1. A Morris Minor Traveller.
This pair of Morris car photographs turned up together, and they both feature the same Minor 1000 Traveller, albeit I suspect separated by a year or two. Up until now, the vintage gallery had included example(s) of the Minor saloon, van and pickup, but no Moggy estate car. The first photo shows a young chap behind the wheel of the Morris - note the period roof rack fitted to this Traveller. The registration was SGG 834, a Glasgow-area number.
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The second photo shows a front 3/4 view of the Minor, although a young lady is sat in the driver's seat now. Judging by the look on her face, she isn't exactly gushing with excitement at being in the company of such as classic car. In photo no.1 the car looked immaculate, whereas in this shot, the chrome looks a little less shiny, and the wood a little darker. There is a new sticker in the windscreen, and the roof rack has now been removed. Perhaps the wood had been re-varnished at some point? Unlike the Mini Traveller, the wood on the Minor was structural, and you'd let it deteriorate at your peril.
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2. A Traveller in a Morris service bay.
The next two photographs were taken at an official Morris/BMC service bay, most likely located at Cowley, the home of Morris. The brand new Minor is seen being attended to by a chap in grimy white overalls, wielding a pressure-fed grease gun by the looks of things. The paint underneath the Traveller is still sparkling and new, in fact a chalked scribble can be seen under the rear arch, and "10th" is written on the windscreen just ahead of where the driver would sit. In the background, a variety of BMC motor-cars including an Austin A55 (or Morris equivalent) pickup.
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Photo number two in this pairing shows the same scene, but from behind. Two smartly-dressed gents are observing the work being done to the Morris, while speeding by outside there is an Austin A35. More photographs found in the same batch of BMC-related images can be found here.
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3. A Minor estate parked outside a hotel.
Keith emailed over this snapshot taken outside a hotel that his father once ran in Wigan. A bevy of British automotive beauties are in evidence parked up in this image, which dates to 1960 or thereabouts. To the left is a Minor Traveller, and alongside that the rakishly-styled lines of a Series 1 Sunbeam Rapier (later versions incorporated small fins in the rear wings). In a more sombre monotone paint scheme to the right of the Sunbeam is an E-Series Vauxhall, with the final car in shot being another Rootes Group product, in the form of a Singer Gazelle, a close relative of the Rapier and assorted Hillman Minxes of the era.
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Return to Page 11 of the vintage motoring gallery. A period shot of a Morris Oxford Series VI Traveller can be found on this page.
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