Rover

GB, 1904 to date

(1) The Rover Co Ltd, Coventry, Warwickshire; Birmingham, 1904 – 1945

(2) The Rover Co Ltd, Solihull, Warwickshire, 1945 to date

The famous cycle firm Rover (which built J.K. Starley’s electric car in 1888) was offering tricars of conventional design in 1903, progressing from machines with cycle-type frames and belt drive to water-cooled and wheel-steered twins at £85 in 1905. The Rover car firm’s first production 4-wheeler was an interesting 8hp ‘single’ Rover car, the work of E.W. Lewis, which appeared in 1904. This Rover car had a tubular backbone frame, column change, a camshaft brake, and wire-and-bobbin steering, soon replaced by rack-and-pinion type. A smaller and less powerful 6hp Rover car followed at £105; one of the 8hp Rover cars was used by Dr. Jefferson in 1906 to drive from London to Constantinople.

The first 4-cylinder Rover car was a 16/20hp with shaft drive and 3.1-litre engine, followed by a small monobloc 10/12 Rover car. IN 1907 the shield-shaped radiator was introduced on Rover cars, vestiges of which survived until 1949. Courtis won that year’s TT on a 20hp Rover car of conventional design which was listed at a modest £400. The 8hp Rover car had acquired right-hand change by 1908, though the camshaft brake persisted, while in addition to the singles and the 20hp Rover car there were conventional L-head models of 1.6- and 2.5-litres in 1909. Rover cars own detachable wheels were optional in 1910, and in 1911 the 15hp 4-cylinder Rover car went over to pressure lubrication. Knight sleeve-valve engines were adopted, on an alternative version of the 8hp (this Rover car cost £30 more than its poppet-valve counterpart), and on a new vertical-twin 1.9-litre 12hp. 1912 was the last year of the singles and twins Rover cars, a new era arriving with the Clegg-designed 2.3-litre 4-cylinder monobloc 12hp Rover car at £350. This Rover car had worm-drive, inlet ports cast in the head, a water-jacketed carburetor, and electric lighting, and was the only Rover car model offered by 1914. It survived in the Rover car range until 1924, being known latterly as the Rover Fourteen. Later Rover cars had their headlamps attached to the radiator shell.

Rover car company built 12/16hp Sunbeams to War Department account between 1914 and 1918, but reverted to the small economy class in 1920 with a near-cyclecar, the Rover Eight, powered by a 1-litre (later enlarged to 1.130cc) flat-twin air-cooled sv unit, and retaining the 12hp Rover cars worm final drive. This Rover car was made under licence in Germany by Peter and Moritz. Some 17.000 Rover cars were sold up to 1925, prices dropping steadily from £300 to £160. Electric starters were not optional on Rover cars until 1923, and were never standardized. The successor Rover car was an ohv water-cooled in-line four, the 9/20, which Rover car cost £215, acquired front-wheel brakes in 1926, and was available with a detachable hartop coupé body in 1927, after which it gave way to a 1.2-litre Rover Ten, also with worm drive. 1929 Rover Tens had chromium plating, and sunshine roofs were available on closed models. A big 3½-litre six Rover car of 1924 did not go into production, but from 1925 to 1928 the Rover car company made some advanced 4-cylinder ohc Rover cars with 2.1- and 2.5-litre engines with hemispherical combustion chambers. Though the smaller 14/45 Rover car won the RAC’s Dewar Trophy for 50 consecutive ascents of Bwichy-Groes these wer expensive machines to make, and Rover cars breakthrough into bigger class came with a straightforward 2-litre ohv bevel-drive six which Rover car sold well at £410, and was developed into the stylish if not very practical Rover Light Six of 1930, noted for its raked screen and close-fitting cycle-type mudguards. This Rover car was the model which beat the ‘Blue Train’ in a race across France. The Rover car gave 70mph for £325. At the other end of the scale the same engine was made to propel a limousine Rover car on a 10ft 10in wheelbase.

V-radiators, lowered frames, and conventionally-mounted headlamps distinghuished the 1931 Rover cars, which ranged from the worm-driven Rover Ten at only £189 for a saloon up to the 2.6-litre, 60bhp Meteor 20 Rover car with prices from £398. This last Rover car was evolved into a pleasant 90mph sports model which Rover car won its class in the 1933 RAC Rally. 1932 saw the addition of a small six, the 1.4-litre Rover Pilot at £225, and an abortive experiment, the unconventional rear-engined 2-cylinder air-cooled Rover Scarab light car with all-round independent suspension, this Rover car intended to sell for £89. Though a cheap wormdriven Rover Ten was still listed in 1933, this was the year Rover cars adopted the free wheel, and turned to making Rover cars still in the medium-price class, but of generally superior quality – a position in the market Rover cars have held till the present day. 1934 Rover cars had 4-speed gearboxes, ohv engines, and spiral bevel final drive. The Rover car range consisted of a new 1.4-litre Rover Ten at £238, a 4-cylinder Rover 12 at £268, a 1.6-litre 6-cylinder Rover 14 derived from the earlier Pilot at £288, and a 16hp Rover Meteor saloon at £438, as well as 3-carburettor sporting sixes with 14 and 20hp engines. After a brief venture of Rover cars with hydraulic brakes, Rover cars reverted to mechanical actuation on all their Rover cars in 1936. Extensive restyling took place for 1937 on all Rover car models save the Ten, which Rover car was brought into line two seasons later. Big Rover cars were still offered: there was a 2.1-litre 16hp Rover car and a new 2½-litre Rover Speed 20 – and automatic chassis lubrication.

