Morris Motors

See also:Morris Commercial CarsandMG Cars

Morris Motors Limitedwas a British privately ownedmotor vehiclemanufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets ofWilliam Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture—a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory.

Morris Motors Limited

Industry	Automotive
Founded	1912 W.R.M. Motors 1919 renamed as Morris Motors
Founder	William Richard Morris
Defunct	brand name used until 1984
Fate	Individual identity retained until 1968 Ownership merged with Austin in 1952 as subsidiaries ofThe British Motor Corporation Limited
Successor	The British Motor Corporation Limited
Headquarters	Cowley,Oxford,Oxfordshire,laterLongbridgeEngland,UK
Key people	Frank George Woollard Leonard Lord
Products	motor cars
Subsidiaries	Morris Commercial Cars Limited, Nuffield Acceptances Limited, Nuffield (Australia) Limited, Nuffield Exports Limited, Nuffield Mechanizations Limited Nuffield Metal Products Limited, The Nuffield Press Limited, Nuffield Tools and Gauges Limited, Riley (Coventry) Limited, Riley Motors Limited, The M.G. Car Company Limited, The S.U. Carburetter Company Limited, Wolseley Motors Limited

Morris marque

Product type	Automotive
Owner	SAIC
Discontinued	1984
Previous owners	W. R. Morris(1912–1952) BMC(1952–1968) British Leyland(1968–1986) Rover Group(1986–1988) BAe(1988–1994) BMW(1994–2000) MG Rover Group(2000–2005) NAC(2005–2007)

Although it merged withAustin Motor Companyto form theBritish Motor Corporationin 1952, the Morris name remained in use until 1984, when the by-thenAustin Rover Groupdecided to concentrate on the more popular Austin brand as well as expanding the more upmarket Rover brand.

Until 2014,Morris Oxfordvehicles (based on the 1954-59 Oxford) were manufactured with periodic enhancements in India byHindustan Motors,and sold well there, even being imported to Britain in small numbers during the 1990s.

Part of Morris's manufacturing complex at Cowley, Oxford is nowBMW Group'sPlant Oxford,factory of theMINImarque since its launch in 2001.

The Morris trademark is currently owned by the China-based automotive companySAICafter being transferred from bankrupt subsidiaryNanjing Automotive.

The Morris Commercial JE, an electric van with a 1940s design, was unveiled in November 2019 ahead of a planned launch in 2021 under the re-launchedMorris Commercialmarque, well over 30 years after the Morris brand had disappeared.

History

Early history

WRM Motors Ltd began in 1912 whenbicyclemanufacturerWilliam Morrismoved on from the sale, hire, and repair of cars to car manufacturing. He planned a new light car assembled from bought-in components. In this way he was able to retain ownership by keeping within the bounds of his own capital resources.

A factory was opened in 1913 at formerOxford Military CollegeatCowley, Oxford,United Kingdomwhere Morris's first car, the 2-seatMorris Oxford "Bullnose",was assembled.Nearly all the major components were bought in.

In 1914 a coupé and van were added to the line-up, but the Bullnose chassis was too short and the 1018 cc engine too small to make a much-needed 4-seat version of the car.White and Poppe,who made the engine, were unable to supply the volume of units that Morris required, so Morris turned toContinentalofDetroit, Michiganfor the supply of a 1548 cc engine.Gearboxesand axles were also sourced in the US.

In spite of the outbreak of the First World War the orders were maintained and, from mid-1915 a new larger car, the 2-seat and 4-seatMorris Cowleywas introduced.

Inter-war years

After the war the Continental engine was no longer available so Morris arranged forHotchkissof France to make a near copy in theirCoventryfactory. This was used to power new versions of the basic Cowley and more up-marketMorris Oxfordcars.

With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business continued to grow and increase its share of the British market overtakingFordto become in 1924 the UK's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market and remaining enormously profitable.

Possessed of a very large cash income Morris had a policy of personally buying up suppliers' businesses. For example, in 1923 he bought Hotchkiss's Coventry business which later becameMorris Enginesbranch. He also brought inF G Woollardwhich becameMorris Commercial Carsto lead the re-organization of their engine production from batch to flow, thus increasing output from less than 300 units per week to 1200. By 1924 the factory was making 2000 units a week with only a small increase in work space and labour force.

