The Morris Minor is an economy car produced by British marque Morris Motors between 1948 and 1971. It made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 million were manufactured in three series: the Series MM (1948 to 1953), the Series II (1952 to 1956), and the 1000 series (1956 to 1971).
Initially available as a two-door saloon and tourer (convertible), the range was expanded to include a four-door saloon from September 1950. An estate car with a wooden frame (the Traveller) was produced from October 1953 and panel van and pick-up truck variants from May 1953. It was the first British car to sell over a million units, and is considered a classic example of automotive design, as well as typifying "Englishness".
Although Morris launched a new model with a similar name and a similar market positioning, the Morris Mini in 1959, the Minor remained in production for more than a decade after that, and inearly 2020, its 23-year production run was counted as the twenty-eighth most long-lived single generation car in history by Autocar magazine, who called it: "... a primary way Britain got back on the road after the Second World War."
Development
Origins
The Minor was conceived in 1941. Although the Nuffield Organization was heavily involved in war work and a governmental ban existed on civilian car production, Morris Motors' vice chairman, Miles Thomas, wanted to prepare the ground for new products to be launched as soon as the war was over. Vic Oak, the company's chief engineer, had already brought to Thomas' attention a promising junior engineer, Alec Issigonis, who had been employed at Morris since 1935 and specialised in suspension design,
Thomas named the project 'Mosquito' and ensured that it remained as secret as possible,
| engine = 918cc Morris USHM2 & 3 Sidevalve I4
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The Series MM type Minor was produced from late 1948 until early 1953. It included a pair of four-seat saloons, two-door and (from 1950) a four-door, and a convertible four-seat Tourer. The front torsion bar suspension shared its design with the larger Morris Oxford MO, as was the almost-unibody construction. Although the Minor was originally designed to accept a flat-4 engine, late in the development stage it was replaced by a side-valve straight-four engine, little changed from that fitted in the early 1930s Morris Minor and Morris 8, with a bore of 57 mm but with the stroke of 90 mm and not 83 mm, and producing and of torque. The engine pushed the Minor to just but delivered . Brakes were four-wheel drums. The raised headlight position became standard on all Minors in time for 1951.
When production of the first series ended, just over a quarter of a million had been sold, 30% of them the convertible Tourer model.
A 918 cc-engined tourer tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1950 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0– in 29.2 seconds. However, the 918 cc engine did 0–60 mph in 50+ seconds.
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File:Morris Minor MM.jpg|Morris Minor MM two-door saloon
1949 Morris Minor Convertible - Flickr - The Car Spy (8).jpg|1949 Minor MM tourer
1949 Morris Minor Convertible - Flickr - The Car Spy (1).jpg|1949 Minor MM tourer with hood and flexible side curtains erected
1949 Morris Minor Convertible - Flickr - The Car Spy (16).jpg|Instrument panel
Morris Minor flathead engine.jpg|918cc side-valve U-series engine
File:Morris Minor MM (1951) - 14404051008.jpg|1951 Morris Minor MM Four-Door Saloon. Raised headlights were introduced with this bodystyle.
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