The 1937 style used on Rover cars lasted until the 1949 season. Changes included synchromesh in 1939, the replacement of wire wheels on Rover cars by disc types in 1940, a rationalization of the Rover car range after World War 2, and a switch to ioe engines in 1948, when only a 1.6-litre 4-cylinder 60bhp and a 2.1-litre 6-cylinder 75hp Rover car were offered, both with independently-sprung front wheels. Also new for Rover cars in 1948 was the 4x4 Land-Rover cross-country vehicle, initially using the 60hp engine; this Rover car has been progressively developed in 1950, but it was completely restyled, with slab-sided full-width bodywork, integral headlamps, steering-column change, and hydro-mechanical brakes, amended to full hydraulic two years later. The free-wheel of the Rover car was retained and the price was £1.106: this shape had a long production life which did not end till 1964. The range was widened once more in 1954 with a 2-litre four and a 2.6-litre 6-cylinder 90bhp version Rover car.

Meanwhile the Rover car company’s wartime work on gas turbines had led to the world’s first successful turbocar which appeared in 1950, using a 75 chassis and rearmounted 200bhp engine. The Rover car recorded 151,965mph over the flying kilometer in 1952, and was followed by further experimental cars of which the first designed as an entity was the T3, a 110bhp 4-wheel-drive Rover car coupé with fiberglass bodywork which was shown at Earls Court in 1956.

Development of the 1950 P4 Rover car  theme continued, with the introduction of overdrive (and the abandonment of the free-wheel) on the Rover 90 in 1956, and the adoption of vacuum servo brakes. There was a 105bhp version of the Rover 90, the Rover 105S, in 1957, and also an alternative model with Rover cars own 2-speed automatic transmission, dropped in favour of the Borg-Warner system after two seasons. Integral construction was introduced on the new 3-litre Rover car of 1959; this was a big Rover car with a 10ft 10½in wheelbase, and the option of overdrive or automatic, but retaining the overhead inlet valves of the smaller models. The price of this Rover car was £1.764. The 4-cylinder 60hp Rover car was dropped after 1962. From late 1959 all Rover cars had front disc brakes, and power-assisted steering appeared on the 3-litre in 1961.

In 1962 a new and more practical Rover turbocar appeared, the 140bhp T4 saloon with front-wheel drive and disc brakes on all 4 wheels: this Rover car did not go into production, though its structure served as a prototype for the advanced Rover 2000 of 1964, which first supplemented and then supplanted the last 2.6-litre developments of the old P4 Rover car, withdrawn at the end of that year. The Rover 2000’s 4-cylinder ohc engine developed 90bhp, all four forward gears were synchronized, a De Dion rear axle was used, an all 4 wheels of the Rover car had servo-assisted disc brakes. Like the 3-litre this Rover car had unitary construction, with detachable body panels, and its 100mph performance helped the Rover car to do well in rallies, with works support which had been initiated in the days of the 3-litre. The Rover-Leyland merger of 1966 brought the last of the major British independents under the control of the ‘big battalions’, but Rover car design was unaffected, and during the year there were two new versions of the Rover 2000, one with automatic, and the other Rover car, the TC with a 114bhp twin-carburettor engine. Engines provided the main news of 1967: the old ioe 2.6-litre six was adapted for use in the Landrover, and the Rover car company acquired a licence to build the discarded 3½-litre light-alloy ohv Buick V8, which powered a new edition of the 3-litre. This 3.5 was available only on Rover cars with automatic transmission, but on 160mph maximum speed was up to 108mph. A year later the V8 was wedded to the Rover 2000 structure to make the Three Thousand Five Rover car, a 114mph saloon, though this Rover car was not available with a manual gearbox until 1972.

The 8-cylinder Rover-Buick engine was to have further applications, among them Morgan’s Plus-8, an experimental mid-engined Alvis coupé, and the GKN-Lotus 47, a Europa derivative. In 135bhp form the unit also powered the Range Rover announced in June 1970 as a more luxurious station wagon development of the Landrover. This Rover car used rigid axles and coils all round. Other features were an all-synchromesh gearbox, permanently engaged 4-wheel drive, and all-disc brakes. Top speed was over 95mph. Range Rovers were used for a successful British Army expedition across the Darien gap in Central America in 1972. The Rover 2000, Three Thousand Five, 3.5-litre, Landrover comprised Rover’s 1972 – 1973 offerings.

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

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