William R. Morris ( later Lord Nuffield ) entered the car business in 1913 . Early on he saw the need for low - priced private transportation – only a few years after his American counterpart , Henry Ford . work up in Oxford , England , Morris ' first railroad car feature a tiny one - litre four . Morris persist an independent manufacturer of low - priced cars through the prewar years , make 54,000 in 1925 and charm 51 percent of the British market . The raw - for-1935 Series I Eight , with 22.5 - bhp and a three - f number gear case , was Britain ’s best selling car of the thirties .
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In 1939 , the Series E Eight bowed . expect much like a shrunken Chrysler Airflow , it have an 89 - inch chassis and a four - speed transmittance . Though produce after the warfare , it was replaced by the Series MM Minor , which debut at the Earls Court Auto Show in late 1948 . Code - named " Mosquito " during its maternity , it was Morris ' first genuine postwar car – and a breath of fresh air . It combined an American - style envelope body with DoS - of - the - art engineering by Alec Issigonis and Jack Daniels : lightweight unit of measurement trunk / flesh , tortuousness - bar main front temporary removal , hypoid rear axle , and wring - and - pinion guidance .
The Minor ’s 86 - in wheelbase was three inches short than the Eight ’s ( 8.5 less than the VW Beetle ) . Yet the MM was four inches longer , and as spacious inside . It was accord in high spirits acclaim ; Britain’sThe Motormagazine aver with characteristic phlegm that it was " a very good 8 - H.P. railcar indeed . "
The " 8 - hp " referred to the old Royal Automobile Club rating for taxable H.P. , and also to the quondam 918.6 - cc sidevalve four . Taken from the Eight , it produced 27.5 final bhp at 4400 revolutions per minute . That was n’t a circle : 0 - 50 miles per hour took no less than 24 endorsement of hard shifter - flagellation and top speed was only about 65 miles per hour .
The late Michael Sedgwick wrote that " the aged 8 - horsepower unit look out of home in these advanced surroundings . Even a good Fiat Topolino could amaze a Minor to 30 mph . treatment , however , set young standards . . . . " The Minor repay 40 miles to the Imperial gallon ( 30 + U.S. ) – and in gasoline - short postwar Britain this was important .
Over the years , the Minor would receive more hefty railway locomotive and more soundbox styles : ab initio two - door saloon and Tourer ( convertible ) , four - door sedan chair in 1951 , woody Traveller beach waggon in 1954 .
The 500,000th Minor was built in 1957 , the one-millionth in 1961 – the Minor being the first British car to reach that sublime grade . The last one entrust the factory in October 1970 : car identification number 1,582,302 .
The Romaine Green 1950 Morris Minor two - doorway determine here belong to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu , Hampshire , England . Notably , it was the last of the Minors with headlamp mount in the grille ; for 1951 they migrated up into the fenders to match the height requirements of various export market , the U.S. included . The Minor can be thought of as England ’s postwar " people ’s car , " and is a " cult " collectible there now . That ’s because , as auto historiographer Richard M. Langworth has express , " the Morris Minor was a car of gravid character and distinction , and it will be remembered . "
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