Morris

GB, 1913 to date

(1) W.R.M. Motors Ltd, Cowley, Oxford, 1913 – 1919

(2) Morris Motors Ltd, Cowley, Oxford, 1919 – 1970

(3) Austin-Morris Division, British Leyland Motor Corp Ltd, Cowley, Oxford, 1970 to date

W.R. Morris (later Lord Nuffield), an Oxford cycle and motor agent, launched his Morris-Oxford light car in 1913. This Morris car was made from proprietary parts, the engine being a 1-litre T-head four by White and Poppe. At £175 the Morris car was one of the best of the true light cars (as opposed to cyclecars) and over 1.000 Morris cars had been sold by the end of 1914. A larger model, the famous Morris Cowley, arrived on the scene in 1915; this Morris car was assembled from American components, the engine being by Continental. After World War 1 Morris cars marketed two 1½-litre L-head sv fours, with power units by Hotchkiss of Coventry; the Morris Cowley differed from the Morris Oxford mainly in its more austere equipment and the absence of a starter. In an inflationary climate, Morris cars was brave enough to reduce the prices of its Morris cars(a Morris Cowley two-seater cost £465 in October 1920, £299.10s a year later, and £225 in October 1922) and ensured a steady flow of Morris carproduction by acquiring his suppliers, such as Hotchkiss, Wrigley (transmissions) and Hollick and Pratt (bodies).

The Morris ‘bullnoses’ were soon best-sellers backed by a nation-wide service organization of Morris cars, and in 1925 Morris outsold all his competitors with 54.000 Morris cars. From 1924 to 1926 the staple Morris cars were the 1½-litre Morris Cowley and the 1.8-litre Morris Oxford, both with 3-speed gearboxes and the wet-plate clutches which persisted on some Morris carmodels right up to 1939. The Morris Oxford acquired front wheel brakes in 1925, and they were available as an option on Morris Cowleys a year later. 1927 Morris cars produced the flat radiator and also a venture into the export market with the unsuccessful Empire Oxford Morris car of 2½-litres, which had a 4-speed box and worm drive. Equally unsuccessful was a plan to market Gallicized Morris cars built in the Léon Bollée plant at Le Mans.

Meanwhile Cecil Kimber had produced the first of the Morris-Oxford-based MG sports cars, and a new name had been born. Morris had made a few six-cylinder Morris cars in the early 1920s, but his first serious attempt in this direction with Morris cars was a 2½-litre ohc model for 1928, the engine of this Morris car inspired by the Wolseley 16/45, a make which had come under Morris control the previous year. 1929 saw another ohc Morris car, the 847cc Morris Minor at £125. Never a best-seller, the Morris car none the less served as the basis for MG’s Midget. The 1930 6-cylinder Morris cars had hydraulic brakes, extended down the range until they were universal by 1934 on all Morris cars, and in 1931 Morris managed to offer a simplified sv two-seater version of the Morris Minor for £100. The early 1930s proved very difficult for the Morris car company, which had no obvious best-seller and too many different models of Morris cars. Sliding roofs and electric fuel pumps by the Morris-owned S.U. concern were innovations for 1932 and 1933 Morris cars pioneered the semaphore-type traffic indicator in Britain. That year Morris cars sv 1.3-litre Morris Ten-Four came out as an answer to Austin’s Ten and Hillman’s Minx. All 1934 Morris cars had synchromesh and the bigger sixes the added refinement of a free wheel.

The best-seller Morris car came at last in 1935 with the 918cc sv Series I Morris Eight, which retailed at £132.10s for a fully-equipped Morris car saloon and helped reach their first million Morris cars by the summer of 1939. In a bigger category were the Series II Morris carmodels with modern styling, 3-speed gearboxes, and built-in jacking systems, ranging from a revised Morris Ten-Four up to a 3½-litre 6-cylinder Morris Twenty-Five at £280. These Morris cars were contemporary with the Series I, though introduced some months after that Morris car. All 1938 Morris cars except for the Morris Eight had push-rod ohv engines (already applied to Wolseley and MG). Later that year Riley was absorbed into the Nuffield Morris car empire. Two 1939 winners were a revised Series E 8hp with a 4-speed gearbox and headlamps faired into the wings of the Morris car, and the 1.140cc ohv Series M Ten, which introduced integral construction to Cowley and this Morris car was made after World War 2 by Hindusthan in India.

Only the 8 and 10 Morris cars were made in the first post-war years, the first really new Morris car for ten years being the 1949 Morris cars designed by Alex Issigonis. Of these the MM series Morris Minor used the old 8hp sv engine, but boasted integral construction, rack-and-pinion steering and torsion-bar independent front suspension and set a new standard in popular car handling. A million of the basic design Morris cars had been sold by January 1961. Its companion Morris carmodels, also chassisless, and with independent front suspension were a new sv 1½-litre Morris Oxford and the 2.2-litre ohc Morris MS Type Six.