Cecil Kimber,head of Morris's own original 1909-founded Morris Garage sales hire and repair operation in Oxford, began building sporting versions of Morris cars in 1924 labelling themMG.They were so successful a separate MG factory was soon established south of Oxford inAbingdon, Oxfordshire.

Having admired Budd's all-steel bodies Morris foundedThe Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Limitedin 1926 as a joint venture withEdward G Budd Manufacturing Company - Budd Internationalof Philadelphia, USA.Pressed Steel's factory was located over the road from Morris's factory at Cowley and supplied Morris and many other motor manufacturers. Morris withdrew from the venture in mid-1930. Budd sold their share to British interests at the beginning of 1936.

An array of Morris cars on the forecourt of Mr J. Kelly's garage at Catherine Street, Waterford, Ireland, 1928

The small car market was entered in 1928 with theLeonard Lord-designedMorris Minor,using an 847 cc engine from Morris's newly acquiredWolseley Motors.Lord had been sent there to modernise the works and Wolseley's products. The Minor was to provide the base for theMG Midgets.This timely spread into the small car market helped Morris through the economic depression of the 1930s. At the 1934London Motor Showthe Minor was replaced by theMorris Eight,a direct response to theFord Model Yand, though Leonard Lord's handiwork, heavily based on it.

In 1932 W R Morris appointed Lord Managing Director of Morris Motors Limited and Lord swept through the Morris works, updating the production methods, introducing a proper moving assembly line and creating Europe's largest integrated car plant.But Morris and Lord fell out, and after 15 years Lord left in 1936—threatening to "take Cowley apart brick by brick".Lord moved to Austin and they were to meet again in BMC—Morris, as Lord Nuffield, its first chairman. Lord succeeded him.

As of 1 July 1935 Morris Motors acquired from W R Morris, now Lord Nuffield, in exchange for a further issue of ordinary shares to him, the car manufacturing businesses of Wolseley Motors Limited and The MG Car Company Limited. A separate private company,Wolseley Aero Engines Limited,was then formed to continue the development of his aviation interests.In 1936 Lord Nuffield soldMorris Commercial Cars Limited,hiscommercial vehicleenterprise, to Morris Motors.

1925 Morris—42 per cent of production

Car production in Britain 1919-1938 (per cent)

	1919	1921	1923	1925	1927	1929	1932	1935	1938
Morris	2	10	28	42	37	35	33	31	23
Austin		7	8	10	23	25	27	23	21
Ford		22	11	2	6	4	6	17	18
Rootes,Standard,Vauxhall						8	23	23	31

In 1938 William Morris, Baron Nuffield was raised to Viscount Nuffield. The same year he transferred his newly acquiredRileycar business to Morris Motors Limited for £100.

Diorama of Both-Nuffield iron lung assembly at Morris Motors
Thackray Medical Museum,Leeds

Iron Lung

Visiting London in 1938 during apolioepidemic Lord Nuffield saw a BothIron Lungin use. He commissioned an improved design which could be produced using the techniques of car assembly and arranged production of approximately 1700 machines at the Cowley works, which he donated to hospitals throughout all parts of Britain and the British Empire.

Both-Nuffield respirators were able to be produced by the thousand at about one-thirteenth the cost of the American design.

1936 Wolseley

1939 Riley

Significant subsidiaries

Subsidiary	founded or acquired by W R Morris, Viscount Nuffield	acquired by Morris Motors Limited
W R Morris	1912	1926
Morris Engines	1923	1926
Morris Commercial	1923	1936
MG	1924	1935
Nuffield Press	1925
Pressed Steel	1926	never, but acquired by BMC in 1965
SU	1926	1926
Wolseley	1927	1935
Nuffield Mechanizations	1935	WWII
Riley	1938	1938

Second World War

In the summer of 1938 Morrisagreed to build, equip and manage at government expenseahuge new factoryatCastle Bromwichspecifically to manufactureSupermarine Spitfires.with intention to build bombers later. Nuffield's management failed; no Spitfires were delivered by May 1940 despite expectation of 60 a day. TheMinistry of Aircraft Productiontook over the plant putting in managers from Supermarine and placing it underVickers-Armstrongs(of which Supermarine was a part) supervision. After a major air raid damaged the Morris Bodies factory, the premises switched to the production ofjerry cans,producing millions of these versatile containers for use during the rest of the war and following the ending of hostilities.The Cowley plant was turned over to aircraft repair and production ofTiger Mothpilot trainers, as well as "mine sinkers" based on a design produced at the same plant during the First World War.

