In Celebration of Specials...

8th Mar: Welcome to our 180th member - Terry Broomhall from Essex. Yet another Minor saloon is currently 'tracking' through eBay, this time a 1932 season car located in Northumberland. Find full details on the PWMN Forum.

7th Mar: The Jeremy Evan's 'M' Type has been reduced in price to £15995.

A 1934 Minor Saloon is currently for sale in New Zealand. Find the details on the Forum. (Found by member John McDonald)

6th Mar: In December 1931 Autocar tested a used May 1930 registered Hornet Fabric Saloon. All was not sweetness and light. Read about it here.

5th Mar: In October 1931 the Autocar published a post Motor Show review in which they compared models by price band. Unsurprisingly the Minor was in the lowest priced category but was not the lowest priced car. Read the article here.

4th Mar: The Motor magazine did rather belatedly test the 1929 season Minor Fabric saloon in February 1929 following the car's launch in August 1928. View the article here. Welcome to new member Brian Bromwich.

2nd Mar: The Motor magazine published an article in January 1931 in which it detailed and compared all 8 H.P. & under cars then available on the home market. Both engine versions of the Minor were included as was the M.G. Midget along with all the Minor's rivals. Find the article here and on its permanent home on 'The Rivals' page under The Minor Story tab.

1st Mar: February's Website Stats are now available. Another Minor has appeared on the market today. This one is a project car located in Birmingham. See the Cars for sale page within the member's area.

28th Feb: Welcome to new member Simon Candlin.

27th Feb: The Australian magazine 'Restored Cars' published an insightful article in March 2000 entitled 'A car for £100'. Read it here. Once again thanks to Ewan Lambess for providing the scans.

26th Feb: In 1996 the New Zealand Vintage Car Club (NZVCC) journal Beaded Wheels  published a series of articles entitled Why did they fail? One such article, written by Gordon Wood & concerning the pre-war Minor, not only contains errors of fact, but also provides a view on the car's history which this website is seeking to correct. (Many thanks to Ewan Lambess for providing the scans)

25th Feb: Welcome to new member Brian Jeffrey from New South Wales who owns a 1929 boat tailed Minor Roadster.

Another Minor, the 10th this year, is available to buy on the carandclassics web site. Also the ex-Tony Gamble 1929 OHC Tourer is now on eBay with a starting price of £2500. Full details on both cars are available through the appropriate thread on the Discussion Forum.

24th Feb: Welcome to new member George Ball.

A July 1931 Morris Motors ad for the Side Valve Minor Coachbuilt Saloon placed in the Light Car magazine, has been added to the site today. The ad claims, via a letter received from a happy customer, that he had seen 65 MPH on the speedo!

23rd Feb: Welcome to new member Justin Smith.

In August 1933 the Autocar magazine published an article entitled 'California Bound' by H. C. Zeigler. The story tells the tale of a crossing of North America, starting from Montreal in Canada and concluding in Los Angeles, California, using a Wolsely Hornet all the way. Read all about it here. 

22nd Feb: Member Jeremy Evans has just placed his 1929 MG 'M' Type 'for sale'. Further details are available on the Cars For Sale page within the members area of the website.

20th Feb: There are a number of new website pages currently under construction, two of which, Minor Vans and Antipodean Minors are closest to completion. Any items (photographs, articles, etc.) for inclusion on these pages would be very welcome and will help ensure that the site content is both informative and helpful to all those with an interest in our cars.

Ewan Lambess has contributed an article on Australian Minor Vans (therefore covering both bases) which can now be found here and with a permanent home on the Minor Story page.

19th Feb: Further updates to the LWB section of the website have been added today, including an Autocar Test Report on the first side valve LWB Saloon. A second LWB page now displays period diagrams of the cars.

18th Feb: The new Morris Family Eight model created quite a stir when launched in August 1931. Read the Autocar model summary here.

17th Feb: An October 1930 Motor Show edition of Light Car published a short stand report entitled 'Two very popular 8 HP Cars'. Read it here. Amazingly just one model from the Minor range, a Coachbuilt Saloon, plus a 'polished' chassis were exhibited by Morris at Olympia that year. The Semi-Sports model, which had only been launched a matter of weeks earlier, was omitted as were the Fabric Saloon and Tourer!

16th Feb: Welcome to new member Rasmus Larsen from Oelgod, Denmark who owns a delightful 1931 £100 Minor two-seater.

An Autocar article on how to service the Lockheed hydraulic braking system, as fitted to the Wolseley Hornet and Family Eight models, can now be found on the Technical Bits page within the Members Area.

15th Feb: Welcome to new member Nick Dean.

