Morris Minor - The Perfect Classic Car Daily Driver? 

My firs🎉t car in 1963 was a 1949 with the side valve engine. It wasy daily driver for three years. No major issues. I paid 50 pounds for it and sold it for 35 pounds. Comfortable, three at the back at a pinch. Two at the front. No heater.

I was given a 1952 2 door recently by my aunt and I'm in Canada so it's more than a little rare. I'm pretty excited about it.

I live in Vermont, age 74. I bought a used 1960 Morris Minor (American version, steering wheel on left side) around 1965. It was the car I had when I married in 1966... black with red interior. The car was very well made, looked similar to a VW bug, but the motor was in the front. Hardly anything would fit in the trunk, save for one small spare tire and about two quarts of oil on a wood shelf above the tire. But I could start the car in the winter using the hand crank and that came in handy to save the battery when it got down to -30 deg. F. Lots of fun and economical to drive, but very underpowered, and could not handle interstate speeds, too slow.

what a beauty!! I still see these ladies in Sri Lankan streets !!

What a superb job you made of that. I would love a Morris 1000.

My aunt has a Minor and still uses it as her only car. She's had it since 1987!

Immaculately maintained Moggy !!! There's a Moggy owner in my neighbourhood that stands in sun and rain (under a cover), and barring it's ability to cruise around, it's not a patch on the TLC that you have bestowed on your car !

Lovely car, same colour as my dad's Morris 1000 he sprayed it himself outdoors one summer using an old hoover Vacuum cleaner, the first attempt was gritty, the second attempt was still bad, but the third attempt was near perfect with only a few insects to buff out, it was the deepest black just like yours and shone just the same, a lot of work went into that car. This video brought back fond memories, thank you.

Beautiful car,1000 engine was the best ,would love to own one again, thanks, David,

Trafficators not legal in Canada! Cars that have them must use hand signals.I had a Minor in 1968 and loved it.I was 16 and found I was able to easily work on it.Steering on left in Canada! CHEERS!

what a beauty. i would love one like that, if only i had a garage to keep one.

What a delicious treat on a dull Monday afternoon!! I love 💟😍💟

Back in 1974 I had a '60 2-door that I restored with beautiful grey metallic lacquer paintwork, and modified running gear and hardware. I swapped in a Midget 1275 engine and gearbox w/ Cooper S cam and valves, with a 45DCOE carb. I found a Rover swing-pedal brake and clutch master setup in the junkyard that fit perfectly into the Morris's slanted firewall, just like it was designed for this application! I swapped on the Midget front discs as well. I knocked the centers out of the Morris wheels, and found a set of 14" Ford wheels with the perfect inner rim diameter to fit snuggly onto the Morris centers, trued and welded them up. This gave me 5" wide wheels with the stock Morris hub caps. The one thing I never remedied was the rear axle assembly, and I kept braking the long, spindly Morris axles. Sure do wish I had that car now, it was a real cutie and it gave the hopped up VW guys fits!

That is a beautiful car. You must be very happy about it.

Thank you for posting this, l love the early styling of the car particularly the interior. We had happy days as children being taken for drives in the country, and as my local traffic speed is about 55mph then it's a usable classic. Also I had a Morris thousand van when I was an apprentice plumber and would like to own one someday. Happy motoring.😎👍

It's lovely to see this car in great condition and in good hands. Long ago, when I was living in the UK for studies, I considered buying a Minor and did some reading. Basically the buyer's advice came down to what you said: for practicality and safety, the later ones (i.e. 1000) will be the better choice, though farther away from Sir Alec's original design. But for the occasional spin on a fine weekend, why not?

The OHV engine is correct for this year, but it should be the 803 cc unit with the earlier gearbox. The side valve was phased out in 1952. The holes in the engine under plates were to take the four exhaust pipes from the flat four engine that never went into production.

Love the minor, my daily driver is a 1996 carina e, brilliant machine

Style wise this is the best model I feel . Fabulous informative video thank you

Absolutely amazing car i would love to travel back in time and just watch the people of the time using this car and others like it everyday, and the salesman telling them all the latest technology 👍🏻❤

A guy just a few miles from me in Grover Beach, CA has several Morris Minors, including a pickup and perhaps a van.

Great car We have the Minors bigger brother the Wolseley 1500 and absolutely love it Cheers from Australia

A very nice example of the Morris Minor with a sensible upgrade of the Minor 1000 running gear.

