The Morris Minor was designed by Alec Issagoni who went on to design the Mini. Nice cars the Minor, just make sure you keep the font trunnions well greased! The original Mini's were 848cc and came out as production on the Minor was coming to an end. When John Cooper modified a mini and raced it successfully the works BMC got involved with him to develop the Cooper this had disc breaks and a 998cc engine with twin SU carbs. Following on from this they started producing the Mini Cooper S firstly in 1098cc form then in 970cc (to suit a 1000cc class for racing) and then the 1298cc. All Cooper S's had bigger front discs than the Cooper, and from 1965 (I think) had twin fuel tanks. The 970 could be bored out to 999cc and when lightened and balanced, because of its short stroke, could rev to over 10,000rpm, typically a 1071 or 1298 in competitions would rev to about 8,000, the 970's could be tuned to produce about 100bhp and the 1300s about 130bhp. Although several hybrids were produced, including the Mini Moke, a kind of mini jeep, the most outrageous was the Twinny Mini developed by John Cooper, this had a 1300 Cooper S unit in the front and another in the rear, lacking the fly by wire technology avalable now, it was difficult to align both clutches throttles and gearchanges so when Cooper crashed it, it was abandoned.

BTW there was a guy in UK who had a Morris Minor which would do 0-100mph in 7.4 seconds, it had a 4000cc Rover V8 which was Fuel Injected, Water Injected, Nitros Injected and turbocharged. The Nitros came in when the boost levels fell to help it pull out of corners. The guys name is Nick Mann and he ran it in Hillclimbs and Sprints (your Autocross), the best bit was it was still road legal!

Long post, I hope you dont mind.

 

Is there such a thing as a Morris Mini? maybe I'm confusing it with the previously mentioned here Mini Morris. Do they look the same as the original Mini Coopers? The reason I ask is my Dad's family is from Denmark and I remember on a trip there in the early or mid 80;s my uncle was driving what I remember to be a Morris Mini, which I was thinking looks just like the Mini Coopers. Is my memory off?

 

I think what you are thinking about is called a mini minor.

 

I'd love to get my hands on one of those...would be a great summer driver.

 

I have seen station wagons and a pick-up version. Cool litle cars.

 

It looks like a hudson and vw had a child
What year? 1965 ? One of the first cars a changed plugs on was an 1100..morris

 

Here's a gathering during a club picnic not to long ago, there's still an estimated 5,000 metropolitans still around.

 

A long time ago....back in my street racing days, there was a guy that had a Morris with a BB, tubs, slicks etc...etc... that was fast as sh@#.

And that's all I have to say about that.

 

The 55 in the foreground is more my style!

 

Mine too!! I would gladly trade my Morris Minor AND my Vette for a decent mid-5 Chevy.

 

No your memory isnt off, when the Mini's first came out they were branded the Austin 7 and the Morris Mini Minor, when they brought out the mark 2 it was just called the mini.

 

BTW, here is a photo of Nick Mann's Morris Minor, this is its last incarnation, when it was no longer street legal. I dont recall the time it did then, but I do recall that an earlier meet while still street legal it did the quarter in 11 secs.

 

This is a better look (IMO)

 

Remember when I said my Metropolitan was my second favorite car. My '55 210 sedan is my first. ( my C3 ranks third) Here's a before and after pic.

 

Oh MAn!!! I love the red & white 55. I'm drooling over here.

 

Unless there is something seriously wrong with my eyeballs, that looks like a coupe, not a sedan.

 

The 1955, 1956, and 1957 were never in a "coupe" form. There were either 2 dr HArDTOP, 4dr HARDTOP, 2dr SEDAN, or 4dr SEDAN. The term Coupe was last used by Chevrolet in the 1952 models.

In 1953 Chevrolet introduced theri new line of, Utlility, 150, 210, and Belair. This stayed the same until 1958 when the Impala name was introduced.

 

Old joke, you've probably heard it,

Why does a chicken coop only have 2 doors?

Because if it had 4 doors, it would be a chicken seda n

 

here's the breakdown this is gm terminology;

2 door sedan (with post) bel-air, 210, 150, 150 utility
4 door sedan (with post) bel-air, 210, 150
2 door sport coupe (without post) bel-air and 210
4 door sport sedan (without post) bel-air and 210

the only "utility" is the 150 utility two door sedan that had no back seat for traveling salesmen to carry more goods on the road.

"hardtop" is an aftermarket term. the reason they made hardtops was to mimick the look of the sportier convertible. with less cost. so when you said "hardtop" everyone knew that your where talking about the model that looks like the convertible. but has a hard top.

coupe is an old term that means two door
sedan means 4 door

there are two door sedans but no 4 door coupes, go figure.

in 1958 they introduced the impala as the top of the line model and the biscayne as the low end model.

you can determine the trim level of a 55-57 by looking at the vin on the driverside windshield post. it starts with the year 55 56 57 and then an a b or c. a is 150, b is 210, c is belair. so, the red and white 210 shown here would start with 55Bxxxxxxxxxx.

 

Thanks for the history lesson. Every vehicle I've ever known much about referred to a two-door model as a "coupe" and a four-door model as a "sedan." Lovely car you have there...I've always been partial to the "shoebox" Chevy cars.