Minor Saloons do sell! Tony Barrett's 1932 Saloon has now sold and the PWMN knows of two more prospective buyers for the right cars.

14th Feb: Mike Stubbings has emailed the PWMN details of yet another Minor for sale - this one is a 1933 two-seater on eBay and full details can be found on the appropriate thread on the Discussion Forum.

13th Feb: In November 1933 the Autocar published a road test report on the recently launched 1934 season Morris Minor sliding head saloon. These cars were the last of the line and were a huge advance, as regards refinement, when compared to the first Fabric Saloons launched six years earlier. The top speed however was almost identical. Read the report here.

12th Feb: PWMN members using the Discussion Forum have been experiencing issues relating to the speed at which it loads. The forum hosting organisation have been notified and are working on the problem. Apologies.

Throughout February 1931 the Light Car magazine published a series of three articles on the Tuning & Maintenance of the facelifted Wolseley Hornet. All three articles now have a permanent home on the Hornet Page of this website.

11th Feb: In June 1931 Autocar published their Road Test No. 646 the subject of which was the recently launched Side Valve Morris Minor Coachbuilt Saloon. Almost identical in specification to its OHC stable mate it was provided with an ignition key, an item not seen on the concurrent OHC models. View the Road Test here.

10th Feb:Welcome to new member Tommy Jardine.

9th Feb: Launched in August 1930 to some acclaim from the motoring press but with little press advertising support, the Minor Semi-Sports then became an innocent casualty of some very muddled thinking on the part of the Morris marketing people. Priced originally at £135, which was within weeks reduced to £125, the car then found that its main competitor was to be the £100 Minor launched to much fanfare and a huge marketing budget just four months later! Read the Light Car magazines road test here.

8th Feb: The 1930 JCC Double Twelve race held at Brooklands in May 1930 was a triumph for the M.G. Midget team and a tragedy for those involved with the factory Talbot team. Read the extensive Light Car magazine coverage of the event here. The 12/12 page now carries race reports for this event from all four major U.K. major motoring publications of the era. 

7th Feb: The sixth Minor to come onto the market in less than a week has surfaced for sale in Croydon. This one is a 1929 Tourer, a much sought after model by VSCC members for use in Light Car events. Although needing restoration this could represent a good buy for someone. Be quick as these cars do not 'linger' for long! Full details on the Cars For Sale 2 page.

6th Feb:The re-scheduled VSCC New Year Driving Tests take place tomorrow (Sunday 7th) at Brooklands with a number of Minors due to take part. Scoop the intrepid PWMN photographer will be there having been given a break from watching John Terry's front door which is located 'just around the corner'!

Three more Minors (two 1932 season saloons and a 1930 Coachbuilt Saloon with S.V. engine) have surfaced for sale. Find them on the Cars for Sale pages within the members area. At least thirteen Minors are now available for purchase in the U.K. as spring draws ever closer.

5th Feb:Welcome to new member Ron Caddick. The Light Car magazine enthused about the newly launched Wolseley Hornet Saloon in a May 1930 article. Read it here.

The Lincolnshire Fabric Saloon which has been up for sale for over 4.5 years has recently been sold and now has a new home in Yorkshire. More details to follow.

4th Feb: The Forum has been experiencing problems of late being slow to load and displaying messages concerning its capacity. These were issues that originated from the service provider and should now have been resolved. Apologies!

Two thirties Minors were celebrated in print in an Autocar article published in 1947. Both cars competed in pre-war trials and rallies and were remarkably successful. One of these cars is currently owned by Roger Bird who runs the IAMO website and who's car can frequently be seen at Brooklands old car events. Read about them here.

2nd Feb: Thanks to Tony Gamble the PWMN now has access to the official 1931 Morris brochure images and specifications for the scuttle tank S.V. Minor range. View them here.

31st Jan: Dave Manning is auctioning (via eBay) his 1930 Minor Coachbuilt Saloon. The auction ends on 10th February. Full details on the Discussion Forum.

30th Jan: The Morris Minor Coachbuilt Saloon had a muted launch in September 1929 but it went on to become a best selling model within the Minor range. Read the Light Car magazine's test report here.

On Friday the website received 'hits' from 14 different countries in one day, while the Discussion Forum had 34 member visitations within a 24 hour period. Perhaps modest by some standards but both are site records for the PWMN.

28th Jan: Would the parties who have recently contacted & expressed an interest in the Sue Pocklington owned Minor Fabric Saloon, please contact her again by phone. Her number can be found within the Member's Area on the Cars for sale page.

27th Jan: A December 1928 Morris Owner article in which the over 100 mile maiden journey of a brand new Fabric Saloon is described by its enthusiastic new owner, can be found here. Thanks to Tony Gamble for the scans which now have a permanent home onThe Minor Story homepage.

