Morris Minor

One of my very earliest favourites in terms of Classic Cars was not a Sixties Super Sports Car. It was the much more practical but easy to fall in love with Morris Minor. I remember very clearly the joy I felt when, as a university student, I used to get trips to the country around Yorkshire by by landlord and Landlady. They were a lovely couple who just happened to own a series I Morris Minor - one with a split screen windscreen.

This car held some great memories and I thought it was time I shared the story of "everyone's favourite Classic".

Most people know that the car was designed by Alec Issigonis. He had started with Morris in 1935 and began to stand out with his contributions to the Morris 10, which was being developed during the mid 1930s. He specialised in Suspensions, but had wider views on the design of the whole car, especially to use his interest in the design of bodies in the US car industry. He was appointed to run the design dept for designing a new Car for when World War " had finished and there was going to be a growing demand for smaller cars that would be affordable to the massive numbers of servicemen coming back from the fighting.

Issigonis' overall concept was to produce a practical, economical, and affordable car for the general public that would equal, if not surpass, the convenience and design quality of a more expensive car. In later years he summed up his approach to the Minor; that he wanted to design an economy car that "the average man would take pleasure in owning, rather than feeling of it as something he'd been sentenced to" and "people who drive small cars are the same size as those who drive large cars and they should not be expected to put up with claustrophobic interiors.

Issigonis' design included the same ideas he had proposed for the Ten before the war- independent suspension, rack and pinion steering and a unitary body construction. In fact, Nearly every feature of the Minor served the joint aims of good handling and maximum interior space. For example, Issigonis specified 14-inch (360 mm) wheels. These small wheels reduced intrusion into the cabin space.



Before the car could go into full production and sale, the name was changes. It had been known as the "Mosquito" project, but it was changed to that of an earlier Morris car - the Minor. The design of the Minor was being changed right up to the very last minute. It was a very late change from Issigonis to cut the car body down the middle and insert a 4 inch strip so that it looked more squat. In fact the earliest cars had this metal strip and it was even added to the very front where the chrome bumpers had to be cut and a 4 inch plain metal strip separated those two half bumpers.

In 1952, an estate version was produced - called the "Traveller" like all previous Morris estates.

Flicking "Semaphore" indicators stood out from the door pillars and weren't replaced by small indicator lights until 1961. By then the Series 2 had come onto the scene. This had a lot of changes that essentially came down to replacement of Specific Morris parts with their equivalent Austin parts to get greater economies of scale and keep prices down. This was in the time of British Motor Corporation management.

The series 3 was produced after 1956. This was known as the Minor 1000 because of the bigger engines that were by then being used as the Country got a better and faster road network. This also had a single wrap around windscreen which gave it a much needed modern look. It was still a very popular car in Britain and around the World. By 1960 the millionth Morris Minor had been built and this led to a Special Edition of 350 two doors called the Morris Minor Million.

Changes were still made to the Morris Minor throughout the 1960s but its popularity as a new car was now definitely on the wane. It had started to lose money on each car made. in 1971 production finished.

Nowadays there is a thriving Classic Car interest in the Morris Minor. Sales are still strong, even amongst younger drivers. Its simple mechanics means that it can still be kept running by the amateur and its simple feel is just what a lot of people - tired of the latest gadget filled cloned cars - want to make driving the pleasure it one was.

Triumph TR5

The Triumph TR5 was a classic British sports Roadster of the late 1960s. It was built to follow the very similar TR4 by the Triumph Motor Company ( by this Time part of BMC ).

The Triumph Motor Co. itself has been around for a long time. It was started by Siegfried Bettmann , importing continental bicycles into London in1885. With his partner Moritz Schulte they began making Triumph cycles in Coventry soon after and took on the trading name of Triumph.

The company had a really bad spell before WW2 and was put into receivership in 1939. What was left of the business after 1945 was bought by the Standard Motor Company. It was in the early 1950s that they decided to use the Standard brand for their Saloons cars and the Triumph brand for their Sports cars ( or Roadsters). The Triumph Division used the naming convention of TR ( triumph Roadster) plus a number for their series of cars. The first of these was the TR2.

In the Great amalgamation period for the UK Car Industry, Standard Triumph was bought by Leyland Motors in 1960, which became BLMC in 1968.

By the time the Triumph roadsters had got to the TR5, the designer ( Michelotti ) had just about reached the prime of this model of car. It was followed by the TR6 and TR7 but these were not seen as anything like the peak in the 1967-68 TR5 era. The 2.5 litre engine kept its pace good for the day - it got you along at up to 118mph.

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If you are lover of Classic British Cars, or even an owner of one, why not treat yourself to an individual portrait of  a masterpiece of 1960s design - as a photograph or piece of art work. 

https://bccapeterleech.wixsite.com/home

or even better if you own a Classic contact me by e-mail for a discussion about an individual commission. Just drop me a line using the contact page link on the right.

