1932 Morris Ten Saloon | Brightwells | Auction Ends: Wed 24th Jun

In the current ownership for 47 years; body-off restoration in the early 1980s and in regular use since; only 1,450 miles on rebuilt engine; Wilcot Robot indicators; Dunhill luggage trunk; a gorgeous little Morris that is a credit to its long-term owner

While 20% of the UK’s roads were tarmac in the early-1920s, by the early-1930s this had risen to 50%, and while they had democratised driving in the Twenties, cars like the Austin Seven no longer quite cut the mustard. To keep up with the 40-50mph flow of traffic with the whole family on board, the 10hp class became the perfect solution for the motorist on a budget who couldn’t quite stretch to the higher tax of the 14hp and 16hp class.

To compete with the best-selling Austin Ten and the Hillman Minx, Morris launched its own challenger at the 1932 Olympia Motor Show, the Morris Ten. While it cost the same as the £168 Austin, it had a slightly larger engine (1,292cc rather than 1,125cc) and better brakes (hydraulic rather than cable). Available as a four-door saloon or a two-door coupe, it immediately shot Morris to number two in the 10hp sales charts and remained in production until 1948, going through four stages of development.

Supplied new by L Blackhurst Automobile Engineers of in Birmingham in December 1932 (their brass plaque is still on the dash), this Morris Ten Series One four-door saloon was acquired by our vendor way back in the spring of 1979. Over the next five years he treated the car to a total body-off restoration, as detailed in notes on file (see photo 83).

This included a full chassis restoration, new ash frame for the body panels, a full mechanical overhaul (engine; gearbox; axle; brakes; steering; suspension) plus a fully retrimmed interior.

Finally finished and back on the road in April 1984, the odometer was re-set to zero and it has covered some 40,000 miles since, documented by 22 old MOTs on file. This has included several continental tours and various family holidays.

The vendor has kept the Morris meticulously maintained during his 47-year ownership, every job carried out on the car and every drop of petrol put into it being faithfully recorded in two notebooks on file.

A notable entry was in October 2022 when the engine was fully overhauled with new valves, pistons, bearings etc, the speedo being re-set to zero once again and it has only covered some 1,444 miles since.

As you can see in the photos, this Morris is in still in wonderful condition almost five decades since it was restored, a testament to the quality of the work carried out by the owner and his wife.

It has some nice period accessories including a Dunhill luggage trunk and some original ‘Wilcot Robot’ direction indicators – a curious and overly complicated turn signal which Morris briefly adopted, reputedly because Lord Nuffield was loath to pay Lucas the 2.5 pence per car royalty they demanded for use of their much simpler semaphore trafficators.

Resembling mini traffic lights on long chrome stalks, these Wilcot Robot indicators proved so distracting to operate and so confusing to other road users that they were soon banned by the Ministry of Transport, Morris being forced to adopt the Lucas semaphores in the end, after wasting some £50,000 on developing the Wilcot system (around £4m in today’s money – ouch).

Starting promptly and running beautifully as we have moved it around on site, with healthy oil pressure, this much-loved Morris is only reluctantly for sale due to the advancing years of the vendor and you will be hard pressed to find a better example, let alone at the modest guide price suggested.

Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com