I really appreciate your honesty about the Morris Minor. Lovely car. I am building an everyday driver myself. 1959 two door 1000. However i am upgrading several things to make it a bit more of an everyday cruiser. 1100 with a swift tune cam. Hs4 carb with a 5 speed trans and front disc brakes. And some other body mods to fit my style better. Can sent pics if you would like. James

Lovely car, congratulations on having such a classic would love one. From Ballymena county Antrim 👍🎉

Just discovered your Chanel! Always a pleasant surprise to come across a fellow northern Irishman on here! Great video and a very tidy wee Minor you have! I’ll happily plod through the rest of your videos, seems I have a bit of catching up to do! Take care

Years ago i had a 4 door 1000 in green ,bought it for £35 ran it for two years, apart from regular maintenance i put two tyres on and a battery, sold it for £100 , wish I hadn't, 😁👍

Lovely video of a real classic. Had a 68 Minor 1000. Such torque from the engine, could put it into top at 15 mph and she’d pull away happily.

Beautiful car, I have an identical one although not in such nice condition! Mine is also a 1954 with an 803cc A Series engine from new, I believe this was not long after they retired the old sidevalve engines. Completely agree with everything you said about these early Minors, definitely not daily driver material thanks to the very short gearing but brilliant fun to drive on nice days and always gets loads of attention.

Great car . Thumbs up.

Is that all original colour ways? The red tan and black is really striking. You did a beautiful job and the car is gorgeous. Wow is all I can say

Congratulations on your 1k subs. The minor is definitely my favourite from your collection. Would you consider taking us out on the roads for a short drive, like HubNut and Furious Driving.

Great car love it👍

I learnt to drive on Morris Minors in the late 1970s in NZ. (my family had several) and I personally did tens of thousands of kms in them all over NZ, including several 1000km trips (Auckland to Christchurch). They're a great little car but in modern traffic / wet roads cross ply tires and primitive suspension makes for some scary moments. In my youth I spun out of control twice on wet roads (once across a multi lane road). No way would i let my kids drive such a car day to day except for a sedate Sunday drive on a sunny day. Give me modern tyres and brakes, stability control and airbags - no time for sentimentality when it comes to road safety.

What a beautiful car! A real classic!

Beautiful car. I am thinking of getting one soon, something that is a small project but is a road legal driver, to complement the LR Defender. Like to subtly modernise a split screen convertible, considering an auto gearbox, servo brakes and PAS.

Nice restoration.

Pity you didnt show operating the starting handle. It was very handy when setting the timing. I would think younger people would enjoy its novelty. Would also have been good to see in the boot. Does that car have a starting pin in the engine bay, mine was located on the bulk head. I had a black four door full screen 1000, poor brakes, floor pan subject to rust around the brake flued chamber situated forward of the drivers seat. Petrol pump points had a tendency to stick, but everything was easy to get to and i loved it. Would love today to have the traveller. In the late 60s picked up three hikers and all their camping gear along with my own holiday luggage. No problem, except today i personally would find it difficult to fit in one. Lol. Great wee car, real hardy engine. Good fuel economy. Thank you for the video and the restoration. Magic👍

It had the A series 803 when new with a terrible ratio gearbox. I had a 54 for close to 37 years which was kept in almost perfect condition in all that time. (Select my icon to see vids). I loved it to bits but sold it for its arch enemy the VW beetle. Truly great classic.

I had a 61 Traveller and loved it, well, except when reverse gave up on me.

The car is great, video quality is amazing i don’t know if it’s the light or what but really nice

Nice and original. I approve for once.

Hate to nit pick, but the boot (trunk) handle is upside down. I've seen it before. It can be taken apart and corrected. (a Morris owner for 63 years in the USA) Otherwise a lovely car, well restored. Well done.

My first car. 1951 Morris Minor 850cc side valve engine. Split windscreen. How things have changed!

We must preserve these

Anything from the mid-60s by Morris, Rootes Group, et al is generally pretty reliable!

Love your video, very informative, thanks. Just bought a 1959 Minor 1000 but haven't got it home yet due to Covid 19 restrictions. Barn Find, needs TLC . Looking someone to do mechanical work Banbridge area if possible. Any suggestions?

thats a beauty

Great video mate, im 18 and it's my dream to own one of these one day, there just proper British cars

I am very impressed with your Morris Minor. I wonder whether this model originally had white walled tyres?

No doubt the UK could look back with reverence in yesteryear and view the Morris Minor as an icon of sorts - compatible with Mini (Sir Alec Issigonis' version, not the BMW variant) : given the way of life nowadays, I don't mind owning one - as long as it travels through London.

