1958 Morris Minor 0.9

Summary:

A real practical classic

Faults:

Blown head gasket trying to get the most out of the engine!

Vast range of electrical problems due to poor restoration in the electrics by previous owners. Lots of cheap work.

General Comments:

Car was very slow in traffic, especially uphills it kept a lot of traffic behind.

I am fitting the popular Fiat Twin Cam and using disks upfront to keep up with modern traffic and also trash some of it!

The car has a lot of character. I wonder how a car like the mini and beetle kept on production and the Minor didn't - I prefer driving it more than the other modern car I own.

The interior is very simple and that attracts me a lot - no plastic stuff, fearing it will break in your hands on first touch.

People love it, wherever I go people are asking about it. For old people it brings old memories and to youths it looks funky.

I am just 19 years old and I think with little mods and a nice color the car is cool enough!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 16th February, 2003

1953 Morris Minor Series 2 1.1

Summary:

Perfect

Faults:

Brakes, lights.

General Comments:

It's absolutely fantastic as a classic car, as a working car and as a head turner. Very cheap to maintain and run.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 6th March, 2000

14th Dec 2000, 20:49

No doubt one of the 1000s of Minors I've just seen in Malta. They are still being used everywhere as pick-ups, vans and ordinary cars. I met one man who had owned the same 948cc saloon for 40 years! He told me the only major items he ever had replaced were the gearbox, petrol pump and the water pump.

The climate and salt-free roads keeps rust at bay - and proves that the Minor is a superb design which will go on and on.

15th May 2001, 17:12

Let's face it the Minor had 10 times more character and appeal than the VW Beetle. But the Germans won the Carwars and VW are now selling this recreated 'thing'!

Mechanics used to boast about how quick a Beetle engine could be moved - ever tried one? - damned hard work. But you just used to flip back the bonnet (hood) on the Minor, attach a rope and out it came in no time. The Minor must also have been one of the most tactile cars of all time. My very first car - a 1955 Minor 803 c.c. split screen toured the whole of Britain at 13 years old with just the usual electric fuel pump packing up.

8th Sep 2002, 16:27

My first car in the mid 60's was a 1952 MM side-valve. Fantastic wheels for a student - every weekend from Leicester to North Wales with four rock climbers on board. Its last voyage was from the UK to and from Yugoslavia in 1971. 19 years old and 100000 miles on the clock, spare (flat-pack) cylinder head in the boot, and repaired the old SU carb in Plovdiv camp site.

Ah the nostalgia; but it had no power, no water pump, no heater, and to climb the Alps we had to make sure the petrol tank was nearly empty to reduce the weight!