Your first memory of a Morris Minor

[cormorant]

Just thought it might be interesting to hear people's first memories of the Morris Minor. I'll kick off with mine....

My grandad always had Minors and he had a saloon TFD 530 for years until it was scrapped in about 1967. In the town where I grew up there was a long, steep winding hill with several bends followed by a hump backed bridge, the whole thing was about a mile long.I used to sit on his knee and steer, the rule was that we had to turn the engine off at the top of the hill and try to get over the bridge before starting the engine again. (Can't quite believe we did that now but it was about 1961). It was a bit worrying (well for him I just thought it was fun as I was only 7) as we had to tackle the bends in a car that didn't even have it's engine on.........usually we just about made it and sometimes we only just crawled over the bridge at about 2 mph!

All this and no seat belts, the law would throw the book at you now.

[alzax3]

I spent my early years being ferried about Surrey and Sussex in my then best friend's Dad's almond green Traveller. Didn't think much about it at the time, we all just piled in and were taken wherever we were going. (my mum had an Austin Mini, my Dad had a Morris 1100 at the time) Forty something years on and now I've got a Traveller of my own (different colour though and I'm not and English teacher!)

[alainmoran]

My first memory of a minor is when growing up my opposite neighbour had one sat outside his house for years, he never did anything to it, it just sat there and rotted & I always wondered why on earth he would want to keep such an old clapped out car.

Little did I know that a few years later I'd be doing the same thing to the kids who live opposite me ... at least I'm getting close to finishing mine though

[Ondergard]

My first memory of a Morris Minor must have been a Traveller, because I remember the wood. It was 1964 and I was seven, and living temporarily with an an aunt and uncle (some would say "marooned") in South Kirkby, Yorkshire. My older cousin's boyfriend took my sister and me, along with my cousin obviously, to Ilkley Moor for a treat in his new car.

I hardly ever rode in cars as a child (my dad didn't drive) so every journey was a treat, but I remember that one particularly. I don't remember Ilkley Moor at all (without or without headgear) but I remember the journey to and from!

I think the Traveller was Almond Green.

My cousin Anne married the driver, and he went on to become the Vicar of Glastonbury... not that owning a Morris was connected to his profession in any way... <hides dog collar>...

[d_harris]

Scaring my dad witless by doing 60, with L Plates on.......

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

When I was about seven I remember sitting in Granda's clapped out Minor that was parked in one fields on his farm, steering and making driving noises!!! It was a smoke grey, 1963 4 door with duo tone seats and the back springs were right up through the floor.

I guess it must have effected my brain

[rayofleamington]

The first one I remember was a crusty white traveller, in the church carpark. I think I was about 7 then.
A few years later an older boy (Nick) was mucking about and pulled on the front wing - it fell to bits. The wing was made of rot and filler, but the owners insisted that he pay for a new wing + fitting and paint because he broke it.

I never really though much about Minors until I turned teenager and having seen a 6th former in a shiny black saloon, I then wanted one as my first car...

And at 17 I bought one in need of some TLC - the rest is history.

[Cam]

When my mate Stu and I were about 15 or 16 we used to go to the scrapyard and collect car badges etc. I remember seeing a Trafalgar Blue saloon and tried to prize the bonnet badge off and was not able to, so we popped the bonnet and got the badge off. I was really taken with the shape of the car but the thing that struck me as being weird was the position of the battery! Don't know why but it just seemed odd at the time.

[the-green-monkey]

When i was in juniours school (about 7 which is odd as most people seem to have memories of minor at the age of 7... regardless of when they were born spooky) there was a teacher who came in every wednesday i think to teach violin and brass instrument lessons and he had a green traveller, i believe he had fitted electric doors on the back so he could get his stuff in easily.

[Peetee]

Two adults, four kids and two Labrador dogs in my dad's Traveller.
Getting out on the hills on the North Yorkshire coast. Sitting in the back on the way back from York on a dark winter evening, the sound of the exhaust lulling me to sleep.

[Blaketon]

When I was born, my father owned a Wolseley Hornet (Mini derivative) but the first car I remember properly was his Austin Mini Countryman, oddly enough in the same colour as my present Traveller.

A neighbour from two doors down worked for Addis as a rep and had a green Morris Minor Traveller. I was aware of it as it had wood on it, as did my father's Mini. My mother's aunt & uncle (Both still alive ) had Morris Minors. I don't remember when I first rode in a Minor but the first one I drove was a black Series 2.

I also remember seeing Nick Mann's V8 Minor at Prescott hillclimb back in 1980. Once seen never forgotten.

