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Morris Minor Series II

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1955 Morris Minor Series II (Early).

The Minor Series II (SII) appeared in 1952 less than a year after the BMC merger had been proposed and only seven years after the new company started operating. MM production did continue however until Feb 1953 with both models being built together at Cowley. Visually the SII was little different from the MM except that later models (from late 1954) had a new horizontal grille styles and a restyled interior. Another distinguishing feature of the SII was the bonnet mascot (never used on the MM). Fitted with the new overhead-valve A-Series engine and gearbox, features suggested the SII more powerful than the MM with better performance. In practise this was not the case. The Traveller was available from 1953.

Information from the Golden Era Morris Minor card series.

This was the last of the split window model with the dash board on the drivers side instead of later cars that had this in the centre. Daza had one of these many years ago; it had the 948cc SII engine, but a cracked head and the cost involved with reconditioning meant this had to be replaced with a later model 1000 engine. After that it went so fast he had to actually keep an eye on the speedo!

Enid recently bought Daza a copy of Morris Minor: The Official Photo Album and he can heartily recommend it as a engrossing read for those of you want to know more about the design of the Morris Minor over its years in production. Lots of great photographs, detailed information, and well written text. If you want to trace the changes in the location of the ashtrays or date a car by the grill shape this is the book for you: We Like it!

In the popular imagination

During their heyday Morris Minors were so common that they popped up all over the place. Remember the Morris Minors in the background of the cult series Danger man or The Sweeney? What about in their starring role in the 1966 film Cul-de-sac? Or the TV series Lovejoy? Or perhaps you remember the Morris Minor indicator lights on the cardboard daleks in the second series of Dr Who? Even the police force in the UK knew how useful the Minor was and they served on many forces. But watch out when you're in the Eastend of London - you could get in an awful lot of trouble talking about the state of 'er Morris.

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