The Morris Minor was one of the most popular cars from Morris.

Morris produced the popularMorris C8Quad artillery prime mover towing artillery (such as the25-pounder) and anti-tank guns (such as the17-pounder) with some 10,200 made. Morris also produced some 2200Morris Light Reconnaissance Cars,100Morris CS9armoured cars, 21,319Morris CS815cwt light trucks, the Morris C4 truck, Morris ML ambulance, 500 Morris Commercial 8x8 GSTerrapin (amphibious vehicle)s,and the Morris Commercial CD series trucks.

Post-Second World War production

Production restarted after the Second World War, with the pre-war Eight andTendesigns. In 1948 the Eight was replaced by what is probably the most famous Morris car, theMorris Minordesigned byAlec Issigonis(who later went on to design theMini) and reusing the small car name from 1928. The Ten was replaced by a new 1948Morris Oxford MO,styled like a larger version of the Minor. A later Morris Oxford (the 1956 Morris Oxford III) was the basis for the design of India'sHindustan Ambassador,which continued in production until 2014.

The nine different cars made by Morris Motors and its wholly owned subsidiaries at the time of the formation of BMC

• 
  Morris Six
  2215 cc
• 
  Morris Oxford
  1476 cc
• 
  Morris Minor
  918 cc
• 
  M.G. 1¼-litre
  1250 cc
• 
  MG TD Midget
  1250 cc

• 
  Wolseley 6/80
  2215 cc
• 
  Wolseley 4/50
  1476 cc

• 
  Riley 2½-litre
  2443 cc
• 
  Riley 1½-litre
  1496 cc

They used six engines and five (and a half) car bodies, of which the "specialist" three were obsolescent, the rest very closely related if not identical.

BMC

The Morris Oxford Series III, launched in 1955–56, only had a short production run in the UK, but it was manufactured in India as theHindustan AmbassadorbyHindustan Motorswith periodic changes till 2014

The Morris Mini launched in 1959 would influence a whole new generation into small cars. The Mini was produced until 2000.

In 1952 theNuffield Organizationmerged with its old rival theAustin Motor Companyto form theBritish Motor Corporation(BMC). Nuffield brought the Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley marques into the merger. Leonard Lord was in charge, which led to Austin's domination of the organisation.Badge-engineeringwas important to BMC and for many years the various marques would be seen on several families of similar vehicles.

British Leyland

In 1966, BMC acquiredJaguarto createBritish Motor Holdings(BMH), which subsequently merged withLeyland Motorsin 1968 to form theBritish Leyland Motor Corporation(BLMC), and subsequently, in 1975, thenationalisedBritish Leyland Limited(BL). The Cowley complex remained the second largest single facility in the BL empire (afterLongbridge), but BL's history was a turbulent one – BMC was close to financial ruin, and the newly installed Leyland management failed to turn its fortunes around.

With the replacement for theMorris MarinaandLeyland Princessbeing delayed into the 1980s, the Marina was restyled in 1980 to become the Morris Ital, while the Princess was restyled for 1982 to become theAustin Ambassador.British Leyland later confirmed that the Morris brand would be discontinued on the all-new replacement for these two cars, which was finally launched in April 1984 as theAustin Montego.

TheMorris Ital(essentially a facelifted Marina) was the last Morris-badged passenger car, with production ending in the summer of 1984. The lastMorrisof all was a van variant of theAustin Metro,before the Morris brand was finally completely abandoned in 1987.

After much restructuring of BL in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the former Morris plant at Cowley and its sister site the formerPressed Steelplant were turned over to the production of Austin and Rover-badged vehicles. They continued to be used by BL'sAustin Rover Groupand its successor theRover Group,which was eventually bought byBMW,and then by a management consortium, leading to the creation ofMG Rover.

None of the former Morris buildings now exist.British Aerospacesold the site in 1992; it was then demolished and replaced with the Oxford Business Park. The adjacent former Pressed Steel site (now known as Plant Oxford) is owned and operated by BMW, who use it to assemble thenew MINI.

The history of William Morris's business is commemorated in the Morris Motors Museum at theOxford Bus Museum.