Rover P5

The Rover P5 was the absolute classic British Executive car. It was built from1958 to 1973 but it had several versions during that time. It was the luxury transport for the country's leaders, with Prime Ministers, Harold Wilson, ted Heath, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher all using this as their most prized perk of the job. Even the Queen had 2 of her own personal examples.

Classic and Sports Car magazine said of it when reviewing its place as a Classic said,

"If one car defines everything that is good about a British Classic then perhaps that car would be the Rover P5/P5B". 

No wonder it is still one of the most favoured British Classic cars.

The early cars - the P5 Mk1, started its life in 1958 and by the time it had ended production it had sold nearly 21,000 cars. This model had the Rover 3 litre engine which allowed it to reach 95 m.p.h. and did 0-60 it an "Earth Shattering" 17 seconds. In a review of 1960 it was claimed to use 20.5 mpg. At that time it cost £1864.

For a view of what went into developing and producing this fine car, take a look at this Pathe News video of the time....

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Between 1962 and 1965 an uprated MKII model was produced raising the power from the 3 litre engine from115 BHPO to 129 BHP.This version included a four door Coupe style and a further 20,000 cars were made and sold.

This green two tone example is a MK II, made in 1962. ( Notice it does not have the foglights under the main headlights as on all P5B models ) 

The final upgrade of the 3 litre P5 cam in 1962 with another uprating of the 3 litre engine. This was only made for 2 years when a major revision was make - the Rover P5B. This was the massive change that saw the American Buick 3.5 litre V8 engine made of aluminium was put in the car. This lighter and more powerful engine was spotted by the then CEO of Rover - William Martin-Hurst - who bought the rights to produce it for the P5B ( the B being added because of the Buick engine. Rover bought the rights to this engine because they didn't have the finance to develop their own. Truth is that it was used to completely re launch the car, now styled as a luxury top class car to compete with the best.

The styling of the Rover was really overalled to add lots of extras - Rostar Wheels, Coupe versions, Coupe versions and the notable chrome coach lining along each side.

And so there we have it- the Ultimate British Classic luxury car. I might be just a little biased as this is the car I have always dreamed of owning. To see what it is like to drive just watch these two videos from owners :

and a short life story of a single car...…

To find out lots more about the P5 series and to find one to buy why not take a look at the Rover P5 Club  website.

To buy Digital Download Prints of my Classic Car Art go to: https://bccapeterleech.wixsite.com/home

Introduction

INTRODUCTION - Who am I ?

My name is Peter Leech and I have been interested in the design of cars since I was a teenager. My other hobby is using photography to create artistic images.  I have finally got round to bringing these two interests together to produce a website. 

My youthful life as a car owner began with a Standard Super 10 -  not the hottest of cars, even in the 1960s. But as a teenager still at school it was really special to me. It cost me a fortune in wages from my part time job in a factory whilst studying at the same time for A levels. I can still remember the days of winding up the engine with a starting handle because the starter had gone and I had no money to replace anything that went wrong.

I had driven other cars before the Standard. When learning, 

I alternated between the Driving Instructor's Triumph Herald and a family friends Vauxhall Victor. 
The first one was tiny. It had a turning circle of about 18 inches and a wiggly gear change in the narrow gap between the two front seats. Then I would go into the Vauxhall. This was completely different. It had a big wide bench seat at the front. That fit 3 people easily. 

It also meant that the gear stick had to be replaced onto the steering wheel. It had just the three gears whereas the Herald had four. How I ever passed my test I will never know.

After I went to University I let the Standard go. Instead when I finished I bought a Singer Gazelle IIIC. I have to say that compared to the Standard 10 ( even a Super one ") it was pure luxury. American styling, with small tail fins it felt like I was in a really posh motor. To be honest I hadn't had it long when I got married. We went to live in Leeds and driving over the M6 it started to make a strange noise. When we got back I got my brother ( a mechanic ) to take a look and it turns out that the half shaft had completely gone. He said he would fix it but after about a year standing on bricks outside my parent's house I just gave up and it went for parts.

Married life and living in Leeds saw me get a Mini.  Well it was actually two Minis. The first one looked fantastic and I paid my money and drove off. We hadn't got the 8 miles home before it felt like my wife must have put on at least 6 stone as the car was leaning really badly on her side. Mini owners would know that the people I bought it from had got the hydrogas suspension pumped up before I went to look at it.  never to be twice bitten I got my money back and bought another. That one turned out to be a lovely car for a young couple.

After a few years of working I felt ready to move upmarket. We went to see what was on offer. We came across a lovely car salesmen who had just the car for us. It was an MGB GT. Bright blue and lovely and shiny. We had some doubts about whether our fully grown golden Labrador would get in there. The salesman assured us that this was what the dog shelf was for. That was really the start of finding out about how to get ripped on in the car industry. I learnt a lot then and not surprisingly we never bought that lovely bright blue MGB GT.