[ASL642]

I came out of hospital in a '53/4 splitscreen Morris Minor SOL 665 which Dad had had new when they married ( dont remember that bit) but do remember it later as my Mother drove it and my Dad having a Clipper Blue 2 dr which we all crammed in for hols (roof rack + pushchair!) My Gran had a Trafalgar blue 2 door, but her driving wasn't that good as she kept "colliding" with things! Poor car was always being mended

Think it must be in my blood!

[Blaketon]

My Gran had a Trafalgar blue 2 door, but her driving wasn't that good as she kept "colliding" with things! Poor car was always being mended

My uncle's first car was a new 2 door (1955) and eventually every panel got dented (Including the roof, when he rolled it), either as a result of his own errors or those of the people who drove into the back of him.

After he rolled it (About 25 miles into the trip back to London), the car was repaired by two elderly panel beaters in Cardiff. After they had done the job, the car looked as if it hadn't been damaged at all and my uncle always said that was the best rapair job ever done to the car.

[Mick_Anik]

It's 1974, and I've just bought my first car - a Morris Traveller. The handbrake didn't work, so I went to a local guy to get it sorted.
Up goes the car on the lift.....the guy looks around, and goes over to his bench and picks up a big screwdriver.
Back to the Traveller.....up goes the screwdriver, right through the bottom of a chassis section, making a crunching noise that told me something was amiss.
It cost me twelve quid for the welding - he did the handbrake for free. Doesn't sound much, but at the time I was taking home eleven quid a week!
It was then I decided that I should learn how to do all of that!

[Squeezebox]

My Dad bought one when I was a toddler in 1961. A green '58 traveller, KJV 945. Dad was at that time running the family butcher's shop in Cleethorpes and it was a huge improvement on the Ford 300E delivery van that we had before! In the week the Morris with it's back seat folded down was the shop van, at weekends, cleaned out, it was the family car. The luxury of a back seat to sit on!

Mike

[paulk]

I remember the Postman in our village really going up in the world in 1979 by being upgraded from a Bike to a 1970 Morris Minor van!

Wow I was 7 as well?

[limegreen]

I'm... not sure. I just decided I wanted one.

[Blaketon]

I'm... not sure. I just decided I wanted one.

That could be the basis of another thread - why?

For me I wanted something practical, as a runabout, that I could work on myself, where parts were readilly available. The Traveller was also very roomy, so that ticked another box. I fully admit that there was a time when I wouldn't have considered it (My father always said they were good). I had also seen Minor Matters and thought it was good. Indeed, its the club magazine I most look forward to these days.

After buying it (My father drove it home), I went to a meeting of my local classic car club and on the way home, I suddenly realised, "This handles rather well". I wouldn't want to be without it. Although its my runabout, it doesn't do a lot of miles as I cycle to work. Despite being the runabout, I enjoy driving it and it is given the same care as my MGs and it too is kept indoors.

[Jonah681]

Rather late to appreciate the marque - I was at least 14. My uncle was a GPO telephone engineer & had a minor van. In those days, the local PO depots could sell-off the old vans when new ones arrived. Through my uncle, my father bought a mail van for the astronomical price of £5. I can remember spending a Sunday afternoon armed with a pot & brush and we painted it green (the tin of paint actually cost more than the van).

We owned & ran it for 7 years. I passed my test having learnt to drive in it. My instructor being horrified at my reversing technique of opening the door & leaning out to see where I was going. My father was equally horrified when his insurance went up to £26 p a.

We replaced the van with my uncle's latest Telephone Van - now in yellow livery and scrapped the old one after stripping it for parts (by this stage if you wanted to look in the back, all you had to do was lift the roof!). Being a little older, I resprayed the new one dark brown, with white wheels & gold pinstripe. This was my first moggy to use for rallies, mobile changing room for the pub football team and holidays in Cornwall (chuck a mattress in the back & away you go!). It lasted up to my Father's death in 1984 when it was sold.

By then I had my maroon 2-door costing 100 times more than the original van at £500. This I restored & was my wedding car and later ferried my first daughter home from the maternity hospital and later to her christening.

It blew its headgasket on route to the National at Knebworth & got mothballed as a second daughter arrived and a bigger car was needed. A few years ago I passed it to a restorer to use for parts & now I am thinking of buying a traveller.

To be continued.......(when I find the traveller!)

[Geraldine]

I remember going on holiday as a child in our grey traveller (Clara) to Yorkshire and Scotland, lots of hills and luggage but she coped admirably. On local trips I woud be in the back with several cushions and a rug - much more fun than a child seat!
Have loved them ever since, had a Traveller myself years ago which I reluctantly passed on as the wood and bodywork got really bad and didn't have the funds to restore it at the time.