Motoring
Let's go shopping
Alan Judd
Now it's June the Moggie-hunting sea- son is in full cry. Not the sort of moggie you hunt with air-pistols, catapults or — in these more tender times — water-pistols, but the four-wheeled sort called the Morris Minor, designed by Alex Issigonis and first sighted on our roads half a century ago this year. They were an automative leap for- ward, not only in their lines, modernity and reliability but in their — by the standards of time — outstanding road-holding. Like the VW Beetle and Land Rover, they achieved both widespread utility and enduring fashionable status. The chief quarry of the hunting season is the convertible version, originally named the Tourer. In fact, few of those you see will be original, annual demand being such that it pays people to cut the hard roofs off saloons and fit cloth tops. A dealer I spoke to reck- oned that, done properly, conversions call be as strong as purpose-built Tourers, but beware scissors-and-paste jobs and if ill doubt consult the Morris Minor Owner! Club (01332 291675). They advise that if the chassis number begins MA2S it means the car was originally a two-door saloon. Rd° guides rate first-class Tourers as fetching 1113 to £4000 but good ones are hard to find for that. Expect to pay £4500-£7000. Uxorial pressure accounts for much 01 the enthusiasm for the hunt. A nice OKLA English white Maggie with red hood and interior and modern brakes and bits make,s for a stylish, economical, easily-maintainea, let's-go-shopping car. They're modest' unpretentious, pleasing to hand and eye' comfortable, dependable, surprisinglY rugged beneath and quintessentiallY, politely yet cheekily, English (at least as, that sort of Englishness was conceived ni- before Re-Branding Day, 2 May, 1997). It's hard to imagine dictators liking them but John Major probably does (perhaps he drives one?). When the millionth was prn" duced in January 1961 the company cele- brated with a special edition of 350 lilac models with 'Minor 1000000' in chroinc script on the bonnet sides and boot lids. I'm not sure whether those are more to he collected or avoided. ut There's something neatly feminine afl-o. the design that has always appealed to the ladies, but never only to them. Remember all those red Minor vans beloved of the Post Office? Or those robust farmers' Pic.s, ups with two young calves in the bacK. C'ver-engineering — the vogue term .for solid building — helped ensure durability and now with Morris Minor centres dotted about the country and spares production apparently guaranteed for the next 50 Years, there's no need to worry about keep- ing Moggie on the road. Nor need you Worry about depreciation. For nearly a decade before they stopped making them in 1971/2 they'd used the sen- sible 1098cc engine (mid-30s mpg, mid-70s Mph) but the 1955 model I had was blessed With the smallest engine they dared put in it: 803cc, 36 mpg, 62 mph. Mine was a saloon with the now-desirable split wind- screen but it might as well have not had One at all because in heavy rain the leaks were dramatic enough to cause any girl- friends I aspired to to decamp to the back sear, while I motored on with my legs under a groundsheet. A front wheel fell off once, which I'm told was not unknown on the early models, but it had four gears, four 'loom, an interior with the right leathery smell and a heater, all of which made it seem a much more grown-up car than its Predecessor in my stable, a Ford Popular. A good friend has one now, a 1966 saloon for which he paid £1450 15 months ago. It had had four new wings, a new boot lid and a respray and he has spent about 4550 on it, including servicing and MOT. Its book value is now about £2400 and comprehensive insurance with a 6000-mile annual limit costs him £100. It's on its orig- inal engine, is used daily for local journeys, !tarts first time and drinks no oil. He loves it. So, for different reasons, did an army ehaPlain friend love his army-issue Trav- eller (the wooden-framed estate, or shoot- Mg-brake). At the wheel of that, he reckoned, with a dog-collar clearly visible and an assumed expression of benign MY0pia, he could ruthlessly cross any traffic stream without stopping. Perhaps that's Why our local GP wants one now. He, and any other seekers, might find it this week- end (6/7 June) at the Owners' Club half- century rally at Blenheim Palace, where ineY're expecting as many as 1500 exam- ples. A good time to make someone an Offer, if you're inclined. For those wishing to wallow deeper in nostalgia, there's the rightly-famed Good Wood Festival of Speed on 12/13 June Where, among the throaty beasts in serious action, you can shake hands with living his- torY. The hand to reach for is that of 86- Year-old Louis Klemantaski, perhaps the greatest of motor-racing photographers Who in the 1930s made it almost an art or in itself. He will be signing limited edition numbered copies of his memoirs la3nd of a unique portfolio, both published the specialist Palawan Press (0171 371 3060). Find him at Hortons Books mar- quee at lunchtime on the Friday, and the k-laters stand 10-11 a.m. on the Saturday. I Fan t remember whether he ever pho- t, °graphed the humble Moggie. If not, some 'wing owner should commission him now.
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