Post-Morris cars to have been built at Cowley include theAustin/MG Maestro,Austin/MG Montego,Rover 600,Rover 800and (for a short time) theRover 75.

Cancelled Revival

Following the bankruptcy of theMG Rover Groupin 2005, three competing bids were launched aiming to acquire the company's assets. One of the bids, led byMaseratiCEOMartin LeachalongsideChinesestate-ownedShanghai Automotive Industries Corporation (SAIC),included plans for a Morris Minor revival. Despite this, the bid was lost to theNanjing Automobile Corporationand the new Minor was not produced, although Nanjing Automobile Corporation later merged with SAIC, with all assets, including the Morris marque, being transferred to SAIC.

Badge

The Morris badge shows an ox fording theRiver Isis,the traditional emblem of William Morris's home town ofOxford,used in thecoat of arms of Oxford.

Car models (excludes light vans)

Part of the formerMorris Enginesworks
The William Morris Building
Coventry University.(photo 2007)

AbullnoseMorris, the car that made Morris's name and fortune.

1932 Morris-Léon Bollée France

Morris Marina

Many of the model names are based on thetax horsepowerrather than the actual horsepower. "Six" often indicates a 6-cylinder engine.

• 1913–1926 -Morris Oxford bullnose(12 or 14 hp)
• 1915–1931 -Morris Cowleybullnose and flatnose(12 or 14 hp)
• 1923–1924 -Morris Oxford Six F series(18 hp)
• 1926–1930 -Morris Oxford flatnose(12 or 14 hp)
• 1926–1929 -Morris Oxford 15.9 and 16/40(16 hp)
• 1927–1929 -Morris Six(18 hp)
• 1929–1935 -Morris Isis(18 or 25 hp)
• 1928–1932 -Morris Minor(8 hp)
• 1929–1935 -Morris Oxford Six, Sixteen and Twenty(16 or 20 hp)
• 1931–1934 -Morris Cowley(12 or 14 hp)
• 1931–1933 -Morris Major(15 hp then 14 hp)
• 1932–1948 -Morris Ten(10 hp)
• 1933–1935 -Morris Ten Six(12 hp)
• 1933–1935 -Morris Cowley Six(14 hp)
• 1933–1939 -Morris "Big Six" Sixteen, Eighteen, Twenty-One, and Twenty-Five
• 1934–1939 -Morris Twelve(12 hp)
• 1935–1939 -Morris Fourteen(14 hp)
• 1935–1948 -Morris Eight(8 hp)
• 1948–1952 -Morris Minor MM(8 hp)
• 1952–1956 -Morris Minor Series II
• 1956–1971 -Morris Minor 1000
• 1948–1954 -Morris Oxford MO(14 hp)
• 1948–1953 -Morris Six MS
• 1954–1956 -Morris Oxford Series II
• 1954–1959 -Morris Cowley
• 1955–1958 -Morris Isis
• 1956–1959 -Morris Oxford Series III
• 1957–1960 -Morris Marshal(BMC Australia)
• 1958–1964 -Morris Major(BMC Australia)
• 1959–1971 -Morris Oxford Farina
• 1959–1969 -Morris Mini Minor
• 1964–1968 -Morris Mini Moke(United Kingdom)
• 1966–1973 -Morris Mini Moke(Australia)
• 1962–1971 -Morris 1100
• 1967–1971 -Morris 1300
• 1968–???? -Morris 11/55(South African market variant of Morris 1100)
• 1969–1972 -Morris 1500(Australia)
• 1966–1975 -Morris 1800
• 1972–1975 -Morris 2200
• 1969–1972 -Morris Nomad(Australia)
• 1971–1980 -Morris Marina
• 1980–1984 -Morris Ital

Morris-badged tractors

Main articles:Nuffield UniversalandLeyland Tractors

Morris-badged tractors

Model	Year(s) of production	Horsepower	Engine type	Notes
Morris-Leyland 154		28 hp (21 kW)		built byBMC SanayiinTurkey
Morris-Leyland 184				built byBMC SanayiinTurkey
Nuffield Morris 10/60		60 hp (45 kW)		built byBMC SanayiinTurkey

See also

• MG
• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom

External links

• Catalogue of the Morris Motors archives,held at theModern Records Centre, University of Warwick