The amalgamation of Nuffield and Austin to form the British Motor Corporation in 1952 resulted in a gradual process of rationalization. First the Morris Minor went over to Austin’s 803cc ohv A30 engine in 1953. The Series II Oxford Morris car and its less powerful companion, the Morris Cowley, of 1954 had Morris hulls, but their engines were also ohv Austins. In 1955 the Morris carrange was completed by a new Isis using the 2.6-litre BMC 6-cylinder unit – this Morris car was discontinued in 1958. In the late 1950s some Morris cars were made and sold in Australia under the Morris car name which were in fact more closely akin to other makes in the BMC group. The 6-cylinder Morris Marshall was really an Austin A105, while both the Major and its Austin counterpart, the Lancer, were based on the Wolseley 1500.

With the arrival of the Farina-styled 1½-litre Morris car saloons in 1959, differences between Austin and Morris cars had been reduced to house colours and radiator emblems. The front-wheel-drive Mini (1960) was shared between the two makes and though its bigger stablemate, the 1100 of 1963 with Hydrolastic suspension, was initially a Nuffield monopoly Morris car, the inevitable Austin variant followed a year later. In the case of the third front-wheel-drive model, the 1800, Austin were ahead of Morris cars in introducing it by nearly eighteen months. The 1968 Morris car range comprised the fwd Mini, 1100/1300, and 1800 as well as the conventional 1.600cc Oxford and the indestructible Morris Minor 1000, now with 1.098cc engine and still selling close on 60.000 Morris cars a year. This sole survivor of independent Morris car design did not disappear until the end of 1970. Minis became a separate make that year. From 1971 Morris car versions of the 1100 and 1300 disappeared; the name was reserved for the Marina, an orthodox rear-wheel-driven family saloon with Minor 1000 front suspension, semi-elliptics at the rear, and drum brakes on the simpler variant Morris cars. Push-rod 1.300cc and 1.800cc B.L.M.C. 4-cylinder engines were used, and the original 2-door coupé and 4-door saloon were joined by a station wagon Morris car in 1973. The largest fwd cars were still available with Morris car badges – there was a version of the 6-cylinder 2200 in 1972.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Riley

GB, 1898 – 1969

(1) Riley Cycle Co Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1898 – 1912

(2) Riley (Coventry) Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire, 1912 – 1948

(3) Riley Motors Ltd, Abingdon, Berks., 1948 – 1969

The first Riley car was a small single-cylinder belt-driven voiturette which Riley car did not go into production. Motor Riley tricycles followed n 1900, and a handlebar-steered Riley tricar with 2 forward speeds, and a 517cc engine with mechanically-operated inlet valves in 1903. Riley Tricars were made until 1907, later examples of these threewheeled Riley cars being twins with driver’s seats in place of saddles, water cooling and wheel steering. The 1.034cc V-twin engine was also fitted to the Riley car company’s first 4-wheelers, which Riley car had amidships-mounted power unit with their gearboxes alongside and chain drive, and the Riley car sold for £168. Bigger V-twins of 2-litres’ capacity, more conventional layout and round radiators were made from 1908 onwards. These Riley car incorporated pressure lubrication, shaft drive, constant-mesh 3-speed gearboxes, and Riley’s own patent detachable wheels, the demand for which brought Riley car production almost to a standstill and was responsible for the formation of the new Riley car company in 1912. In 1914 the 2-cylinder Riley cars were still being made, but there was also a new 2.9-litre sv monobloc four Riley car with worm drive, which was offered again after World War 1 by the Riley engine Co, though this Riley car soon disappeared from the market.

The first post-war 1 Riley cars were the Riley Elevens with sv 1½-litre 35bhp engines, alloy pistons and full electrical equipment which Riley cars were selling £550 in 1920, acquiring spiral bevel final drive in 1921. The Redwinger sports version of the Riley car, with wire wheels and polished-aluminium coachwork appeared in 1923, offering 70mph for £450, and the sv Riley cars were continued until 1928, with a 1.645cc engine and the option of front-wheel brakes in 1925. One of these Riley Twelves was used to prospect Kenya’s road system in 1926, and in 1927 there was even a supercharged development Riley car of the Redwinger available, though this Riley car was overshadowed by Percy Riley’s advanded new Riley Nine, with a 1.987cc 32bhp 4-cylinder engine, twin camshafts and high push-rods, a unit which was to form the basis of all Riley car designs made up to 1957.