Nice Video ! Though i cant be objective as I have got a 59 MM1000. From time to time and in between other cars Ive used it as a dailydriver. Now its off the road waiting for a new clutch. the only modern things ive added is a usb contakt and a electronic ignition fitted when the old one failed, its unrestored and probably was used as a partscar for someone earlier cos lots of things were missing when i got it. just a few rustholes on the usual places as the frontfenders inside, as the first owner seams to have undercoated it when new, I bougth it as a entry into the world of classics. Here in Sweden its not so common with Minors and the newer models are more rare than the older ones . i think the 948 engine works good enough for modern traffic in this small town as we have no motorways on this small island ( Gotland in the middle of the baltic sea) After a while interest grew and I now own a prewar minor 34 special with a A-series 1100 engine. I was actually looking for a MG but came across this instead and got hooked on the looks of it and its not far off from the MG ,A cousin really but way simpler and cheaper here, Plus i can still buy my parts at ESM. Love those guys. Thank you for your video , I really enjoyed it !

I had 3 minors loved them I now have a 45 jeep

Loved the video so much I subscribed! Stupid question alert: if the diff ratio is modified for high speed cruising, would a Minor be alright for consistent motorway driving? I'd love a Minor but my daily commute is 112 miles round trip predominantly on highways (Australia) so it would be a key consideration for me. Any feedback would be most helpful and appreciated! Look forward to more videos. Your minor looks excellent and great work on the restoration - looks top notch! :)

Learnt to drive in the early 80s in a late 60's Morris Minor. Hadn't realised the dashboard had been completely revised from this earlier model. Even back then it felt like a very old car. I remember the clutch being pretty brutal.

Put some rear/stop lights in the back window, maybe the LED type for trailers which come on a split cable ?

Beautiful car, congratulations ! Definitely one of my favorite popular classic cars. I am the proud owner of a 1957 Minor 1000, and I consider this model a great car for daily use. It's a real pleasure to work on these cars for regular maintenance, full of space under the bonnet ! I cannot see the wiper motor on your car, has been removed for maintenance ?

If there's 1 classic I'd have as a daily driver is a Morris Minor.... Maybe drop a twin cam with 5 speed gearbox and disc brake conversion... Classic looks with modern running gear

what's the maintenance frequency for this morris? In terms of mileage, how often. How many miles clocked on the odometer? Nice ride you have there.

👍👍👍

Thanks for the 1954 Morris Minor review. Was it about 1960 when they dropped the split screen ? I wondered were earlier models only just 6 volt ⚡ BTW - Greetings from New Zealand 🇳🇿 ❤ 😊

Another good daily driver is the Austin 11/1300 range of cars, be it Austin, Morris, Wolseley or Riley, all reliable motors, just keep on top of rust and waterproof the distributor.

Being an early series II should it not have the high cut rear wings??

This is a great car

Can I ask where you got the retro-look Lucas battery? Are those screw caps functional or is it a maintenance free type?

I am french, but in my distant youth, In the early sixties, when being a student I used to go in England every summer. I drove a lot a lot an old Ford Popular an an more recent Mini. I aslo drove for a few miles a Morris Minor which I found was quite a good car for its time. Far better than the Ford Popular !

What happened to the Trafficator demonstration?

Would you recommend a Morris Minor/1000 as a first car?

I have Morris van all batter up and looking for spares to doing it up

Are you using an additive in the fuel

You really need to substantially improve your audio on your videos. Barely audible and very much in the distance. Get a good mic and plug it in to your camera or run an external one and sync with your video software. Good audio is the primary recommendation given for doing any RU-vid video. Remember many of us will be watching this on a phone with its internal speaker.

I had a 2 door 68 1000 model , ex panda car. one think I would have said to make it more daily driver practical was the 4 door version

Can a 6'5" person comfortably drive it?

My dadd daily driver for lyk 1 months

if you drive it carefully you should get closer to 50 miles to the gallon

Whats the milage of this car , 20?

30 mpg?? More like an average of 40MPG!

Mine failed every day.

Only if you like your daily driver to be a deathtrap

No! a Morris Minor with the old 1500cc BMC diesel would be the perfect classic car (UK cars only) daily driver.

Rads empty. Should be to the top

Loved mine but bad roads destroyed car and heart was out of me after trunion collapse sold it 2 years ago

Sir, a man with your hedge-trimming skills is wasted doing classic car restorations. An ill-kempt landscape awaits. I will say, as a man who has clocked a lot of miles, that I’d be very wary of exposing myself to a car accident without modern safety improvements. Cars today are an order of magnitude safer than anything built before 2000

Thank god for the 1938/40 Ford eh..

What a delicious treat on a dull Monday afternoon!! I love 💟😍💟