Morris Minor

The Morris Minor was a much-loved car while it was in production and has remained popular as a classic car, with many clubs devoted to keeping it on the road. Though retrospectively it has gained a rather ‘homely’ reputation, at its launch in 1948 it was an exciting and fresh concept, with radical engineering and daring ‘American’ styling. Morris Motors had given a young engineer named Alec Issigonis his first chance to head up a design team and, though he would become most famous for the Mini ten years later, the Morris Minor was just as innovative in its period. Behind the car’s success, however, lies a fascinating behind-the-scenes story of the battle to get into production in the face of opposition from the company’s founder and chairman, Lord Nuffield. Illustrated with period illustrations – many of them in colour – from the BMC archive, this is the perfect introduction to this iconic car.

Gillian Bardsley is a social historian with a special interest in the rise and fall of the motor industry in Britain. She attended Edinburgh University to study History and Social Anthropology, which she taught at Cape Town University. She has been Archivist for the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust since 1990 and has contributed to many TV, radio and magazine interviews about the motor industry. She is the author of a number of books using archive sources.