In 1928 came the handsome Riley Monaco fabric sports saloon version at £298, a best-seller Riley car from the start, and the lowered and tuned Riley Brooklands sports, inspired by the late J.G. Parry Thomas, which Riley car weighed 1.120lb, had a twin-carburettor 50bhp engine, and was capable of 80mph, all for £395. A twin carburettor variant of the touring Riley Nine followed in 1929, along with a new 1.6-litre 6-cylinder Riley Fourteen of similar styling at £495.

Riley cars had a distinguished competition record in the following years: class wins with a Riley car in the 1929, 1930, and 1931 Tourist Trophies were followed by Whitcroft’s outright victory in 1932, while two more wins were recorded by F.W. Dixon on the later 1½-litre 4-cylinder Riley car in 1935 and 1936. A 4th place at Le Mans in 1933 led to 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th places in 1934, not to mention three successive wins – 1934, 1935, and 1936 – in the BRDC 500 Mile Race at Brooklands. Leverett won the light-car class of the 1931 Monte Carlo Rally on a Riley Nine, while the 6-cylinder racing Riley cars of 1933-1934 formed the genesis of the ERA, and nearly twenty years later the late Mike Hawthorn was to make his name in Club Racing on sports Riley Nines and 1½-litres. Both the Riley Nine and the Riley 14/6 were progressively developed, the former Riley car acquiring vacuum feed in 1931, a lowered chassis and semi-panelled bodywork in 1932, and an optional (later standard) preselector gearbox in 1934. A super-sports 6-cylinder 1½-litre Riley car with water-cooled centre main bearing appeared in 1932, being followed in 1933 by the touring Riley Mentone version at £348. 1933 also brought two advanced body styles of Riley cars, the fastback Riley Kestrel saloon (listed up to the end of the old Riley car company in 1938) and the more-conservatively styled Riley Falcon on which the doors opened into the roof. A Salerni automatic transmission was offered on the 14/6 Riley car, but did not go into regular production.

Two handsome sports two-seater variants Riley cars were listed in 1934/ 1935, the Riley 9hp Imp on a 7ft 6in wheelbase and the 1.654cc 6-cylinder Riley MPH which gave over 90mph for £550, while a newcomer in 1935 was the classic 1½-litre Four Riley car with Wilson gearbox, rod-operated Girling brakes and centralized chassis lubrication, a best-seller in its class at £335, and available in single- and twin-carburettor versions: subsequent developments were the 85mph Riley Sprite two-seater and the Riley Kestrel-Sprite and Riley Lynx-sprite saloon and tourer which offered more room but the same highly-tuned engine for £398. A cheaper Riley Nine, the Riley Merlin with pressed-steel bodywork, came on the market in 1936, along with the 1½-litre, a 6-cylinder 15/6 Riley car, and a 2.2-litre V8 Riley car, of which very few were made, the engine of the V8 Riley car made up of two 9hp blocks. 1937 Riley Nines came with new 6-light Riley Monaco bodies and twin-carburettor 42bhp engines as standard, while other new models of Riley cars were an abortive 3-litre luxury V8 made by a subsidiary company, Autovia Cars, and a more successful long-stroke 2.4-litre Big Four Riley car on classic lines, with an 85bhp engine and Borg-Warner 3-speed synchromesh gearbox incorporating an overdrive at £385. Overdrive was optional on 1938 1½-litres Riley cars.

Finances, however, were insecure and the Riley car company were acquired by the Nuffield Organization later in that year. Under the new management only the 1½-litre and the Big Four Riley cars were continued, with disc wheels, conventional synchromesh gearboxes and Wolseley-like bodywork. The post-World War 2 successors Riley cars used the same engines, but were altogether more handsome Riley cars with independent torsion-bar front suspension and fabric tops, the bigger engine’s output being boosted first to 90bhp and then to 100bhp: this Riley car unit was also used by Healey in the 1946 – 1954 period, while some open three-seater versions with column change were made by Riley cars for export. Hypoid back axles and full hydraulic brakes were incorporated in 1952 Riley cars.

After the Nuffield-Austin amalgamation the 1½-litre Riley car was continued into 1955 with relatively little change, but the 1954 2½-litre Riley Pathfinder shared its bodywork with Wolseley’s 6-90, the new chassis being a BMC design with coil rear suspension and cam-type steering. Even this disappeared after 1957 in favour of a version with a 2.6-litre 6-cylinder ohv BMC engine, and subsequent Riley cars were merely luxury versions of BMC themes, starting with the Riley One-Point-Five (basically a Wolseley 1500), and working through variations of the Farina-styled 1½-litre and 1.6-litre saloon Riley cars, the Mini, and, from 1966, the 1100/1300 family with Hydrolastic suspension, known in Riley cars guise as the Kestrel. Riley’s Mini, the Riley Elf, had a built-out boot and (from 1963) a 998cc engine in place of the standard 848cc Austin/ Morris type. This meaningeless badge-engineering was stopped by British Leyland in 1969.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com