Mad About Cars

On the 20th September 1948, the Morris Minor was born. Launched at the Earls Court Motor Show and named after an earlier and named after an earlier Morris Minor car of 1928, it was the work of a team led by Alec Issigonis, who later went on to design the Mini. The prototype had been known as the Morris Mosquito[3], and some later models were called Morris 1000. The models varied from the standard saloon, to a wood-framed estate called the traveller, a convertible, plus a panel van and a pick-up truck version.

It was conceived as a vehicle to combine many of the luxuries and conveniences of a good motor car with a price suitable for the working classes. The Morris Minor, when compared with competitor products in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, excelled as a roomy vehicle with superior cornering / handling characteristics.

In 1961 the Morris Minor became the first British car to sell over 1,000,000 units. To commemorate this event, a limited edition of 350 two-door saloons were produced with distinctive lilac paintwork and a white interior. Also the badge name on the side of the bonnet was modified to read “Minor 1,000,000″ instead of the standard “Minor 1000″.

Eventually, over 1.6 million of the light-weight were produced and exported around the world, including many variants of the origional model.

Today the Morris Minor and 1000 are amongst the best served classic family-sized cars in the old vehicle movement and continue to gain popularity. The enduring affection for the “Moggie” (”Moggie” is also a common British nickname for an undistinguished cat) is reflected in the number of restored and improved Morris Minors currently running in Britain.

The British motor industry was delivered a cruel double blow in the middle of this decade with the 2005 collapse of MG Rover, shortly followed by the closure of Peugeot’s Ryton factory near Coventry in January 2007.
It was a huge blow for the United Kingdom’s car industry, and to the Midlands also, with the two major car plants both situated in the West Midlands.
Ryton’s closure signalled the end of a proud history of car production. The plant, situated on the outskirts of Coventry was first opened in 1939 to make aeroplane engines for the war effort.
Following the end of World War II, the Rootes group took over the factory, and car production began. The factory was used to produce Sunbeam cars, with successful models such as the Hillman Minx being produced at the factory. Despite the popularity of the Minx during the 1950s, the Rootes group fell into financial difficulties and was taken over by the automotive giant Chrysler in 1964.
The Chrysler period saw the plant come into its own with production of the Hillman Hunter and Hillman Avenger being conducted primarily at Ryton (although the Hunter’s production was switched to Scotland in 1970).
The next chapter of Ryton’s history came when Chrysler sold much of its European operations to the PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) group, with Peugeot resurrecting the Talbot brand.
Talbot was not a huge success, with Peugeot quietly retiring Talbot Cars by the mid 1980s. For Ryton this led to production switching to Peugeot models, with production of the 309 commencing in 1985. This was followed by the 405 and later, the hugely successful 206, with a large proportion of cars being built at Ryton.
Sadly, Ryton was closed in early 2007 and production of the 206 switched to Slovakia with cheaper labour and logistical costs.
The site was sold to an investment company, and initially used as a distribution centre for a UK catalogue home delivery company before demolition started.

One of the most iconic cars in automotive history is that of the Citroen DS. Launched in 1955, its futuristic Bertoni styling stood the test of time, and various innovative features, including hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension, helped ensure the car stood the test of time, with relatively light modifications during its 21 year production run. The car helped cement Citroen’s image as a dynamic, innovative car company.
A hit from the very first few minutes of its launch, the car signalled a new dawn for French engineering after the country suffered during World War II.
The DS was well ahead of its time, being one of the first production cars to feature disc brakes, with one of its most famous innovations being its hydropneumatic suspension. This gave the car a smooth, luxurious ride that few, if any of it rivals could match. This also made it a success on the rally circuit, winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1959 and 1966.
The car’s angular, narrow design remained popular well into the 1970s, and was one of the few luxury cars that led even the German car makers in desirability. However, as the decade wore on, the car began to look increasingly dated and the DS was eventually replaced by the CX, regarded by Citroen enthusiasts as the last ‘true’ Citroen, before Peugeot took the company over.
Today, DS cars are very distinctive and eye-catching on the road, and the car is considered to be one of the most important cars of the 20th century. Because of this, used prices are very high, with even tatty restoration models being exchanged for over £1,000. Pristine examples of the car are known to exchange hand for anything up to £10,000.

The Ford Sierra was one of Ford most popular and radical European cars during the 1980s. After a difficult start, over 2,7million Sierras were made between 1982 and 1993, when it was replaced by the Mondeo.

The Sierra was launched following positive reviews of the Ford Probe III concept car, featuring a futuristic bold, streamlined design. The Sierra was closely modelled on the Probe, and had the daunting task of replacing the Cortina, which had been produced for nearly 20 years and was a firm favourite of the British public.

Reaction to the Sierra was poor, most found the radical new design very difficult to accept. Other design flaws included a tendency for the car to drift in crosswinds, and the car’s ‘blob’ like appearance led to exaggerated claims in the press that the car could hide major crash damage. However, as other manufacturers copied Ford’s aerodynamic design, the Sierra began to look more ‘normal’ and sales began to rise. So futuristic was Ford’s 1982 design that the car remained relatively unchanged until its end in 1993, bar a mid-life facelift in 1987 that also saw saloon and estate models of the car launched.

Some of the most desirable Sierras to be produced were the high-performance Cosworth models. Sierra Cosworths were successful both on the race and rally circuits, with the 3-door Sierra Cosworth instantly recognisable by its large ‘whale tail’ spoiler. A saloon version, the Sapphire Cosworth, later followed. Whilst many examples were abused, pristine examples of these cars are very desirable and fetch high prices when sold.

Whilst the Sierra did not look dated by the early-90s, in 1993 Ford opted to replace it by a radically different, all-new car, the Mondeo. With the Sierra being an everyday family car, most models were not cherished in later life, with more and more cars on the scrapheap. However, the Sierra is becoming a rare sight on the roads, with prices likely to pick up, even for mundane versions of the car, in years to come.

The famous London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is an annual car rally featuring ‘veteran’ cars and is the longest running automotive event in the world, having been first run in 1896.
The event is held exclusively for ‘veteran’ cars, i.e. those built prior to 1905. Generally held on the first Sunday of November, participants drive from Hyde Park in London (starting at sunrise), and travel a set course to Brighton. The route generally follows the A23 Brighton and covers a distance of 54 miles. Whilst this is an everyday journey for an average modern car, for fragile cars that are nearing a century of existence, this journey takes most of the day, with some cars even failing to finish. Participants that cover the distance before 4:30pm are usually awarded a medal by the organisers.
However, the event is not competitive. Participants are not permitted to exceed an average speed of 20mph for the run, and there is no finishing order. Cars are therefore simply completing the run as opposed to racing each other.
The event traces its origins to 1896, and the abolition of the Locomotive Act, commonly known as the ‘Red Flag Act’, where any motor car could travel at no more than 4mph and had to be preceded by a person on foot carrying a red flag. The event was next run in 1927, and has run continually since then (with the exception of World War 2 and associated petrol rationing)
Today, the run stands as a celebration of the pioneers of the motor car, keeping the origins of automotive travel alive with pioneering cars still taking to the road.