu May 21, 2009 7:19 pm

Hi Andrew.
Just looked it up, from just about every other era black cars just came with red interior but '56-'59 they had a choice of red, green or grey (or only red or green on travellers), don't know why. I saw a convertible on ebay like that a few months ago but thats the only other one I've seen.
I posted a question about it months ago the first time i saw your car, i'll have a look later and see if i can find it.

Post by **andrew.searston** » Thu May 21, 2009 8:32 pm

sidney 61
ill show you the article next meeting
i dont realy understand why their rare other than the colour combonation. i didnt think much of it when we brought the car. its just the article thats made me think............

Post by **rob.hardy1** » Thu May 21, 2009 9:21 pm

not wishing to hijack the thread but, Sydney61, you 'looked it up'
Where?

Post by **Sidney'61** » Thu May 21, 2009 9:28 pm

Rob, i got it from the book, Ray Newells 'Original Morris Minor', quite useful for this sort of thing

Post by **Sidney'61** » Thu May 21, 2009 9:40 pm

Ah, it looks like nobody actually had an answer last time I asked... the main thing I was wondering was whether you actually got a choice as to which colour interior you could have or just got what you were given...

Post by **andrew.searston** » Sat May 30, 2009 9:08 pm

still dont know what to think of it
it might even be a special edition for something or for promotional purposes
what do you think (anyone)???????????

Post by **PSL184** » Sat May 30, 2009 9:12 pm

I don't wish to burst your bubble or anything but its not a special edition or anything like it. It was an option colour at the time which could have been chosen by the buyer. Many would have chosen red to go with a black car but I guess a few chose green.... that's all there is to it!

Post by **Sidney'61** » Sat May 30, 2009 9:35 pm

However, the bit that gets me is that even though you got green interior you still got a red pinstripe...

Post by **andrew.searston** » Sun May 31, 2009 12:43 pm

yep according to the several books and a guy from bull motif it should have red pinstripe and birch grey wheels with a grey grill.
but i still dont get why is there only 2 or 3 on record to have green interior. surely with the amount of people in britain buying moggys more than 3 people bought black moggys with green interior...

looks like know one realy knows the answer

Post by **Sidney'61** » Sun May 31, 2009 3:39 pm

Given the choice I'd choose red...

..although the green does still look very nice, I wonder how good the grey option looks...

Bear in mind though that this option was only available for about 2 1/2 years (about a tenth of the whole minor production time..) so in proportion not many would have been made in that time and not many will have survived, most black minors you see will have only had an option for red.

Sidney my '61 is yukon grey which was made for about 1 1/2 years, I've only ever seen two others...
It's quite nice to have a slightly rarer car where limited numbers have survived, isn't it

Post by **andrew.searston** » Sun May 31, 2009 4:54 pm

i agree
i have never seen a black moggy with green interior in felsh. only ever seen one article and thats it.

Post by **DAVIDMCCULLOUGH** » Sun May 31, 2009 11:40 pm

In 1998 the club restored a 1957 black one with green seats to a really high standard and it was raffled off for Marie Curie Cancer. I thought the colour combination looked good. I thought I had a picture of it but cant find it at the mo.

Post by **andrew.searston** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:21 pm

that sounds right
the article is in a 1998 minor monthly book and it says about the marie curie cancer one. so theres the one in the article. the one that they raffled and of course mine

Post by **Ian46** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:36 am

Just dropped in on this thread.

I saw a 1959 Black 4 Dr at the Barnsley Branch Rally a few weeks ago. A lovely original car with its original shiny black paintwork polished through to the undercoat in places, sporting a red body stripe, grey wheels and grey grille. A real time capsule. When I looked inside, expecting to see the familiar red interior, it was totally green which was a surprise. It looked a little odd. I asked the driver why such an original looking car had a green interior and he explained that it was a special order from the factory by the original owner. Looking at the seats again they had the same gentle patina as the rest of the car so I had no reason to doubt the story.

There must be a few cars of this age and colour scheme still around.

Ian

Post by **andrew.searston** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:47 pm

ian 46 thanks for that
does anybody know the reg of the moggy that they raffled of in 1998 for the marie curie cancer??????????????????

Post by **ASL642** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:00 pm

I suggest you contact the MMOC Derby office 01332 291675 and ask them - I'm sure it's on record somewhere.

Post by **ASL642** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:22 pm

The registration number was WVO 724. It was black with grey trim and black carpets.

Post by **Sidney'61** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:36 pm

ooh...grey trim...even rarer than green.