25th Jan: In the summer of 1929 a Minor Fabric Saloon journeyed from London to Prague. The story of this adventure was recorded for posterity by the Morris Owner magazine in their October 1929 edition and can now be read here 81 years later. Also welcome to new member Chas Brooke.

24th Jan: Welcome to new member Tony Payne.

23rd Jan: Check out the Auto Jumble page for the latest ads and read this weeks Soapbox about 'A non-chance encounter'.

20th Jan: Two more Light Car Hornet Special articles have been added to the website today describing models from Jenson and Swallow. Additionally a further factory Hornet model, the Coupe, is described in detail by the Light Car in a third such article which was first published in May 1931.(All three articles have a permanent home on the Wolseley Hornet page.)

19th Jan: A Minor was involved in a landmark murder case in the 1930's, the first such case where the prosecution achieved a conviction without ever establishing the identity of the victim. Harry Edwards wrote an authoritative article for the the Morris Register Journal which is now re-published here with his kind permission.

John McDonald has re-scanned the 1982 'Cars Worth Keeping' article which can now be found here. Thanks John.

17th Jan: The 1931 Light Car announcement and photographs concerning the Abbey Coachworks bodied AS2 Hornet Special can be found here.

14th Jan: Auto Jumble ads really work. Christian Brodersen was seeking some hub caps for his '34 Minor. Mike Rose spotted some on eBay and emailed Christian to let him know. Christian bid on them and won, the hub caps arriving in Denmark today. This illustrates perfectly what the Pre-war Minor NETWORK is about!

13th Jan: The Austin Seven and the Morris Minor of the early thirties were not the only players in the 'economy' car market sector. Here the Autocar considers over 20 such such vehicles (including two Minors and the M Type) in their February 1931 article 'Not Exceeding £200'.

Does anyone have a serviceable spare Lucas DEL19 dynamo? Jeremy Evans requires such an item urgently. Contact Jeremy here.

11th Jan: The Austin Seven Ulster and M.G. 'M' Type competed extensively, one against the other throughout the thirties, and that track rivalry continues to this day. Competition bragging rights frequently change hands, but which car was the better long distance sports tourer? Read H.S. Linfield's fascinating July 1931 Autocar article in which he takes both cars on return trips from London to Edinburgh. His article entitled See how they run! can be found here.

10th Jan: The Light Car magazine published a series of three article in February 1931 providing maintenance guidance for Wolseley Hornet owners. The second such article can be found here.

9th Jan: Why did Morris launch two Minor two seaters within four months of each other? Some editorial thoughts here.

7th Jan: The first Arrow Minor Special was unveiled to the press in December 1929. Here is the Light Car magazine's announcement and first photos.

6th Jan: Two more Minor advertisements were uploaded to the site today as was a December 1930 Morris Owner cover shot (Courtesy Ken Martin) There are now 115 period items available to view on the Minor Ads & Cover Shots page. Welcome to new member Robby Gray. Due to the adverse weather conditions in Surrey, this weekends planned VSCC New Years Driving Tests event has now been postponed until 7th February.

5th Jan: Colin French has kindly supplied a technical article, featuring both varieties of Minor engine, taken from a March 1933 edition of the Motoring Encyclopedia. This, along with many other items can now be found on the Technical Bits page within the Member's Area.

4th Jan: The first Minor to be advertised for sale in 2010 can be found on the Cars for sale page within the members area.

3rd Jan: Welcome to new members John Baldwin and J. Curran. John is looking for a Minor for his 17 year old son and while preferring a two-seater will consider other models. J. Curran has a 1930 saloon and is seeking parts to help him finish his project. A list of his 'wants' will appear on the Auto Jumble page later.

2nd Jan: A very Happy New Year to all PWMN members and site visitors. A special welcome to 2010's first new member Nigel Tucker, who owns a beautifully restored 1932 OHC Sports Coupe. Also grateful thanks to Colin who runs the Mac Fisheries website for providing some really interesting historical Minor data which will be displayed on the site over the coming weeks. Finally a report of the very first MG Car Club trial, in which the majority of cars participating were Midgets. It is re-published here. 

 

GMT

Image(s) of the week no. 23

A regular feature to spotlight the unusual, interesting or just new to us........(if you would like to see a specific image here - email the PWMN)

An Appeal...

If you possess any articles or images pertaining to the pre-war Morris Minor please consider sharing them with your fellow enthusiasts by forwarding them to the PWMN for publication on this website. Your contribution will be acknowledged and you could well be adding to the growing bank of knowledge being accumulated here concerning this historic and unsung vehicle. Click here to contact the PWMN.

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